| Mystery Stories (248) |
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Mystery Stories
|
The Necklace
She was one of those pretty and charming girls who are sometimes, as if
by a mistake of destiny, born in a family of clerks. She had...
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May Day Eve
It was in the spring when I at last found time from the hospital work
to visit my friend, the old folk-lorist, in his country ...
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The Diamond Lens
From a very early period of my life the entire bent of my inclinations
had been towards microscopic investigations. When I was...
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The Mummy's Foot
I had entered, in an idle mood, the shop of one of those curiosity
venders who are called marchands de bric-a-brac in that Parisi...
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Mr Bloke's Item
Our esteemed friend, Mr. John William Bloke, of Virginia City, walked
into the office where we are sub-editor at a late h...
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A Ghost[1]
Perhaps the man who never wanders away from the place of his birth may
pass all his life without knowing ghosts; but ...
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The Man Who Went Too Far
The little village of St. Faith's nestles in a hollow of wooded hill up
on the north bank of the river Fawn in the county of Hamp...
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Chan Tow The Highrob
Before me sits the Chinese--my friend who, when the hurlyburly's done,
spins me out the hours with narratives of ancient Yellowla...
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The Inmost Light
One evening in autumn, when the deformities of London were veiled in
faint, blue mist and its vistas and far-reaching streets ...
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The Secret Of Goresthorpe Grange
I am sure that Nature never intended me to be a self-made man. There
are times when I can hardly bring myself to realize that twe...
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The Man With The Pale Eyes
Monsieur Pierre Agenor de Vargnes, the Examining Magistrate, was the
exact opposite of a practical joker. He was dignity, staidne...
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The Rival Ghosts
The good ship sped on her way across the calm Atlantic. It was an
outward passage, according to the little charts which t...
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An Uncomfortable Bed
One autumn I went to stay for the hunting season with some friends in a
chateau in Picardy.
My friends were fond of practical jok...
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Ghosts
Just at the time when the _Concordat_ was in its most flourishing
condition, a young man belonging to a wealthy and highly respected...
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Fear
We went up on deck after dinner. Before us the Mediterranean lay
without a ripple and shimmering in the moonlight. The great ship gl...
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The Confession
Marguerite de Therelles was dying. Although but fifty-six, she seemed
like seventy-five at least. She panted, paler than the sheets,...
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The Horla Or Modern Ghosts
_May 8th._ What a lovely day! I have spent all the morning lying in the
grass in front of my house, under the enormous plantain tree...
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The Miracle Of Zobeide
Always wise and prudent, Zobeide cautiously put aside the myrtle
branches and peeped through to see who were the persons talking by ...
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The Torture By Hope
Many years ago, as evening was closing in, the venerable Pedro Arbuez
d'Espila, sixth prior of the Dominicans of Segovia, and third ...
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The Owl's Ear
On the 29th of July, 1835, Kasper Boeck, a shepherd of the little
village of Hirschwiller, with his large felt hat tipped back, his
...
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The Invisible Eye
About this time (said Christian), poor as a church mouse, I took refuge
in the roof of an old house in Minnesaenger Street, Nurember...
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The Waters Of Death
The warm mineral waters of Spinbronn, situated in the Hundsrueck,
several leagues from Pirmesens, formerly enjoyed a magnificent
re...
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Melmoth Reconciled
There is a special variety of human nature obtained in the Social
Kingdom by a process analogous to that of the gardener's craft in ...
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The Conscript
On a November evening in the year 1793 the principal citizens of
Carentan were assembled in Mme. de Dey's drawing-room. Mme. de De...
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Introduction To Zadig The Babylonian
_A work (says the author) which performs more than it promises._
Voltaire never heard of a "detective story"; and yet he wrote...
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The Blind Of One Eye
There lived at Babylon, in the reign of King Moabdar, a young man named
Zadig, of a good natural disposition, strengthened and impro...
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The Nose
One morning Azora returned from a walk in a terrible passion, and
uttering the most violent exclamations. "What aileth thee," said h...
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The Dog And The Horse
Zadig found by experience that the first month of marriage, as it is
written in the book of Zend, is the moon of honey, and that the...
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The Envious Man
Zadig resolved to comfort himself by philosophy and friendship for the
evils he had suffered from fortune. He had in the suburbs of ...
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The Generous
The time now arrived for celebrating a grand festival, which returned
every five years. It was a custom in Babylon solemnly to decla...
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The Minister
The king had lost his first minister and chose Zadig to supply his
place. All the ladies in Babylon applauded the choice; for since ...
