The Sumter banner. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1846-1855, 1849-05-01
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q In the bleakest and most barren por-
ton of the Countyo Derbyshire, Eng
land, there lived lorg3tims ago, d man
end his wife Of the name 'of Pollard. - :
The former was a,kceper a Of the, Tnrn:,
.pike-gate, and he had only been mar:
'ried some two or three months, when
the circumstances, occurred Of which We
,are. about to write. The, small troll-
House in,wkichChe lived, WAS situated
at APPOINT, where the roads meet, and
in q place where the scenery singu-
.larly wild and dreary.i 4 It stoodiin a
deep hollow formed by two claims Of
high hills, whose sides were covered With
naught but Il continuous sut4tace Of dark
brown heath, or occasional. bushes Of
prickly gorse. Not another house was
to be seen for miles, and the only evi-
dence of life were in. the few shlocks of
sheep, which were ehcreand there brow
sing along the mountains sides; OF the
mail coach, and q few carriers wagons.
which ati'widc intervals passed along
the road. The only person who ever
raid a visit to the Toll House was a
butcher named Gonfrey, who called on
each Saturday for the purpose Of sup.
plying the Pollards with fresh meats.
Mr.. Pollard had lived iii his present
abode during several years previous to
his marriage; and being of verytcour-
ageous disposition, and having become
accustomed to the Loneliness of his
place residence, he was not much af.
fcctcd thereby; but his wife, who had
ever been accustomed to living in a
populous town, and being withal of a
very timid nature, and now lived in a
constant state of alarm and dread; more
particularly whenever her husband paid
q visit to the ncighboring town for such
necessaries as they required. And.
what stended to increase this feeling Of
alarm to a still greater extent that part
Of the country was at that time infested
by band of lawless men, who almost
nightly robbed and murdered some un-
fortunate traveller, or broke into and
plundercd some lone farmhouse, n Dr.
could the utmost vigilance Of the author
tiles succeed in detecting them. Of
these men she lived in daily dread, lest
they discovering that her husband was
possessed ola large sum Of money--thc
saving of former should seize an
opportunity when he was from home,
and murder her to obtain it.
She frequently pressed her husband
to give up his situation, and remove to
some other place Of abode, but he in
variably laughed at her fears! assuring
her that there was not the least danger,
as none but themselves were aware OF
the fact of his possessing the money in
question. One day in December, he
received a letter informing him that his
father was lying at the point Of death,
and who earnestly wished to see him be-
fore that event took Place. This letter
gave him great uneasincss; for, apart
from the grief it occasioned at his IA
theirs situation, if he went he could not
possibly return before the following day,
as his parents residence was more than
thirty miles distant, and his wife would
be obliged to stay and take care Of the
"gate." lie must 60 howcver-he
could not refuse his fathers dying re-
quest. When he impaired his inten.
ton to his wife, she was seized with the
utmost terror, earnestly cntreatcd him
to forego his resolutions; nor was it un-
til after long time, during which he
had used the most strenuous endeay-
ors to sooth her and to calm her fears,
that he could venture to proceed Oil his
journey.
It was Saturday morning when he
started, and one of the dreariest days
of the season. The snow lay thick on
the ground, and still continued to fall
heavily, causing the face Of the sur.
rounding scene to look more wild and
lonely than ever. AS Mrs. Pollard sat
in the small front apartment of the
house, her fears gradually increased
moro and more, as hcrimas sination con.
jured upa thousand dread forebodings
and almost fancied that each sound Of
tho wind whist|ing through the valley,
was some one even now about to break
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