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Show Iflisloricf Crimes 1 and (Mysteries 1 & WallMasm I' - THE WATCHMAKER OF MONTR MON-TR EU I L. Monsieur Pol was not a popular man In Montroull. Ills neighbors talked about him every day and shook their heads gloomily when thoy did so. Evon tho children hushed tholr chatter whon ho wont by, and It is related re-lated to this day, by tho old Inhabitants, Inhab-itants, that tho dogs showed tholr teeth and growled at tho sight of him. Ills habits nnd appcaranco woro all against him. For ono thing, Pol would havo no t raffle with his nolghbors, fur-thor fur-thor than to mend tholr watches and clocks. Ho seemed to hato all mankind. man-kind. If tho grocor or tho notary bade him good morning, Pol's answer would bo a wolfish snarl, and tho grocer gro-cer or tho notary would muttor something some-thing about tho ovll oyo. If ovor a man had an evil faco, that man was Pel. Ills countcnanco was long and ran down to a point; his noso was hooked, and two llttlo, rod, fiery eyes glarod with changeless hostility upon all around him. Ills cars wcro largo and stuck out from his head llko sails, and his complexion was of tho waxy, bloodless huo of a corpse His business was watchmaking; but his passion was chemistry, and nil his sparo hours woro spent in his house, which presented a forbidding appear-nnco. appear-nnco. Ho had boardod up tho lower windows nnd tho doors always wcro barred and locked. Ho had a furnaco In tho house, and ofton strange lights of various colors and diabolical suggestion sug-gestion gleamed through tho chinks in tho window boards, and passers-by could hear tho wheezing of bellows, and tho roaring of flames. At times Pel novor loft his houso for days together, to-gether, and then tho flro always was roaring. At othor times ho would appear ap-pear on tho streets In sobor black garments, gar-ments, his chost covered with ribbons and decorations which ho had mado himself. Then ho would insist that sho would show him what wu (vim.ii Ellso had been thrifty all the days of her life, nnd had n neat llttlo pack-ago pack-ago of francs put away for tho rainy day. No sooner had she begun working work-ing for Pol than ho began borrowing her money. He was engaged In an experiment ex-periment which would mako him rich, and everything she loaned htm would bo repaid a hundredfold. After making mak-ing several loans sho concluded thnt the security was too shadowy, and sho refused to looson up any moro. Pol glared at her with his wicked red eyes nnd told her that sho was reading read-ing her own death warrant. For many hours after this Pel's furnnco flro raged furiously. Black sraoka belched from his chlmnoy In a steady stream, and nt night a rod glaro streamed from tho chinks In tho window boarding. It happened thnt a young man of tho neighborhood confessed to curiosity as his chief weakness, and his curiosity overcamo his fear to such an oxtent that ho got a ladder, and quietly placed it against Pol's boarded window; then ho climbed up nnd had a good vlow, over tho top of tho boards, of tho Interior of tho houso. Tho neighbors waited at a distance mnrvollng at tho boldness of tho young man, and praying that ho might return alive. Ho did. Ho came back to them and told them, In a nobbing whisper, that ho had seen moro than ho expected to see. . Pol was stoking his furnaco furiously and nnon throwing throw-ing Btrango fuel Into It. Tho young man was suro that this fuol was fragments frag-ments of a human body. Moreover, thero wero prints of hands on tho wall, and theso prints looked na though thoy might bo in blood. Nothing was dono until morning, and then tho ofllcors went to tho houso. Pel's flro had gono out, and thoro was a heap of whlto ashes in tho furnace. But thoro was plenty of ovldonco that a great crlmo had been committed, and that Ellso Boehmcr had been destroyed. Pol was taken to Jail, whoro ho told ono Ho nftor another, trying to explain tho woman's wom-an's disappearance Thon thoro appeared ap-peared at tho pollco station a woman who said that sho had called at Pel's houso to sco Ellso Bochmor, and had found her alono and in convulsions. Ellso evidently was dying, and tho woman hurried away, and kept what sho had seen to herself, so great was hor fear of tho watchmaker. It was thon suspected that Pol had poisoned Ellso, and, aftor her death, dlsmcm-'bored dlsmcm-'bored tho body and burned It. This proved to bo tho caso, and tho enormity enorm-ity of tho crlmo has given tho red-eyed red-eyed watchmnkor a conspicuous placo In tho. chronlclo of bloody deeds. Whllo Franco was simmering with oxcltement over this grotesque crlmo, further revelations Increased that ox-cltemont. ox-cltemont. Somebody remembered that various women who had boon bo unfortunate un-fortunate as to becomo associated with Pel had died or disappeared suddenly sud-denly and mysteriously; and it was recalled that Pol ofton had boasted of tho discovery of a poison whtch loft no traces. His first wlfo had died some years beforo, and the doctor had Pel Glared at Her With His Wicked Eyes and Told Hsr She Was Readlna Her Own Death Warrant. he was a professor of tho Sorbonno, arid that his chemical discoveries had Btartled tho world. A strango man was Monslour Pel; bo strango that ho was sent to a lunatic asylum' onco and ro-malncd ro-malncd thero for a year or two, aftor which oxporlenco ho resumod his watchmaking and his chemical experiments. experi-ments. It was thirty odd years ago that a woman named Elfco "Bochmer con-sontcd con-sontcd to accept a situation as house-keopor house-keopor in tho Pol establishment. This wbb Just after the watchmaker's second sec-ond wlfo and hor mother had mado a sudden and mysterious oxlt from tho houso. Tho second wlfo and hor mother moth-er wero wretchedly 111 when this happened, hap-pened, and thoy romalned in tho neighborhood only long enough to recuperate re-cuperate sufficiently to .travel. Thoy wero not co'riimuulcatlvo. Tho most thoy, would say was that" they thanked God thoy had .got' away from ihat" house alive. Thls'clrcumstanco Increased tho unpopularity un-popularity of Pol. What was going on in his houBO, that two womon talk that way? Tho friends of Ellso Jtoohmer tried to persuado her not to tako tho Job. It would be far better for hor to work herself to death as a charwoman than to bo associated In any way with a man who certainly was In league with tho powers of darkness. But Ellso laughed at such advice. Sho had a mind of her own. Tho mystery of the PlJ...ho21P .attracted hor. Moroover, eho'was a' bTl'sTrtmg-woinan, and-tha. watchmaker web thin and frail, and If ho attempted any funnycbualnoss credited her death to the eating of poisonous mushrooms. Investigation showed that sho had died of poison. This was bad enough, but worse was to follow. Another doctor remembered that ho had treated Pel's mother for a similar complaint nnd sho had died. Tho mother's body was disinterred, and oxports decided that sho had died of poison. It was soon mado ovldent that tho Inhuman wretch had killed his own mother to get possession of tho llttlo property sho owned, which ho could not touch whllo sho lived. Then It was romombord that two girls who had gono to work for Pol, In 1872 and 1873, had disappeared and wero seen no moro, after a Bhort serv-lco serv-lco with him. There could bo no doubt that thoy had met tho fato of Ellso Boohmer, or something similar, but no great effort was mado to trace tho facts In theso cases. ' NPol was tried at tho Molun as-sfzes, as-sfzes, and a distinguished French author au-thor who was thero wrote of tho prisoner: pris-oner: "Thoso oyos never looked straight at anyone, that Bhrlveled mummy faco surely never smiled, that impenetrable mask had had no youth." Tho murderer was convjeted, but was only sentenced to transportation for Ufo, probably becauao of grave doubts aa to his sanity. |