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The Disputes And The Audiences
In this manner he daily discovered the subtilty of his genius and the
goodness of his heart. The people at once admired and loved hi...
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Jealousy
Zadig's calamities sprung even from his happiness and especially from
his merit. He every day conversed with the king and Astarte, h...
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The Woman Beaten
Zadig directed his course by the stars. The constellation of Orion and
the splendid Dog Star guided his steps toward the pole of Cas...
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The Stone
As soon as Setoc arrived among his own tribe he demanded the payment of
five hundred ounces of silver, which he had lent to a Jew in...
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The Funeral Pile
Setoc, charmed with the happy issue of this affair, made his slave his
intimate friend. He had now conceived as great esteem for him...
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The Supper
Setoc, who could not separate himself from this man, in whom dwelt
wisdom, carried him to the great fair of Balzora, whither the ric...
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The Robber
Arriving on the frontiers which divide Arabia Petraea from Syria, he
passed by a pretty strong castle, from which a party of armed A...
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The Fisherman
At a few leagues' distance from Arbogad's castle he came to the banks
of a small river, still deploring his fate, and considering hi...
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The Basilisk
Arriving in a beautiful meadow, he there saw several women, who were
searching for something with great application. He took the lib...
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The Combats
The queen was received at Babylon with all those transports of joy
which are ever felt on the return of a beautiful princess who hat...
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The Hermit
While he was thus sauntering he met a hermit, whose white and venerable
beard hung down to his girdle. He held a book in his hand, w...
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The Enigmas
Zadig, entranced, as it were, and like a man about whose head the
thunder had burst, walked at random. He entered Babylon on the ver...
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The Nail
I
The thing which is most ardently desired by a man who steps into a
stagecoach, bent upon a long journey, is that his companions...
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The Deposition
"I know nothing at all about it, your honor!"
"Nothing at all? How can that be? It all happened within fifty yards of
your shop."...
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The Adventure Of The Three Robbers
The great satire of Lucius Apuleius, the work through which his
name lives after the lapse of nearly eighteen centuries, is "T...
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Pliny The Younger
_Letter to Sura_
Our leisure furnishes me with the opportunity of learning from you, and
you with that of instructing me. Accordi...
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My Own True Ghost Story
As I came through the Desert thus it was--
As I came through the Desert.
The City of Dreadful Night.
Somewhe...
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The Sending Of Dana Da
When the Devil rides on your chest, remember the chamar.
--Native Proverb.
Once upon a time some peo...
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In The House Of Suddhoo
A stone's throw out on either hand
From that well-ordered road we tread,
And all the world is wild and strange;
Ch...
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His Wedded Wife
Cry "Murder!" in the market-place, and each
Will turn upon his neighbor anxious eyes
That ask:--"Art thou the man?" We hu...
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A Case Of Identity
"My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes, as we sat on either side of the
fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely st...
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A Scandal In Bohemia
I
To Sherlock Holmes she is always the woman. I have seldom heard him
mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses ...
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The Red-headed League
I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the autumn of
last year, and found him in deep conversation with a very...
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The Baron's Quarry
"Oh, no, I assure you, you are not boring Mr. Marshfield," said this
personage himself in his gentle voice--that curious voice that ...
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The Fowl In The Pot
An Episode Adapted from the Memoirs of Maximilian de Bethune, Duke of
Sully
What I am going to relate may seem to some merely to ...
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The Pavilion On The Links
I
I was a great solitary when I was young. I made it my pride to keep aloof
and suffice for my own entertainment; and I may say t...
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The Dream Woman
I
"Hullo, there! Hostler! Hullo-o-o!"
"My dear! why don't you look for the bell?"
"I have looked--there is no bell."
"A...
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The Hostler's Story Told By Himself
IV
It is now ten years ago since I got my first warning of the great trouble
of my life in the Vision of a Dream.
I shall be b...
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The Story Continued By Percy Fairbank
XIV
We took leave of Francis Raven at the door of Farleigh Hall, with the
understanding that he might expect to hear from us agai...
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Addressed To The Advocate Who Defended Him At His Trial
Respected Sir,--On the twenty-seventh of February I was sent, on business
connected with the stables at Maison Rouge, to the cit...
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The Lost Duchess
I
"Has the duchess returned?"
"No, your grace."
Knowles came farther into the room. He had a letter on a salver. When the
d...
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The Minor Canon
It was Monday, and in the afternoon, as I was walking along the High
Street of Marchbury, I was met by a distinguished-looking perso...
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The Pipe
"RANDOLPH CRESCENT, N.W.
