The Mystery =s OF , Carney-Croft By JOSEPH BROWN COOKE (Copyright, IDU7, by Story-Press Corporation.) CHAPTER I.—Continued. "That's more'n I know," said the ;man, turning and looking me squarely in the face, "but they said they seen two ghosts, one fur the old man, an' on fur the boy, aout under the trees In front of the liaouse right where ole •Carney fell off his hoss! Every one of 'em seen the same thing, an' when .nine men agrees to a dot on a thing o' this kind it's pretty hard, even fur a church member, not to believe it. "They'll all tell ye the same story. The boy was a-swayiu' back an' forth, jest as he did after the hoss kicked fiim, an' the ole man kind o' boverln' an' bendin' over him like he was in the saddle a-cussin' him again. The Aggers was perfectly plain, all in white, but them that stayed to look long enough said ye could see the •trunks o' the trees an* other things right through 'em, too." "I suppose they all came back to fHoskins' after seeing this wonderful sifrhf," I remarked. "You bet they did, an' they come a runnin', too," said the man."l never seen a scarder lot o' men in my life." "Made pretty good business for Hos kins that night, eh?" I ventured. "Wal, 1 guess it did!" he rejoined, with a grin. "An' it'll keep right on tnakin' good business fur him. too! Them fellers won't git over talkln' o' that fur a month o' Sundays!" "How did they got home that night?" I continued persuasively. His grin broadened as be chuckled. "Them as couldn't walk had to ride home in this 'ere rig. Haow I ever piled so many in is more'n I kin tell!" and he laughed immoderately at the 'thought. "So when business is good with Hoskins it's likely to be good with you, too. eh?" I went on. "Most ginerally," he replied. "Most giuerally; 'less Hoskins gits all their money 'fore they're ready fur me an' their credit ain't no good." "And when the men aren't working at Carney's they spend a good deal of time at Hoskins', don't they?" I asked. "Yes, an' a good deal o' money, too," he rejoined. "Ole Carney alius paid 'em well; nobody can't deny that." "So It's a good thing for Hoskins and a good thing for you, to get them away from the plape every little while," I suggested warily. "1 s'pose it is, an' I s'pose we can't neither of us help it if they want to leave," he returned sullenly and with sudden suspicion as he pulled his horse up sharply at the station plat lorm. My train arrived in a few moments, and as I was about to step aboard I •drew the fellow toward me and said to him in a low tone, that others might not hear: "The men were quite right about the ghosts. I saw them myself, from my window, perfectly distinctly and exactly as you have described them." The car was already moving and I /unn; up on the step and left him ,fauding bewildered. CHAPTER 11. Two Letters. My Dear Mr. Ware: My apologies for not replying to your letter of nearly two weeks ago are weak ened by the fact that 1 am now writing to you in great distress. My brother will be here day after to , morrow, and it has just occurred to me . that I have made a most dreadful blunder | s:nd I need your advice mure than ever i before. j You know, T asked Miss Weston, my > old school friend, to come here and stay with me for a time at least, and she did I so, understanding, as 1 have sinco I learned, that Jack was away and not to ' return. She is here now and seems to me to be quite 111 again, but the embarrassing part of it Is that she and Jack was once great sweethearts, and his going away to Hon olulu was really due to some disagree ment that they hail nearly three years ago. I never knew just what the trouble was. As Annie was my dearest friend in school and afterwards, too, I quite •overlooked the whole matter in my anx iety to have someone with ine when I was so awfully alone. You remember. I merely telegraphed her to come, and she -lid not even know of father's death and supposed, of course, that Jack was away. Now she is too ill togo home again, and Jack is coming so soon that I don't know what to do. It is a frightfully em barrassing position to be placed in, espe •ctally as there was so much mystery over their separation. You see, under the circumstances, T • cannot possibly adopt your suggestion to close the house and come to town for the present, and. anyway, I feel that I ought to stay here till Jack comes to keep an eye on father's things. Miss Weston is, I am sure, quite too •ill to be moved, and with Mrs. Kemsen, • our old housekeeper, I feel perfectly safe. Please write me at once and advise me •.in my present predicament. Very truly yours, FLORENCE CARNEY. P. S. There is a rumor that Carney- Croft Is haunted, and some of the village people even go so far as to say that you saw a ghost when you were here. Have you heard anything of this sort? It is ridiculous, of course, but it makes me nervous. P. C. My Dear Mtss Carney: Your letter of yesterday is at hand. I would not worry, if I were you, about your brother and Miss Weston. It was probably some childish affair that they have both forgotten by this time. I am sorry to hear that Miss Weston is •11 again, for it must add to your cares materially, but as you have told me that all your house servants are reliable and trustworthy I suppose you are managing fairly well. I expect your brother in town to-day ot to -morrow and he will probably stay here over night and so onto Carney-Croft the next day. Either h«» or I will telegraph you as soon as ho arrives. 