The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1915-06-02
TheDevil's Inn
BY M. QUAD
Copyright, 1914, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.

ZacatcGaS, Mexico. you nave ncaru the
story of "rhe DEVILS Inn" and have
been mystilied over it. II you have not
heard the story by word Of mouth you
will be Interested III it.
On the highway to San Luis. about
four miles out of Zacatccas, are the
ruins of the inn. They have been ruins
since 1854.
The landlord and most OF his GUS
| toners We're Il hard lot. and during
the four or five years the place flour
ished it had q bad name. The aI-
thorities had about determined to close
the Inn when it was suddenly ADAM
doned by the owner. The most that
could be learned from the servants
was that q 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 it soon had
the reputation OF being haunted, and
after a couple Of years an incident oc-
cured that gave it 4 still worse name.
A young man belonging to one OF the
best families Of Monterey. who hap
pened to be in Zacatecas on a visit.
made a wager that he would pass a
night alone in the inn. He rode out
before dark. well armed and provided
with lights, and was seen to enter the
place by window. Next day his
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 out
and searched the inn. The search was
q 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
ernmcnt of Zacatecas in the years
named to make surveys for Il drainage
canal, and. of course, heard of the
DEVILS inn. as it had long been called.
That the people were earnest and sim
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 rs they
did but for the chief Of police Of "a
catccas. He called on me one day in
serious mood and said:
II want to warn you against making
any foolish move in connection with
the devils inn. The place is surely
haunted and dangerous to life. TO mat
ter what you think. Don't be silly
enough to pay it Il nights visit. rs |
hear you contemplate doing"
had contemplated nothing Of the
Kind, but the chief had scarcely finish
ed when l was resolved to take that
very step. My chin was named Clark.
a young man from Chicago. and l had
no sooner preached the subject to him
than lie was ready for the adventure.
For fear that the authorities might
stop us we let only a 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 go much as u rat We
had brought our pipes. wine and lunch,
con. with 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.qnarters Of an hour
later the door leading to the office was
tried from the far side. We not only
heard it 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
Cilul!Ous We SldSI)cA Sui 'C' o''S'' ''HN
tiptoed to the door. When we rench.
ed it 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
half an hour after midnight and we
were both probably moulding in sleep
when both dours were suddenly burst
open with crash. our candles were
blown out by what seemed strong
wind. and the next instant l was sciz-
ed. lifted Off my feet and carried to
the broken window Of the Office and
flung out. While lay on the ground
Clark followed me. and we heard a
queer sort of chuckling from. the win.
dow above. We both scrambled up
and ran for our lives and in time reach
ed the city. Neither Of us was much
hurt. but we had received a great
fright What had attacked Us we could
not say.
We went ut once to the police. but
even as we told our story we saw Il
red glare on the sky ard knew the
DEVILS inn was on fire. Next day we
visited the place with strcag detach-
ment of Dolice. We found nothing but