"MY DEAR PUGH--I hope you will like the pipe which I send with
this. It is rather a curious ex...
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The Puzzle
I
Pugh came into my room holding something wrapped in a piece of brown
paper.
"Tress, I have brought you something on which yo...
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The Great Valdez Sapphire
I know more about it than anyone else in the world, its present owner not
excepted. I can give its whole history, from the Cingalese...
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The Coin Of Dionysius
It was eight o'clock at night and raining, scarcely a time when a
business so limited in its clientele as that of a coin dealer coul...
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The Knight's Cross Signal Problem
"Louis," exclaimed Mr. Carrados, with the air of genial gaiety that
Carlyle had found so incongruous to his conception of a blind ma...
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The Tragedy At Brookbend Cottage
"Max," said Mr. Carlyle, when Parkinson had closed the door behind
him, "this is Lieutenant Hollyer, whom you consented to see."
...
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The Last Exploit Of Harry The Actor
The one insignificant fact upon which turned the following incident in
the joint experiences of Mr. Carlyle and Max Carrados was mer...
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Hunted Down
Most of us see some romances in life. In my capacity as Chief
Manager of a Life Assurance Office, I think I have within the...
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The Adventure Of The Bruce-partington Plans
In the third week of November, in the year 1895, a dense yellow
fog settled down upon London. From the Monday to the Thursday I
...
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The Adventure Of The Cardboard Box
In choosing a few typical cases which illustrate the remarkable
mental qualities of my friend, Sherlock Holmes, I have
endeavou...
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The Adventure Of The Devil's Foot
In recording from time to time some of the curious experiences
and interesting recollections which I associate with my long and
intim...
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The Adventure Of The Dying Detective
Mrs. Hudson, the landlady of Sherlock Holmes, was a long-
suffering woman. Not only was her first-floor flat invaded at
all hour...
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The Adventure Of The Red Circle
"Well, Mrs. Warren, I cannot see that you have any particular
cause for uneasiness, nor do I understand why I, whose time is of
s...
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The Adventure Of Wisteria Lodge
1. The Singular Experience of Mr. John Scott Eccles
I find it recorded in my notebook that it was a bleak and windy
day towa...
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The Disappearance Of Lady Frances Carfax
"But why Turkish?" asked Mr. Sherlock Holmes, gazing fixedly at
my boots. I was reclining in a cane-backed chair at the moment,...
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His Last Bow
It was nine o'clock at night upon the second of August--the most
terrible August in the history of the world. One might have
tho...
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My Friend The Murderer
"Number 481 is no better, doctor," said the head-warder, in a slightly
reproachful accent, looking in round the corner of my doo...
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The Horror Of The Heights
The idea that the extraordinary narrative which has been called the
Joyce-Armstrong Fragment is an elaborate practical joke evolved ...
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The Leather Funnel
My friend, Lionel Dacre, lived in the Avenue de Wagram, Paris.
His house was that small one, with the iron railings and grass
plot i...
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The New Catacomb
"Look here, Burger," said Kennedy, "I do wish that you would
confide in me."
The two famous students of Roman remains sat togethe...
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The Case Of Lady Sannox
The relations between Douglas Stone and the notorious Lady Sannox
were very well known both among the fashionable circles of which
sh...
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The Terror Of Blue John Gap
The following narrative was found among the papers of Dr. James
Hardcastle, who died of phthisis on February 4th, 1908, at 36,
Uppe...
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The Brazilian Cat
It is hard luck on a young fellow to have expensive tastes, great
expectations, aristocratic connections, but no actual money in
hi...
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The Lost Special
The confession of Herbert de Lernac, now lying under sentence of
death at Marseilles, has thrown a light upon one of the most
inexpli...
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The Beetle-hunter
A curious experience? said the Doctor. Yes, my friends, I have
had one very curious experience. I never expect to have another,
f...
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The Man With The Watches
There are many who will still bear in mind the singular
circumstances which, under the heading of the Rugby Mystery,
filled many co...
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The Japanned Box
It WAS a curious thing, said the private tutor; one of those
grotesque and whimsical incidents which occur to one as one goes
throu...
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The Black Doctor
Bishop's Crossing is a small village lying ten miles in a south-
westerly direction from Liverpool. Here in the early seventies
th...
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The Jew's Breastplate
My particular friend, Ward Mortimer, was one of the best men of
his day at everything connected with Oriental archaeology. He
had ...
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The Adventure Of The Empty House
It was in the spring of the year 1894 that all London was interested,
and the fashionable world dismayed, by the murder of the Honou...
