Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1828-08-26

oarDer,s shop IN the town in order %
get shaved, and there several persons in,
CURED earnestly how he slept : and When
he declared that he had never enioved .
better nights rest in his life, every one
seemed amazed. The mystery was now
dlspelled, andshis eyes were onened ON
being inforn "Tee Gwyn, or White it,.
Hhouse," as the mansion was called had
been haunted for fifty years back. The
supervisor laughed at this notion and
aVowed his utter disbelief in ghosts. #
ever ne had experienced a little ticklish-
ness IN his nerves, the professional shrewd-
ness usually characteristics of his calliho
raised a surmise that this lonely house
might De very snug spot for WORKING an
Illicit still; and accordingly he determin-
ed not to be driven out of his bah;tat;o,
Till ne ascertained the fact. He snent
the greater part of the day in rummaginp
tne vaults and every hiding place, but
without discovering any thing to confirm
his suspicious AS night advanced he
threw an extra log on the fire. and HAVING
borrowed a chair in the town, he set him.
sell down before it, ate his bread and
cheese, and slipped his cup amidst various
ruminatlons. At one time, he thought his
situation rather dangerous-in the event
OF ms suspicious being true, there was no
assistance at hand. He might have his
throat cut from ear to ear, and his BODY
thrown INTO a tub, while his wife and fam.
ny would be none the wiser. Fears of
the living more than the dead fitted in
sudden flashes across his brain. and at
length ne resolved, in case he heard any
tnlng going on, to remain as quiet as pos
slble, and send all the information he
could to the heads of his department,
lie could see by his watch that it was
nearly twelve o'clock, but " Nature, fond
nurse" had forsaken him, and he felt no
inclination to sleep.
II was, as the watchmen say, cloudy night.
~ NO moon, no stars, the wind was low Or loud
by gusts and while his sparkling heart was bright
With the piPd wood, he miss'd his family crowd
On sudden he heard footsteps on the
staircase, and he felt Or thought he felt. his
hair lift his hat involuntarily, at least an
inch off his forehead. His heart fluttered
the logs did not seem to blaze so bright
he.llstened anxiously, but heard nothing.
Alter Gliding his fancy for frightening
him, he mustered courage enough to open
the door, which he left in that state. and
then betook himself to his couch, after a
Scarcely had the frs doze realaxed his
limbs when he was awakened by strange
gathering on the staircase, as if ten thous-
and imps were ascending to his room In
the panick of the moment, he jumped up,
rushed to the landing place, where he dis
tinctly heard the said imps clatter down
the broad staircase again, making faint
shrleking cries, which died away with the
sounds of their footsteps as they seemed
to gain the vaults beneath the house. 1t
was now manifest that there were other
living tenants in his tenement beside HIM
self, and the remainder of that night was
spent in gloomy ccnjectures. With painful
anxiety did he watch the gray morning in
the east, and when the day burst forth he
commenced most scrutinizing search ev-
cry where. Nothing however, was to be dis
covered, not even footstep on the stair
case; and he could have sworn that he real
ly did hear his disturbers ascend towards
his room, and then depart. On his visit to
the town that morning, the previous days
inquiries where repeated; but he strenu-
ously denied having been disturbed, for
fear ne should be thought coward.
Towards the next evening he determined
to ascertain whether any thing really did
ascend the staircase, or whether it was
mere fancy and for this purpose, he
spread thick coat of sand on every step,
imagining, shrewdly enough, that if his
tormentors were really substantial, they
must leave some tracks behind them. The
next night was accompanied by the same
extraordinary noises; but the supervisor
had provided himself with pistols, and, be-
ing doubly armed with a lamp Also he
proceeded down stairs as fast as he could.
'Fhe imps, however, were too nimble for
him, and he could not even get a glimpse of
them. Again did he search in every hole
and corner, disturbing the poor spiders
with the blaze of his lamp; and, finding
scrutiny in vain he was retracing HE steps,
when he reccollected the sand, which, in
his terrified descent he had forgotten ;
when, 10! and behold he perceived some
five or six hundred cloven tracks They
were too small for old devils, and much
too large for rats, and therefore he con-
cluded they must be supernatural beings