Middletown transcript., 1905-11-15
TEN THOUSAND DOLLAR DISCOVERY
hat it attracted but fieetine notice.
BY CLIFFORD HOWARD

, worth investigating, and the more pom
dered over it the more it attracted me and
the more unsolyable it appeared to grow,
/ am man possessed OF inordinate cur.
iosity. Sometimes it has proven a de.
cided detriment to my welfare, for it has
led me into numerous unpleasant exper.
fences and again have found it of great
service. At all events, when it is once
aroused nothing short Of its complete
satisfaction will give me any peace or
rest and the present instance was no
exception to the rule.
/ made it point to lffint up my origi-
nal informant but found him about as
mysterious as the mystery itself. He had
his theories in regard to it, but he was
not prepared to divulge them, beyond
the statement that he regarded the affair
as natural phenopenon-an astrono-
mical or terrestial-magnetic phenomenon
l-of great Importance to him as a scien-
tist, and. he did not care to discuss his
ideas and observations with a layman.
Upon the whole he gave me the impress
sion of a man whose wits we're not all
working in harmony, and decided to let
him alone.
| believe in going directly to head
quarters for information whenever it is
possible. If, therefore, the owner OF the
house had been in the city should at
once have gone to him and frankly asked
him to satify my curiosity. But he had
gone away for the Summer, as was his
custom-gone to Germany. the neighbors
said. l learned, however, that his name
was Covington-Colonel Covington and
that was about all did learn, for nobody
appeared to know anything about him,
| beyond the fact that he was a wealthy
bachelor and lived by himself with
retinue of servants and associated with
no one.
| was obliged, therefore, to make vir
tue of my patience until his return to
Washington the following October. Then,
as soon as l learned he was in town,
made bold to call upon him. Having
been informed that he was decidedly ex-
elusive and unsociable, 1 was not sur
prised to find him anything but affable,
when, after waiting in the handsomely
furnished reception room for more than
half an hour, he finally put in dignifed
appearance-tall, slender and smooth
shaved, with nervous little eyes and
dropping mouth.
Il don't know anything about the |
matter" was the cool response to my
inquiries regarding the mysterious annual |
confagration.
But" persisted, 'can you not sug-
gest reason for this remaI kahle occur
renee? In the first place, what could
possibly cause an unoccupied house to
catch fire p
Spontaneous combustion" he an
swered shortly; ''or the nibbIing of
matches by mice"
but that would not account for its
periodical occurrence" l suggested.
"Perhaps not" he replied. "But l
have no time to give to triling toinci-
dences of this kind. depend upon the
city authorities to look after my house
during my absence each year and they
appear to be giving it excellent super
vision"
cit is very evident" l retorted with
much warmth (for l am man Of rather
quick temper, ''that I have intruded
upon you with subject that is OF no
interest to you, and offer you my apol-
ogies p
"Of no interest to me?' he burst out
impulsively, eclIoing my words in tone
of bitter mockery. ooh, my God my
God p
He put his hand to his eyes for mo-
ment and then laying it firmly on my
shoulder as l rose from the chair he
gazed into my face with look of such
appealing, pathetic helplessness, that l
started back in surprise at the sudden
and accountable transformation.
I waited for him to proceed. 1t was
evident that some strong emotion was
surging within him and struggling for
outlet. But the momentary revelation of
feeling faded from his eyes and assuming
his frigid bearing he said abruptly, 81 am
pleased to have met you. Good evening""
l was left with no alternative but to
take my departure, which did accord
ingly and in so confused state of mind
that shook hands with the colored but
Ter as passed out of the front door.
Instead of calculating the mystery, l
had succeeded only in throwing about it
darker shadow. There appeared now
to be no possible chance of an explana-
tion until the next yearly recurrence of
the phenomenon. l therefore laid my
plans accordingly and waited with much
impatience for the fateful day.
In accordance with his usual custom,
Col. Coyington closed his house tine latter
part of May and departed for Europe. |
had made no attempt to see him again,
nor did deem it worth while to ask his
permission to break into his house during
his absence. found l could do it with
out his permission and without setting
the burglar alarm in operation, by re-
moving one of the iron bars of a rear
cellar window and squeezing through the
opening.
Once in l had no trouble in finding nv
way to the attic. found it stored with
great mas of material of all kinds.
Near the window from which had seen
the smoke issue the previous year were a
lot Of pillows, mattresses and bed cloth
ing generally. l examined them with
the utmost care, but could find nothing
among them or near them that could
possibly be means OF setting them afire.
So far as l was able to discover there was
absolutely no way by which they could
be ignited-no matches, no oily rags. no
electric wires, no pipes nothing that
could cause combustion,-a after ex
l Ia