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The Adventure Of The Norwood Builder
"From the point of view of the criminal expert," said Mr. Sherlock
Holmes, "London has become a singularly uninteresting city since ...
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The Adventure Of The Dancing Men
Holmes had been seated for some hours in silence with his long,
thin back curved over a chemical vessel in which he was brewing a
...
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The Adventure Of The Solitary Cyclist
From the years 1894 to 1901 inclusive, Mr. Sherlock Holmes was a
very busy man. It is safe to say that there was no public case of...
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The Adventure Of The Priory School
We have had some dramatic entrances and exits upon our small stage at
Baker Street, but I cannot recollect anything more sudden an...
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The Adventure Of Black Peter
I have never known my friend to be in better form, both mental and
physical, than in the year '95. His increasing fame had brought w...
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The Adventure Of Charles Augustus Milverton
It is years since the incidents of which I speak took place, and yet it
is with diffidence that I allude to them. For a long time, e...
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The Adventure Of The Six Napoleons
It was no very unusual thing for Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, to
look in upon us of an evening, and his visits were welcome to Sh...
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The Adventure Of The Three Students
It was in the year '95 that a combination of events, into which I need
not enter, caused Mr. Sherlock Holmes and myself to spend som...
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The Adventure Of The Golden Pince-nez
When I look at the three massive manuscript volumes which contain our
work for the year 1894, I confess that it is very difficult fo...
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The Adventure Of The Missing Three-quarter
We were fairly accustomed to receive weird telegrams at Baker Street,
but I have a particular recollection of one which reached us o...
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The Adventure Of The Abbey Grange
It was on a bitterly cold and frosty morning, towards the end of the
winter of '97, that I was awakened by a tugging at my shoulder....
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The Adventure Of The Second Stain
I had intended "The Adventure of the Abbey Grange" to be the last of
those exploits of my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, which I shoul...
|
A Scandal In Bohemia
I.
To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard
him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses
...
|
The Red-headed League
I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the
autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a
very s...
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A Case Of Identity
"My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side
of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely
stra...
|
The Boscombe Valley Mystery
We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the
maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran
in t...
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The Five Orange Pips
When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes
cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which
prese...
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The Man With The Twisted Lip
Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal
of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to
opiu...
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The Adventure Of The Blue Carbuncle
I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second
morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the
compliment...
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The Adventure Of The Speckled Band
On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I
have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend
Sherl...
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The Adventure Of The Engineer's Thumb
Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr.
Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy,
there...
|
The Adventure Of The Noble Bachelor
The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have
long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles
in wh...
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The Adventure Of The Beryl Coronet
"Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking
down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather
sa...
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The Adventure Of The Copper Beeches
"To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock
Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily
Telegraph, ...
|
Silver Blaze
"I am afraid, Watson, that I shall have to go," said Holmes, as we sat
down together to our breakfast one morning.
"Go! Where to?...
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The Yellow Face
[In publishing these short sketches based upon the numerous cases in
which my companion's singular gifts have made us the listeners ...
|
The Stock-broker's Clerk
Shortly after my marriage I had bought a connection in the Paddington
district. Old Mr. Farquhar, from whom I purchased it, had at o...
|
The Gloria Scott
"I have some papers here," said my friend Sherlock Holmes, as we sat
one winter's night on either side of the fire, "which I really ...
|
The Musgrave Ritual
An anomaly which often struck me in the character of my friend Sherlock
Holmes was that, although in his methods of thought he was t...
|
The Reigate Puzzle
It was some time before the health of my friend Mr. Sherlock Holmes
recovered from the strain caused by his immense exertions in the...
|
The Crooked Man
One summer night, a few months after my marriage, I was seated by my own
hearth smoking a last pipe and nodding over a novel, for my...
|
The Resident Patient
Glancing over the somewhat incoherent series of Memoirs with which I
have endeavored to illustrate a few of the mental peculiarities...
|
The Greek Interpreter
During my long and intimate acquaintance with Mr. Sherlock Holmes I had
never heard him refer to his relations, and hardly ever to h...
|
The Naval Treaty
The July which immediately succeeded my marriage was made memorable
by three cases of interest, in which I had the privilege of bein...
|
The Final Problem
It is with a heavy heart that I take up my pen to write these the last
words in which I shall ever record the singular gifts by whic...
|
The Golden Slipper
"She's here! I thought she would be. She's one of the three
young ladies you see in the right-hand box near the proscenium."
The ge...
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The Second Bullet
"You must see her."
"No. No."
