Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1904-07-02
DAILY SHORT STORY
When the creeps Came.
Copyright, 1904. by C. B. Lewis. ]

as a haunted house, and on the day
the deeds were delivered to me made
arrangements to pass the night in the
place. and was there at an early
evening hour.
To begin With, the garnet was the
length and width of the house without
a partition, as was also the case with
the cellar On the first floor was u
parlor, sitting room, dining room and
a kitchen with a pantry off, and not
having been tenanted for years the
whole building was very much out of
repair.
After going through the whole house
from top to bottom 1 took a seat i'll
the kitchen and lighted the lamp l
had brought with me, though l had
candles besides. l began reading a
novel 1 had selected, and thus put in
the time until IL O'Clock, but even as
l read L had a nervous, uneasy feel
ing This so grew upon me that
finally laid aside the book and passed
out of the back door. l remained until
l had smoked u cigar, and then feel
ing more quiet re-entered the kitchen.
AS | opened the door l found the
room in darkness. l had left Il bright
light on the table, and there was not
draught enough to flare Il candle. l
stood for Il moment undecided, hav-
ing no feeling but of surprise. and Of
a sudden l heard soft footsteps re-
treating into the sitting room. 1t was
the echo of slippered feet or one walk
I f1aai1.
ress for distance of twenty feet.
When l could no longer hear them
1 struck a match and relighted the
lamp, noticing that the chimney was
still a little warm and that the wick
had not been turned down. Although
my heart was beating like hammer
and my hair curling, l took up the
lamp and went through every room i'll
the house, finding nothing, of course.
After returning to the kitchen l light
ed two of the candles and placed them
in the lower rooms and then forced
myself to sit down.
l was trying to argue things out
when a noise like the humming of
telegraph wire came from the hall and
was speedily followed by wall and
sobbing 1t was like a child crying
out in distress, and it lasted fully thir-
ty seconds. AS l rose up l shook so
that l feared to drop the lamp, and
my throat was so dry that 1 could not
have made a loud sound, but | passed
through the rooms into the hall and
upstairs again. So upset was l that
in descending the stairs / had to sit
down three different times, and my
g II III sa1
through the lower hall.
However, after dragging myself back
to the kitchen and taking Il seat L be-
gan calling myself fool and Il coward
and to try to whistle. and 1 determined
to pay no more attention to the myS-
teriOuS noises.
Ten minutes went by, and l was try
ing to smile at my own fears, when
pat, pat. pat, OF footsteps caught my
ear. They began in a room over my
| head and descended the stairs and
came along the hall and through the
sitting room. ! sat looking into the
| open door of this room. which was
| lighted by a candle; but, though l
| heard the footsteps, l saw nothing.
| They crossed the room, they entered
| the kitchen, they advanced to the ia
BILE, and as my hair stood up and my
heart choked me the lamp was blown
out. and l was left In semidarkness.
If | tell you that l yelled out and
| jumped for the door and fled across the
fields, you will not call me cowardly.
1t was = o'clock next morning when
l returned to the house. The candles
1 had left burning had not burned out
| but had been blown out. l told my
| story to number of people, and a
| hardheaded man, who claimed never
| to have known what fear was, vOlun-
| teered to pass q night in the house
| claiming that all the noises | had heard
| We're made by the wind or rats. He
had changed his mind several hours
before daylight came, however.
| At 2 o'clock he aroused me, and in
| all my life l never saw a man more
| broken up. He had heard the wailing
and sobbing and gone over the house
| with his lighted lamp. Soon after mid
night, as he sat by the kitchen table.
| he had caught the sounds of footsteps
on the cellar stairs. He plainly heard
the footsteps take every stair in rota-
| ton until the top, only few feet TO his
| lcll WAS IedCHetl, anu llltli Niit NAohtAS
closed door swung softly open. He
was looking full at it when il did so.
| There was a minute of deepest silence,
and then the lamp at his elbow was
| suddenly turned out.
For a few seconds the man could not
move a finger. and though he had seen
no one he fully expected to be struck
or stabbed. Then he made n rush for
the outer door. banged it to behind him
| and ran for his life.
After breakfast l went over to the
! house with him. There was the lamp
there the open cellar dOor-there his
| overturned chair. What hand had
opened the door and turned down the
| light? What voice had cried out in
that wailing. sobbing way: Had the
| living or the dead walked about
| through halls and rooms:
! / wanted nothing more to do with