1 thought you knew about the ghosts or I should have written you before. There were two large pieces of mosquito netting In tny room which were apparent ly intended for covering portraits. I threw them over u ••hair-back near the window and they blew out during the night and caught in the branches of the trees In front of the house.l knew that some of the men from the village had seen them and taken them for ghosts, but as I myself saw your butler pulling them down early the next morning I sup posed the whole story had been ex plained to the satisfaction of everybody. Very sincerely yours. FREDERICK WARE. CHAPTER 111. John Carney. As Mr. Carney was ushered Into mv private office I rose to greet him, and stepped from behind my desk with outstretched hand; but as he raised his face to "line I drew back in amaze ment and disgust, and motioned him to a chair with scant ceremony. "Drunk! the beast!" I muttered to myself, as he shambled drowsily to the seat I had indicated and dropped into it with a thickly uttered "Thank you." He seemed to fall asleep for a mo ment, and I eyed him steadily for some time before I could bring myself to speak. And so the handsome, straight forward, manly fellow of three years ago had sunk to this! A sodden, de graded wretch, unfit to associate with pigs in a sty, and yet the heir to a vast estate and the sole legitimate protector of the sweet-faced orphan at Carney-Croft who awaited his coming with the impatience born of love and hope and confiding trust! God help the poor girl now, and God help the accursed wreck that sat opposite me! His heavy breathing wheezing in and out of his throat; his listless, stupid face, flushed and mottled from (he effects of his excesses; his body, dripping with perspiration which stood out In beads on his forehead and glistened on his hand as it. lay in the sunlight; and his drooping, blood-shot I I I [ pf M J Am Going to Carney-Croft To-Night." eyes, now half closed and again wan dering aimlessly about the room; all combined to make a disgusting pic ture. It was with the utmost difficulty that I could restrain my feelings suf ficiently to address him with ordinary civility. Finally, my judgment pre vailed over my indignation, and I re membered that 1 was the legal ad viser, only, of the house of Carney, and not in any way concerned with the moral conduct of its head. "You had a comfortable journey, I hope," I remarked icily. "As comfortable as such a journey can be," he wheezed, turning his bleary eyes toward me as he spoke. "The conditions which made my home coming necessary did not make my trip enjoyable, and I traveled with the greatest possible haste, as there are certain matters that I want you to ar range for me at once." He spoke his words with a force and precision unusual in a man in his con dition, but he was evidently control ing himself to the utmost degree and, as he talked, his face flushed in great blotches, his blood-sliot eyes seemed almost bursting from his head, and the perspiration oozed from his body and trickled in little streams down his cheeks and neck. "Do you wish to hear any of the de tails of your father's death?" I asked in a most matter of fact tone. "No, thank you," he said, with some effort. "I found a long letter from Florence at my hotel this morning and she has told me everything. I wish merely to arrange some money affairs with you and make my will, and I wish to do so at once." "How much money do you need for the present?" I asked, sarcastically. "How much money do I need?" he repeated, in a bewildered tone. "Why. I don't need any. I have all the ready cash that I want. I only want to ar range for the future, you know." "Very glad to hear it," I observed dryly. "Now, as to your will. Do you think, Mr. Carney, that your state of mind to-day is such that you are quite ready to make a will? Would it not bo better for you to wait a day or so until —er —until you have had an op CAMERON COUNTY PRESS, THURSDAY, MAY 2, 1907. portnnity to rest from your Journey and your—ahem—your health lias im proved somewhat?" I regretted my words on the instant. In spite of the man's condition, they seemed to have eut him to the quick. An expression of anguish, pitiful to see, passed over his face and his whole body trembled. After a moment ho said slowly with the same wonderful self-control: "My health, as you choose to call it, Mr. Ware, will not improve to any ap preciable degree, and my mind is, at this moment, as clear as it will ever be. I wish you to draw up a will leav ing everything 1 possess to my sister, Florence Carney, and I wish, also, to give you power of attorney so that from this time on, you can conduct the estate in niv stead and supply her with such funds as she may n»>ed. I do not expect to spend much *.ime at Carney-Croft and I want these mat ters attended to now, before I go there at all." His ideas were so thoroughly in ac cord with his duty to his sister that I was now anxious to caj-ry them out at once as he requested, lest another op portunity might never occur. It took but a short time to arrange the details of the will, and then it and the power of attorney were signed by him in a trembling hand and witnessed by members of my office staff. When these formalities "were over and we were alone again, Mr. Carney said abruptly: "I am going to Carney-Croft to-night and have wired Florence to have a carriage for me at the midnight train and not to sit up. I don't expect to stay there long, and I should think it would be better to close the place and have her take a house here in town where she would be more comfort able." "I made the same suggestion my self," 1 replied, "but she wrote that she felt perfectly safe at home, and that slie wanted to remain until yon panic to take charge of things. As you have turned all such responsibil ity over to me, as your attorney, there is but one thing now to prevent her leaving." "What else can there be?" he mut tered thickly. I watched him closely as I answered. "Do you not know that her friend, Miss Weston, is with her?" "What! Annie Weston there!" ho exclaimed. "Is she well?" "No," 1 replied, studying him. "She is not at all well. In fact, she is too ill to be moved, and that is why Miss Carney cannot close the house at pres ent." "I never dreamed that Annie Wes ton would bo in my house,"he whis pered, as if to himself. "Poor girl! Poor girl!" "When Miss Carney asked her to come, Miss Weston did not know that you were to return, and even now she has not been told that you are on your way home," I continued. "Your sister was quite upset over the fact that, in asking Miss Weston to visit her when she was in such need of a companion she entirely forgot the disagreement between you a few years ngo." "Disagreement!" he almost shouted, pulling himself up in his chair. "Why, what on earth are you talking about, man? We had no disagreement, I tell you! Nothing of the sort. I suppose Florence told you that, but she knew nothing about it at all. I went away because Annie thought I ought to; but she was mistaken, poor girl! If I had stayed at home I shouldn't bo in this condition now, but sho thought it was for the best. Poor little woman, she tried so hard to do the best thing for me and —look at me now! Look at me, Ware! But she .must not be disturbed under any circumstances. You say she does not know 1 am coming home. She must not be allowed to know it. As I told you, I shall not stay there long, and there is no need of her knowing that I am in the house. I shall not see her, Ware," he almost sobbed. "I'm not fit to sea her! I'm not fit to see her, man!" (TO BIS CONTINUED.) NEVER SO GREAT. NEW RECORD MADE IN THE NUMBER OF STEEL RAIL 3REAKACES. NEW YORK STATE RAILROAD COMMISSION CALLS ATTEN TION TO IT IN BULLETIN. Albany, X. Y. Broken rails removed from the tracks of the railroads of thi3 state during the three months of January, February and March just past were manifoldly more than in the corresponding three months of either past two years, ac cording to a bulletin issued last night by thft state railroad commission. The board "has just completed," says this bulletin, "an investigation of breakage of rails in the tracks of the principal steam railroad companies of the state. "The unusual number reported dur ing the past winter," the bulletin say 3, "caused the investigation at this time. The board has found that during th-i three months ending March 31, 1907, there was a total of 3,014 breakages on the principal steam lines of the state; during the corresponding three months of 1906 there was a total of 526, and during the corresponding three months of 1905 there was a total of 1,331." One of the commission's tables ana lyzes the totals as to weight of tha rails, and appears to show that while the breakage in 1905 and 190G was chiefly in the 80-pound rails, the larg est number in the quarter just past was in the 100-pound rails, of which 1,295 were removed—49s from the Lake Shore main line, and from the New York Central eastern main lino 475; Mohawk division 217 and west ern main line 107. The other fable analyses the figures as to date when the removed rails were rolled, and apparently showing heaviest breakage totals in rails rolled since 1899 and especially in those rolled in 1904, 1905 and 190 G. UNIQUE FEATURE. Is Presented in the Massey Murder Trial—Son of Murdered Man At tends Court as an Expert in Criminology. New York. The bullet that killed Gustav Simon, the shirt waist manufacturer who was shot to death in his factory in Broadway last November, was on Thursday exhibit ed in the court where Mrs. Anisia De Massey is on trial, charged with hav ing taken his life. While the deadly missile was passed from hand to hand by the jurymen she sat chatting with her counsel arid from time to time making notes in a memorandum book. Among the spectators in court were two sons of the murdered man. One of them, Dr. Carleton Simon, an ex pert in criminology, is making a study of the defendant. Mrs. Anna Polanza, who had work ed with the defendant in Simon's fac tory, said that when Simon, after he was shot, was being removed from his office to the elevator she heard a po liceman, pointing to Mrs. De Massey, ask if ihal was the woman that fired the shots. "Yes," said Simon, "this is the woman. Madame De Massey shot me." .