"She's a most unhappy woman. Husband and child both taken from
her in a moment; and now, all means...
|
An Intangible Clue
"Have you studied the case?"
"Not I."
"Not studied the case which for the last few days has provided
the papers with such conspi...
|
The Grotto Spectre
Miss Strange was not often pensive--at least not at large
functions or when under the public eye. But she certainly forgot
herself at...
|
The Dreaming Lady
"And this is all you mean to tell me?"
"I think you will find it quite enough, Miss Strange."
"Just the address--"
"And this a...
|
The House Of Clocks
Miss Strange was not in a responsive mood. This her employer had
observed on first entering; yet he showed no hesitation in laying
on...
|
The Doctor His Wife And The Clock
Violet had gone to her room. She had a task before her. That
afternoon, a packet had been left at the door, which, from a
certain let...
|
Missing: Page Thirteen
"One more! just one more well paying affair, and I promise to
stop; really and truly to stop."
"But, Puss, why one more? You have e...
|
Problem Ix Violet's Own
"It has been too much for you?"
"I am afraid so."
It was Roger Upjohn who had asked the question; it was Violet who
answered. Th...
|
The Old Stone House
I was riding along one autumn day through a certain wooded portion of
New York State, when I came suddenly upon an old stone house i...
|
A Memorable Night
CHAPTER I.
I am a young physician of limited practice and great ambition. At the
time of the incidents I am about to relate, my o...
|
The Black Cross
A black cross had been set against Judge Hawkins' name; why, it is not
for me to say. We were not accustomed to explain our motives ...
|
A Mysterious Case
It was a mystery to me, but not to the other doctors. They took, as
was natural, the worst possible view of the matter, and accepted...
|
Shall He Wed Her?
When I met Taylor at the Club the other night, he looked so cheerful I
scarcely knew him.
"What is it?" cried I, advancing with o...
|
The Case Of The Pocket Diary Found In The Snow
CHAPTER 1. THE DISCOVERY IN THE SNOW
A quiet winter evening had sunk down upon the great city. The
clock in the old clumsy...
|
The Bronze Hand
I. THE FASCINATING UNKNOWN.
HER room was on the ground floor of the house we mutually inhabited,
and mine directly above it, so...
|
A Difficult Problem
"A LADY to see you, sir."
I looked up and was at once impressed by the grace and beauty of the
person thus introduced to me.
...
|
The Gray Madam
WAS it a specter?
For days I could not answer this question. I am no believer in spiritual
manifestations, yet--But let me tell...
|
The Hermit Of Street
CHAPTER I. I COMMIT AN INDISCRETION.
I should have kept my eyes for the many brilliant and interesting sights
constantly offere...
|
As Told By Mr Gryce
"In the spring of 1840, the attention of the New York police was
attracted by the many cases of well-known men found drowned in the
v...
|
The Case Of He Golden Bullet
"Please, sir, there is a man outside who asks to see you."
"What does he want?" asked Commissioner Horn, looking up.
"He says...
|
The Case Of The Registered Letter
"Oh, sir, save him if you can--save my poor nephew! I know he is
innocent!"
The little old lady sank back in her chair, gazing...
|
The Case Of The Pool Of Blood In The Pastor's Study
I
The sun rose slowly over the great bulk of the Carpathian mountains
lying along the horizon, weird giant shapes in the early mo...
|
The Mortals In The House
Under none of the accredited ghostly circumstances, and environed
by none of the conventional ghostly surroundings, did I first make...
|
No 1 Branch Line: The Signal-man
"Halloa! Below there!"
When he heard a voice thus calling to him, he was standing at the
door of his box, with a flag in his han...
|
The Haunted And The Haunters Or The House And The Brain
A friend of mine, who is a man of letters and a philosopher, said
to me one day, as if between jest and earnest, "Fancy! since we
l...
|
The Incantation
I
"I believe that for at least twelve hours there will be no change
in her state. I believe also that if she recover from it, ...
|
The Avenger
"Why callest thou me murderer, and not rather the wrath of God
burning after the steps of the oppressor, and cleansing the earth
wh...
|
Introduction To Melmoth The Wanderer
Balzac likens the hero of one of his short stories to "Moliere's
Don Juan, Goethe's Faust, Byron's Manfred, Maturin's Melmoth--great...
|
Melmoth The Wanderer
John Melmoth, student at Trinity College, Dublin, having journeyed
to County Wicklow for attendance at the deathbed of his miserly
...
|
Introduction To A Mystery With A Moral
The next Mystery Story is like no other in these volumes. The
editor's defense lies in the plea that Laurence Sterne is not like
o...
|
A Mystery With A Moral
A RIDDLE
I remained at the gate of the hotel for some time, looking at
everyone who passed by, and forming conjectures upon the...
|
On Being Found Out
At the close (let us say) of Queen Anne's reign, when I was a boy
at a private and preparatory school for young gentlemen, I remembe...
|
The Notch On The Ax - A Story A La Mode
I
Every one remembers in the Fourth Book of the immortal poem of your
Blind Bard (to whose sightless orbs no doubt Glorious...
|
Bourgonef
I
AT A TABLE D'HOTE
At the close of February, 1848, I was in Nuremberg. My original
intention had been to pass a couple of ...
|
The Closed Cabinet
I
It was with a little alarm and a good deal of pleasurable
excitement that I looked forward to my first grown-up visit to
Mer...
|
By The Waters Of Paradise
I
I remember my childhood very distinctly. I do not think that the
fact argues a good memory, for I have never been clever at ...
|
The Shadows On The Wall
"Henry had words with Edward in the study the night before Edward
died," said Caroline Glynn.
She was elderly, tall, and harshly ...
|
Introduction To The Corpus Delicti
The high ground of the field of crime has not been explored; it has
not even been entered. The book stalls have been filled to
weari...
|
The Corpus Delicti
I
"That man Mason," said Samuel Walcott, "is the mysterious member of
this club. He is more than that; he is the mysterious ma...
|
An Heiress From Redhorse
CORONADO, June 20th.
I find myself more and more interested in him. It is not, I am
sure, his--do you know any noun correspondin...
|
The Man And The Snake
I
It is of veritabyll report, and attested of so many that there be
nowe of wyse and learned none to gaynsaye it, that ye serpe...
|
The Oblong Box
Some years ago, I engaged passage from Charleston, S. C, to the
city of New York, in the fine packet-ship "Independence," Captain
H...
|
The Gold-bug
What ho! what ho! this fellow is dancing mad!
He hath been bitten by the Tarantula.
--All in the ...
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Wolfert Webber Or Golden Dreams
In the year of grace one thousand seven hundred and--blank--for I
do not remember the precise date; however, it was somewhere in the...
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Adventure Of The Black Fisherman
Everybody knows Black Sam, the old negro fisherman, or, as he is
commonly called, "Mud Sam," who has fished about the Sound for the
...
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Wieland's Madness
[As the story opens, the narratress, Clara Wieland, is entering
upon the happy realization of her love for Henry Pleyel, closest
fr...
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The Golden Ingot
I had just retired to rest, with my eyes almost blind with the
study of a new work on physiology by M. Brown-Sequard, when the
nigh...
|
My Wife's Tempter
I
A PREDESTINED MARRIAGE
Elsie and I were to be married in less than a week. It was rather
a strange match, and I knew that som...
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The Minister's Black Veil
A PARABLE[1]
[1] Another clergyman in New England, Mr. Joseph Moody, of York,
Maine, made himself remarkable by the same eccent...
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Horror: A True Tale
I was but nineteen years of age when the incident occurred which
has thrown a shadow over my life; and, ah me! how many and many a
...
|
A Flight Into Texas
The flight and extradition of Charles F. Dodge unquestionably
involved one of the most extraordinary battles with justice in the
hi...
|
Adventures In The Secret Service Of The Post-office Department
* The author of the pages that follow was chief special agent of
the Secret Service of the United States Post-Office Department
dur...
|
An Erring Shepherd
The ingenuity and perseverance of the fraternity of swindlers is
only equaled by the gullibility and patience of their dupes.
Durin...
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An Aspirant For Congress
A few years ago, the "Hon." John Whimpery Brass, of Georgia, one of
the "thoughtful patriots" of the period, who now and then found
...
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The Fortune Of Seth Savage
At one time the bogus-lottery men drove a thrifty business, but the
efforts, virtually co-operative, of the post-office department a...
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A Wish Unexpectedly Gratified
When the bogus-lottery men were driven out of the large cities by
the vigor of the postal authorities, they tried for a while to
op...
|
An Old Game Revived
On the 18th of September, 1875, a fellow was arrested in West
Virginia who sent the victims whom he proposed to bleed letters
where...
|
A Formidable Weapon
In the summer and fall of 1875 circulars were scattered broadcast
over the country, and advertisements appeared in the weekly
editi...
|
Saint-germain The Deathless
Among the best brief masterpieces of fiction are Lytton's The
Haunters and the Haunted, and Thackeray's Notch on the Axe in
Roundab...
|
The Man In The Iron Mask
I
THE LEGEND
The Mystery of the Man in the Iron Mask is, despite a pleasant
saying of Lord Beaconsfield's, one of the most f...
|
A Conjurer's Confessions
I
SELF-TRAINING
[Sleight-of-hand theories alone cannot explain the mysteries of
"magic" as practiced by that eminent Frenchman...
|
Second Sight
[A thousand more trials of patience and perseverance finally
brought to the conjurer a Parisian theater and an appreciative
cliente...
|
The Magician Who Became An Ambassador
[It is not generally known that Robert-Houdin once rendered his
country an important service as special envoy to Algeria. Half a
c...
|
Facing The Arab's Pistol
[The severest trial of all was unexpectedly encountered during a
visit paid by the conjurer and his wife to Bou-Allem-ben-Sherifa,
...
|
Fraudulent Spiritualism Unveiled[1]
[1] As to whether communication with the departed is possible, no
discussion is here attempted. The episodes following, from
exper...
|
The Methods Of A Doctor Of The Occult
Not so very long ago I met a friend--a man of wealth, who was a
firm believer in spiritualism, and who frequently conversed with
hi...
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How The Tricks Succeeded
When the medium picked up the envelope in which to place my paper,
there was within it a duplicate piece of paper folded the same, a...
|
The Name Of The Dead
In the book entitled Psychics: Facts and Theories, by Rev. Minot J.
Savage, at page 15, the following account will be found:
"Soo...
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Mind Reading In Public
Not long ago I received a letter from an old-time friend, in which
he urgently requested me to make a journey to his city. In bygon...
|
Some Famous Exposures
Probably the greatest swindle ever perpetrated in the name of
spiritualism was recently brought to light in Stockton, California.
T...
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Matter Through Matter
There is one very clever "test" that is sometimes performed which
would seem to show that something of this sort IS accomplished. I...
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Deception Explained By The Science Of Psychology
The object [of this passage] is to enable the reader to see, more
easily, how it is that the watchful observer is deceived into
bel...
|
Fact And Fable In Psychology
"He (the conjurer) must dissociate the natural factors of his
habits, actually attending to one thing while seemingly attending
to ...
|
How Spirits Materialize
From "The Revelations of a Spirit Medium"--a book out of existence
now, since the plates and all copies were bought up by
"spiritua...
|
The Lenton Croft Robberies
Those who retain any memory of the great law cases of fifteen or twenty
years back will remember, at least, the title of that extraord...
|
The Loss Of Sammy Crockett
It was, of course, always a part of Martin Hewitt's business to be
thoroughly at home among any and every class of people, and to be a...
|
The Case Of Mr Foggatt
Almost the only dogmatism that Martin Hewitt permitted himself in regard
to his professional methods was one on the matter of accumula...
|
The Case Of The Dixon Torpedo
Hewitt was very apt, in conversation, to dwell upon the many curious
chances and coincidences that he had observed, not only in connec...
|
The Quinton Jewel Affair
It was comparatively rarely that Hewitt came into contact with members of
the regular criminal class--those, I mean, who are thieves, ...
|
The Stanway Cameo Mystery
It is now a fair number of years back since the loss of the famous Stanway
Cameo made its sensation, and the only person who had the l...
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The Affair Of The Tortoise
Very often Hewitt was tempted, by the fascination of some particularly odd
case, to neglect his other affairs to follow up a matter th...
|
The Shape Of Fear
TIM O'CONNOR -- who was de-
scended from the O'Conors with
one N -- started life as a poet
and an enthusiast. His mother
had desig...
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On The Northern Ice
THE winter nights up at Sault Ste.
Marie are as white and luminous as
the Milky Way. The silence which
rests upon the solitude app...
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Their Dear Little Ghost
THE first time one looked at Els-
beth, one was not prepossessed.
She was thin and brown, her nose
turned slightly upward, her toe...
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A Spectral Collie
WILLIAM PERCY CECIL happened
to be a younger son, so he left home
-- which was England -- and went
to Kansas to ranch it. Thousands
...
