Show W adventurers J club N ava 1 house ouse 0 of slaughter aug ter by F LOYD FLOYD GIBBONS famous headline hunter hairs ERES a terrifying tale talc if ever there was one sent to me by I 1 JL 1 mrs robert scott of forest hills N Y but lets call her chubby for that was her nickname when as a little girl of twelve this adventure happened that was back in 1905 on the twenty ninth of october chubby i was living jiving on a farm near pompton compton lakes N J with her mother dadi dad and two brothers drew and garry carry drew was sixteen at the time and garry was fourteen it was a saturday and mother and dad had left in the buggy about 10 a m to drive to the nearest shopping center the three kids were left home alone the boys were pretty big and well able to take care of themselves and their little sister most of the time but the terrible thing that happened on that october day found them not even able to take care of themselves the three kids spent the day uneventfully doing their chores andl and playing about the yard at six when mother and dad still t returned chubby cooked a meal and they all ate wild eyed black man terrifies unprotected kids then they sat in the parlor while chubby read aloud from a volume of grimms grimm s fairy fables it was as peaceful a scene as you could imagine those three kids little dreamed that even as they sat there a half crazed old colored man lurked outside peering through the window at them about seven they heard footsteps on the porch and a loud knock then suddenly the door burst open and a wild eyed black man came stamping into the room ile he made a hissing sound through his teeth says mrs scott and panted like a horse with a quick movement he picked up a big wooden bar we used to bolt the door swung it high over his head and cried those I 1 hate I 1 crush the three kids were terrified they ran into the dining room and crawled all three of them under the massive table but that was no protection the colored man followed them reached in and dragged out garry he wrapped his fingers around carrys neck choked him to insensibility and then picking up his unconscious form in his great arms carried him outdoors and threw him down the well chubby Is trapped in her place of refuge screaming with terror hardly knowing what they were doing drew and chubby followed him out into the yard there the black man grabbed drew and while drew screamed run chubby or be ai J I 1 INN mesfin ile he picked up a big wooden bar and swung it over his head alone with him the man ripped off drews suspenders and twisted them around his neck and little chubby too dazed to run watched in dumb agony while he choked drew and dragged him off toward the barn As he vanished through the barn door though she came to her senses and ran back into the house little chubby knew a place in the house where she could hide bide there was a trap door in the kitchen and it led to a dark little cellar beneath the floor she went through that door bolted it behind her and crept softly down the stairs then she reached up to swing herself atop a big beam over the coal bin but she had forgotten about the great claw like rat trap her dad had put there her reaching hand plunged into the trap the claws dug deep into her arm moaning with pain she fell to the floor the trap chained to the beam tore her flesh but she dare cry out she lay on the ground like a prisoner chained in a dungeon drews quick wit helps save the day overhead she could hear the colored man searching the house for I 1 her she could hear him walking in the parlor he dropped something that sounded like the fire tongs was he setting the house afire would she be burned to death in her underground prison I 1 meanwhile drew had fared little better the black man had dragged him into the barn choked him half to death and then wrapping the suspender around his neck hung him bodily on a harness peg but drew was still conscious and he kept his head taking a jackknife jack knife from his pocket he cut the suspenders and let himself down reeling and breathless he staggered out into the yard and looked down the well had chubby been thrown down there too nol but garry called up to him garry carry was still alive the cold water had revived him and he was clinging to a rock shelf to keep from drowning 1 I cant stand it much longer he moaned hold on said drew im going for help murderous madman Is returned to asylum it was a terrifying scene that mother and dad returned to halt half an hour later the house sand land yard were full of people garry had been pulled from the well nearly frozen and coming down with pneumonia drew sat in a chair dazed chubby was nowhere in sight her mother ran through the house crying for her chubby heard her she cried out and kicked one foot against the side of the coal gilin then she heard the bolted trapdoor trap door splinter as her dad attacked it with an axe she was a pitiful sight when they carried her out of that cellar and took the trap from her arm the arm was swollen to twice its natural size torn scratched scratch ed la lacerated c era ted immediately after drew had summoned help a posse of men began to comb the hills in search for the old negro they caught him a day or so later and sent him back to an institution from which he had escaped after murdering a guard Q gwng servia |