• On motion of counsel for the defense and with the consent of the prose cution the statement of the witness that she heard Simon declare the shots were fired by the defendant was stricken from the record. From an other witness, Elizabeth Hale, who was employed by Simon as a designer, however, the prosecution got about the same testimony. THE STROUP-ROSS TRAGEDY. The Murdered Man Expected Trouble at His Wedding—A Statement from His Fiance. Oil City, Pa. —The body of Misa Belle Stroup and that of Thad deus E. Ross, her former sweet heart, whom she shot before com mitting suicide Wednesday, eight hours before the time fixed for Koss' marriage to another woman, were viewed by a coroner's jury Thursday, after which they were removed from the undertaking rooms. Miss Sampsell said yesterday:"l did not know Miss Stroup. 1 was aware Mr. Ross kept company with her before he commenced culling oi, me four years ago, but I was under the impression he had stopped and never dreamed of his corresponding! with her. Had Miss Stroup came to J nie Wednesday when she arrived in j Oil City or at any time after he first ! learned of our proposed marriage and ! told her st.iry, I should never have ! permitted the marriage ceremony to ! have been performed. If Thad had promised to marry this girl, she should have been his wife." Although living with his parents, Ross had a furnished room in a busi ness block in the heart of the city where he sometimes slept and enter tained guests. That he apprehended 1 trouble at his wedding is shown by a ! request made of the Sampsell family ' that there should be plenty <>i light ' in front of the house, in order that he might see the guests as they entered the front door. Boss was warned by j friends that he should bo careful. Largest Herd of Bison Is Sold. Denver, Col. —A message was re ceived here Thursday thaf. the Pablo herd of buffalo on the Flathead reservation, Montana, has been sold to the Canadian government. There are between 400 and 500 buffaloes in the herd, which is the largest in the world. The price is said to be $150,- 000. $400,000 Fire Loss. Mir nc.tpolis, Minn. —Fire totally cVi.ilroyed the Wisconsin Cen ral freight depot in this city Thurs a loss of $-100,000. ggwaßßaaaißM^ IBalcom & Lloyd. | WE have the best stocked general store in the OOTID ty 8 and if you are looking for re- if liable goods at reasonable jl prices, we are ready to serve if you with the best to be found. a Our reputation for trust- jfj jlj worthy goods and fair dealing j| g is too well known to sell any it j| but high grade goods. |j I Our stock of Q,ueensware and I! Chinawar® is selected with p great care and we have soma of the most handsome dishes 8 ever shown in this section, both in imported and domestic M makes. We invite you to visit us and look our goods over. i| I Balcom & Lloyd, j i*! LOOK ELSEWHERE BUT CON'T FORGET THESE PRICES AND FACTS AT j B LaBAR S 0 I *3 11 *3 ea M M We carry in stock - « M fc* the largest line of Car- - „ .fspugugMjjß g* kg pets, Linoleums and £/_ fe J I* Mattings of all kinds H ?? ever brought to this -,..._ PS town. Also a big line «e* of samples. PfiUDJI ** A very large line of •-FOR.THE gglrf »§ 112 2 Lace Curtains that can- II Xre fo"ce any - CMTM IQM H Art Squares and of fine books in a choice library Rugs of all sizes and select the Ideal pattern of Globe- Si Si kind, from the cheap- Wernicke "Elastic" Bookcase. $$ *« est to the best. I lrnished with bevel French I j plate or leaded glass doors. j>. <jj gt $ Dining Chairs, ron sale o* Rockers and GEO. J. LaJJAR, £* High Chairs. sole Agent for Cameron County. I fcjj j?2 A large and * - "fj line of Tufted and Drop-head Couches. Beauties and at bargain prices. ££ tea §3O Bedroom Suite, (112 OT S4O Frdeboard, quar- CfOfl £ls M solid oak at... 4)ZO tered cak... Zboll N rj S2B Bedroom Suits, C*)| f32 Sideboard, qnar ff S solid oak at 3-tl tered oak jSiD $$ ■Hi $25 Bed room Suits, COfl I $22 Sideboaid, quar- etc M solid oak at JL U I ttred oak, H N A large line of Dressers from I Ch fl'oniers of all kiuds and M $S up. I all prices. K* J __ fesd The finest line of Sewing Machines on the market, £3 the "DOMESTIC" and "ELDRILGE.' All drop- JJ hg heads and warranted. A fine line of Dishes, common grade and China, in Fj ** sets and by the piece. M As I keep a full line of everything that goes to &>• make up a good Furniture store, it is useless to enum erate them all. >4 Please call and see for yourself that lam telling fcg fcg you the truth, and if you don't buy, there is no harm £* done, as it is no trouble to show goods. ?• GEO. J .LaBAR. » N M A i m #is» j«i, je* jxt 4H>.4«h J 3
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers