The Daytona daily news. [volume] (Daytona, Fla.) 1903-1926, 1915-01-11
The Devil S Inn
By NJ QUAD
Copyright, 1914. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate
By NJ QUAD

been mystified over it II you have MOI
heard the story by word Of mouth yor
will be interested in It.
On the highway to San Luis. about
four miles out of Zacatecas. are the
ruins of the inn. They have been ruins
since 1854,
The landlord and most of his Gus
toners were a hard lot and during
the four or five years the place -four
ished it had bad name. Tie au'
thorities had about determined to close
the inn when 1t was suddenly aban
doned by the owner. The most thal
could be learned from the servants
was that stranger came there one
night and had long and confidential
conversation with the landlord and
next morning both were missing. The
place was Overhauled. but no traces
of murder were found. The servants
scattered. the doors were nailed up.
and the Holy Rest was left To darkness
and the bats. OF course 1t soon had
the reputation Of being haunted. and
after couple of years an incident oc-
cured that gave it still worse name
A young man belonging to one Of the
best families of Monterey, who hap
pened to be in Zacatecas on visit.
made a wager that he would pass II
night alone In the inn. He rode out
before dark. well armed and provided
with lights. and was seen to enter the
place by a window. Next day bis
naked body was found on the highway
in front Of the house. He had been
dead for hours and it was the opinion
Of the doctors that he had been at
tackled by wild beast
A company Of fifty soldiers went ont
and searched the inn. The search was
thorough one. but no trace Of man
or animal could be found
was one OF the four American civil
engineers employed by the local gov
eminent of Zacatecas in the years
named to make surveys for drainage
canal. and. of course. heard of the
devils inn. as 1t had long been called.
That the people We're earnest and sin.
cere in their talk made no difference
to me had no belief in haunted
houses, and my sarcastic reflections
made ME enemies. Perhaps things
would not have gone as far as they
did but for the chief Of police Of Ia
catecas. He called on me one day IN
serious mood and said:
IL want to warn you against making
any foolish move in connection with
the devils inn, The place is surely
haunted and dangerous 10 life. no mat
ter what you think. Don't he silly
enough to pay 1t n nights visit. as
hear yon contemplate doing"
had contemplated nothing Of the
kind, but the chief had scarcely finish
ed when | was resolved to take that
very step. My chum was named Clark.
a young man from Chicago, and | had
no sooner preached the subject to him
than he was ready for the adventure
For fear that the authorities might
stop us we let only few people into
our plan. and one saturday afternoon.
equipped with everything deemed nee.
essary, we were driven out to the inn
Our first step was to carefully in
spect every room and the cellar, and
we did not find so much as a rat We
had brought our pipes, wine and lunch
con, with II pack of cards to divert
ourselves. and neither one OF us had
the slightest idea Of anything coming
to alarm US. AS we sat down to the
cards our revolvers were laid on the
table. and we laughed and joked with.
out restraint We had braced the
doors shut with stout boards. and our
first alarm came when one Of these
boards fell down and the door swung
wide open. so that we could look into
the kitchen.
This Incident happened about 10
O'Clock. Three quarters Of an hour
later the door leading to the office was
tried from the far side We not only
heard 1t creak and give. but We could
see the brace CULVER under the strain.
There was no sound Of footsteps or
whispering. Rising with the utmost
we grasped our revolvers and
dptoed TO the door When We reach. /
I'd 1t we suddenly Jerked the brace
away and sprang back The door flew
back with great violence, but there
was nobody on the other side
When the door had been secured as
before We returned to our game and
spoke in whispers and kept very quiet
After half an hour We abandoned the
cards and sat listening think It was
lalf an hour after midnight and we
we're both probably nodding in sleep
when both doors were suddenly burst
open with crash. our candles were
blown out by what seemed a strong
wind. and the next instant | was seiz.
ID, lifted off my feet and carried TO
he broken window of the office and
lung out. While lay on the ground
lark followed me. and we heard n
lueer sort Of chucklinr from tho win.
low above. We both scrambled m
nd ran for our lives and in time reach.
d the city. Neither Of us was much
lurt, but we had received a great
right What had attacked us we could
lot say
We went at once to the police hu,
ven as we told our story we saw a