The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1907-09-17
::'::::':: he Abbot of
=: :: :" San Pietro
eeee BY JOHN n. RAFTEaY.
BY JOHN H. RAFTEaY.

AHo ShiSl cause OF arrangement
between old DR.. Herman Shumate
and his son, Maurice, was the old
mans old-country idea3 about money.
lie was already millionaire, but he
refused to extend to Maurice the
slightest financial aid or the least en-
enlargement to hope for q rich in
heritence. He made two provisos,
without the fulfillment of which his
son, he said, was to have not q penny
or his wealth. First, the boy must
marry. The father didn't care who
she was provided Maurice married
her in the orthodox way, but a wife
he must get. Then he must earn, ac-
quire or at least prove the ownership
or at least a thousand dollars In his
own right before he could expect
either countenance or help from his
father.
These were harsh requirements
Tor young man of Maurice Shu-
mates temperament, for he was born
In New York, reared among well-to-
90 young Americans, and utterly de-
void OF those cautious, economical.
old-fashioned qualities which made
his father harsh master in spite of
MS natural amiability.
Having degrees from half q dozen
European universities, Herman Shu-
mate was entitled to the doctor"
epithet, though he had never prac-
ticed medicine. An expert chemist
and poison specialist, master of the
materia medlca and inventor of two
successful processes OF emblaming.
he had achieved his greatest success
and most of his millions as manager
ana stockholder OF n rich chemical
mandatory. The boy, Maurice, was
a rake at twenty-one and n harum-
scarum, popular, utterly irresponsible
man-about-town at twenty-five. Then
he was stricken with pneumonia and
empyema, and his creditors began to
harry his father. When he was
trong enough to walk Che weighed
lnly 12O pounds) his father gave him
100 and said:
You'll get well If you go to a
{ood climate and sleep nine hours a
lay. You can come back or not as
you choose. But / will pay no more
or your bills. l will feed and house
You no longer. If you get married
and make your first thousand dollars.
all right. 1 will see."
1t was harsh sentence, End II
hurt Maurice, but he was very weak.
and only smiled wanly as he said:
Il don't blame you, dad. But
where would you go?"
Go to the devil, IL you likel"
growled the doctor, who had seen
that smile before. Here's your hun
dred dollars
when Maurice was gone, old DIR.
Shumate began to fret. lie became
more active than ever, more interest
ed In scientific research, more penu-
rious, and more solitary in his habits
than before. When winter came on
he decided to go into the Southwest
70 examine some of the mummles of
the cliff dwellers, with an idea OF dis
covering some of the secrets OF their
embalming processes. He explored
Mancos and other remote canons I'm
Colorado and Mexico, and then be-
came absorbed in the preservative
cerements enwrapping the monks
buried beneath the old Spanish mis-
sions or southern California, Texas
and Mexico. It was at San Pletro
that ne stumbled across a bit of in
formation that set his scientific soul
afre. He had tried I'm vain to induce
Herr KnaLss, the German keeper of
me old mission, to open the long
called tombs that lay beneath the al
car stones Of the chapel. lie had be-
Tome very friendly with the old Gus
todian, who was from Nuremberg
and he had been almost generous
With his fees. But no, tho propertv
belonged to the Franciscans and he.
Knauss, being only renter. was
pledged to protect every part and
parcel OF the antique buildings and
historic grounds.
But there is another ruin wbis-
pered Knauss. 81 think It is an old
burial vault, in an adjoining farm.
II you VIII risk few hundred dol
lars perhaps"
TRY it. try It, my frlend!" OK
claimed the enthusiast. "When can
you begin?"
The old German insisted that the
matter must be kept secret, but he
would let his patron know the result
OF the excavation. II was n very
much delapidatod structure, mostly
under ground, filled with earth.
stones and the debris OF more than
two centuries Il would take time
But DR.. Shumate had been IN Mont
Grey only I week when he got Ger
man letter from Herr Knauss. The
digger, toiling alone at night and
aided by his daughter, had unearthed
many bones, but-most extraordi-
nary OF ala perfectly preserved
corpse. probably that of an abbot.