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The House That Was Not
BART FLEMING took his bride out
to his ranch on the plains when she
was but seventeen years old, and the
two set up housekeeping i...
|
Story Of An Obstinate Corpse
VIRGIL HOYT is a photographer's
assistant up at St. Paul, and enjoys
his work without being consumed
by it. He has been in search ...
|
A Child Of The Rain
IT was the night that Mona Meeks,
the dressmaker, told him she
didn't love him. He couldn't
believe it at first, because he had
...
|
The Room Of The Evil Thought
THEY called it the room of the Evil
Thought. It was really the pleas-
antest room in the house, and
when the place had been used a...
|
Story Of The Vanishing Patient
THERE had always been strange
stories about the house, but it
was a sensible, comfortable sort
of a neighborhood, and people
took...
|
The Piano Next Door
BABETTE had gone away for the
summer; the furniture was in its
summer linens; the curtains were
down, and Babette's husband, John
...
|
An Astral Onion
WHEN Tig Braddock came to Nora
Finnegan he was red-headed and
freckled, and, truth to tell, he re-
mained with these features to t...
|
From The Loom Of The Dead
WHEN Urda Bjarnason tells a tale all
the men stop their talking to lis-
ten, for they know her to be wise
with the wisdom of the o...
|
A Grammatical Ghost
THERE was only one possible ob-
jection to the drawing-room, and
that was the occasional presence
of Miss Carew; and only one pos-...
|
The Thing On The Hearth
"THE first confirmatory evidence of the thing, Excellency, was
the print of a woman's bare foot."
He was an immense creature. ...
|
The Reward
I was before one of those difficult positions unavoidable to a
visitor in a foreign country.
I had to meet the obligations of pro...
|
The Lost Lady
It was a remark of old Major Carrington that incited this
adventure.
"It is some distance through the wood - is she quite safe?"
...
|
The Cambered Foot
I shall not pretend that I knew the man in America or that he was
a friend of my family or that some one had written to me about
hi...
|
The Man In The Green Hat
"Alas, monsieur, in spite of our fine courtesies, the conception
of justice by one race must always seem outlandish to another!"
...
|
The Wrong Sign
It was an ancient diary in a faded leather cover. The writing
was fine and delicate, and the ink yellow with age. Sir Henry
Marqu...
|
The Fortune Teller
Sir Henry Marquis continued to read; he made no comment; his
voice clear and even.
It was a big sunny room. The long windows l...
|
The Hole In The Mahogany Panel
Sir Henry paused a moment, his finger between the pages of the
ancient diary.
"It is the inspirational quality in these cases" he...
|
The End Of The Road
The man laughed.
It was a faint cynical murmur of a laugh. Its expression hardly
disturbed the composition of his features.
"...
|
The Last Adventure
The talk had run on treasure.
I could not sleep and my friends had dropped in. I had the big
South room on the second floor of t...
|
American Horses
The thing began in the colony room of the Empire Club in London.
The colony room is on the second floor and looks out over
Piccadil...
|
The Spread Rails
It was after dinner, in the great house of Sir Henry Marquis in
St. James's Square.
The talk had run on the value of women in cri...
|
The Pumpkin Coach
The story of the American Ambassadress was not the only one
related on this night.
Sir Henry Marquis himself added another, in su...
|
The Yellow Flower
The girl sat in a great chair before the fire, huddled, staring
into the glow of the smoldering logs.
Her dark hair clouded her f...
|
Satire Of The Sea
"What was the mystery about St. Alban?" I asked.
The Baronet did not at once reply. He looked out over the
English country through...
|
The House By The Loch
There was a snapping fire in the chimney. I was cold through and
I was glad to stand close beside it on the stone hearth. My
grea...
|
The Mysterious Card
CLEVELAND MOFFETT
Courtesy of the Author.
I
Richard Burwell, of New York, will never cease to regret that the French
la...
|
The Great Valdez Sapphire
(ANONYMOUS)
I know more about it than anyone else in the world, its present owner
not excepted. I can give its whole history, fro...
|
The Oblong Box
EDGAR ALLAN POE
Some years ago I engaged passage from Charleston, S. C., to the city of
New York, in the fine packet-ship Indepen...
|
The Birth-mark
NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
In the latter part of the last century, there lived a man of science--an
eminent proficient in every branch o...
|
A Terribly Strange Bed
WILKIE COLLINS
Shortly after my education at college was finished, I happened to be
staying at Paris with an English friend. We w...
|
The Torture By Hope
VILLIERS DE L'ISLE ADAM
Many years ago, as evening was closing in, the venerable Pedro Arbuez
d'Espila, sixth prior of the Domini...
|
The Box With The Iron Clamps
FLORENCE MARRYAT
I
Molton Chase is a charming, old-fashioned country house, which has been
in the possession of the Clay...
|
My Fascinating Friend
William Archer
I
Nature has cursed me with a retiring disposition. I have gone round the
world without making a single f...
|
The Lost Room
FITZ-JAMES O'BRIEN
It was oppressively warm. The sun had long disappeared, but seemed to
have left its vital spirit of heat behin...
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