The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1911-07-28

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thng, and never would have
bought Il, but he would not sell the
rest of the things without It, and
saw a good profit In them. He was a
small, dark fellow, a Hindoo I'm sure,
and wlcked-looking enough, He came
In on a merchantmen and brought his
stuff in teak chest / remember dis.
tinctly that / wondered whether his
queer manner was due to an effort to
conceal his eagerness TO dispose Of
his goods, or TO his embarrassment
with the English language, Save
perhaps a wild look in his eyes, / did
not notice anything queer about him
at first, when he came in in a sailors
costume, with some other rags show
ing beneath il around his neck, and
a big turban around his head. But
when he came in a second time with
a derby hat on, | had TO shudder at
the appearance of the top Of his head,
as he removed his hat 1t actually
seemed as If a piece of 1t had been
knocked of, or tlattened in; all SCARED
up and knocked out of shape, it was
nearly sickening. Then / noticed that
his actions seemed inconsistent even
furtive at times. I wondered if the
senses had been frightened or knocked
out of his head The sailor from the
Indian merchantmen told me about
that later.
Seeing no reason to the contrary
/ struck a bargain with him, and a
good one it was-all sorts of rare Hin
doc curios that sold well. l never ex-
pected to see him again, but two
weeks later l was called to an insane
asylum, and there he was, a raving
maniac, yelling in Hindoo He seemed
to have been driven wild with terror,
for it showed all over him. My check
had been found on him, and they had
called me to give what information
| could There was also an English
sailor there from his ship, and ! heard
his story; of how the HindoO had
sneaked aboard with his chest the
night before they sailed, and covered
in the forecastle and behind the bul-
warks till they were out of the har-
Dor When ! told them of the good
he had sold ue tho sailor swore that
The fellow belonged to the breed Of
temple robbers, and had come to grief
at IT, He wasn't superstitiOus, he
said, but he had seen things done in
the HindOo temples that passed the
comprehension of a western mind. !
lust before he left Calcutta there was
great furore about the temple |
thieves, who wrought great losses in
the temples; and then the priests got |
their magic to working. Then the |
things that happened to the thieves |
We're most awful-and the stories !
that got abroad about them were |
worse yet l suppose. Paralyzed, |
blasted, driven insane, mutilated,
killed on the spOt-and when the night |
was dead and silent and lonely among
the terrOrs of the shrines Fearful
things We're wrought by the magic of
the HindOo priests, and temple rob
bing grew less lucrative. But this
Hindoo said the sailor, with the
SCARED head and eyes of a madman,
and the bronze Mahadeva, must have
been a temple robbcr, and he had
most surely carried away a memen,
to of it"
The bronze Mahadeva resumed its
place in the back of Knotter e Dahns
store; and what is more it bid fair
TO keep the place a long time to come.
Many a customer. would come, and
look with favorable eyes upon it's
jewels, perhaps even ask its price
But as soon as they noticed its ugly,
menacing look, the snarl of the lips
drawn back from the teeth, that made
one shudder, or Derchance II tnUg I
heard anything Of its story they {
looked at it once more, and decided
they would rather not take it, over l
and over again it happened thus, and
it seemed that this one of Knotter &
Dahn's investments was to be but
idle capital
But Mr.. Holt had the interests of