The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1905-07-20
THE EVENING STORY
a case al Ghosts.


ornamental plasterer by trade. re-
ceived legal notice that he was heir to
a house and twenty acres of land in
| the province of Vendee, on the west
coast of France.
The house was only one story high
and was divided into sitting room, bed
room and kitchen. Doors and win
dows had long been removed, and the
floors had rotted away, but roof and
walls were all right, and a Few days
work enabled the heir TO move in. The
| usual gossip about haunted houses
was not lacking in this case, and some
of the stories told would have made
the plaSterer's hair curl had he not
| been firm minded.
| Du Bots had been settled a month
| before the ghosts came. He had busled
| himself breaking up and carting away
| the stones and hauling dirt in their
place so as to have ground for gar
den at least. One night he was awak-
ened by curious sound coming from
the kitchen. He slept with both inside
doors open. and there was no cover OF
any sort on the floors. The noise ne
heard was that of soft footsteps. They
seemed to enter the kitchen door ana
| cross to a corner and return to the
door again. He knew the outside
door to be locked, but he lighted
candle and got UP to see what the
soon as he was out of bed, and, nat
urally enough, the man believed that
he had been half dreaming, and he
went back to bed and was soon asleep
again. The incident had no weight
with him next day; but, much to his
surprise, it was repeated on the sec
ond night He was awakened at the
same hour by the clock, and for ten
i of that time the footsteps ceased, and
Du Bots got up and struck a. light, to
find everything as usual.
The inside walls had been roughly
plastered when the house was built. and
here and there it had fallen off in
patches, and he determined to give the
walls a close inspection and see II any,
thing could be found He meant to do
this next day, but found that he had TO
go to a village for supplies and post
poned it. That night, at the same hour
again, the noises were renewed, and on
the third morning after breakfast a
search was begun The outside OF tne
house was taken first and was gone
over foot by foot. Nothing was discov-
cred to solve the mystery.
| When Du Bots came to search the in
terror of the house he made a discovery
almost at once. The ghostly footsteps
had led from the outside kitchen door
to the northwest corner of the room,
distance of about nine feet. About a
third of the plaster had fallen off that
wall, and as the man inspected he soon
came upon a stone differing from the
others by being better dressed. 1t was
others, but it seemed to have been SET
in after the wall had been built.
1t took Dubois an hour to loosen
and lift out the stone, but never was
man more literally rewarded for ar
hours work. The stone was the dool
to a cavity a foot wide and four fee'
long, and in that cavity rested a treas,
ure amounting to tens of thousands OF
dollars. 1t was in gold, silver and jew
els and there was not SO much as the
scrap of pen to say who had con-
cealed it.
AS near as could be ascertained by
the legal records of the province. the
five years. 1t had been built and in
habited by an old man and his wife
Il both of whom had died within a rev
years. The place had then been ten
antless for some time and had Their
been taken possession of by fisher
man. He had vacated. and another
man had come, but for score of years
no one had occupied the place.
Dubois did not herald his good for
tune over the country. Like a wise
man he said nothing and secretly re-
moved his find to Paris. The stone
! was reset in the wall and the plaster
repaired, and he had hardly made the
repairs when he was waited upon by
an officer of the law, who INFORMED
him that a queer mistake had beer
made. The property had been left t6
another by his name, and the new he'll
claim.
The plasterer did not wait for thu
rightfuI heir to turn UP. He had nevel
been satisfied as to how he came to in
herit, though he had gone on the ides
| that the law could make no mistakes
| He hied himself back to Paris, sold his
iewelry and exchanged his coins anc
then did prudent thing by setting sal
for America. He had not been gone
| from Paris four weeks before ne wal
being looked after.
Il In spite of the repairs the new he'll
| had discovered the stone and the hid
ing place. Perhaps ghostly footsteps
had also sounded for him, though they
| had ceased for Du Bots as soon as he
discovered the treasure. At any rate
he wanted information and an account
ing. He reasoned very naturally thai
the cavity had been made to hold q
! treasure and that 1t would not have
| been so carefully concealed again II
nothing had been taken from 1t.
4 Du Bots was out of France and ltv-
Ling in New York when the officers OF
| the law sought to interview him, ano
he has not returned to his native land
| since. The story is from his own lips
Il The value of the treasure he has not
stated, but you have the word OF tbs
i one who writes the story that his search
for ghosts brought him a competence
| 1t might have been hidden by snug
glers, robbers or a miser, but as to thai
| he has never concerned himself. While
/ the treasure technically belonged to tbs
true heir, who can say that the ghosts
would have helped him to recover 1t anc
that 1t would not be resting IN tha'
/ cunning hiding place today?
copyright, 1905, by R. B. Mcclure,
|