Des Moines courier. ([Ottumwa] Iowa) 1848-1854, 1851-10-24
WHOLE NO. l56.
A Probable Ghost.

-A~ADs 0AAOsss
ii had heen out fishing in the Old
South Bay" said Long Island subscri-
Der, The other day. .wi.h one of those
crafty fisherman To whom no days, on
wlsiclr the water may be iempled, are
considered days for ..bad luck: .dies in
faustus being term unknown in his
1 calender. lie was one Of thuse long
necked clam-eaters, whose stomach rose
!, and fell with the tides which made them
4 plentiful or .efl them scarce. As we
were coming in in our boat. after sue
fcessfal foray upon bass and sheepshead,
we '.fell to mediate upon various mat
tiers which were neither piscatory or akin
TO IL. As Boswell would cay Of the col
loqnies of the Great Leeialhan: I'VE
spoke Of Ghosts "Yuu say ghosts
have been seen on Long Island. bu. you
never seen 'ein, and don't believe in 'em.'
1"Wai, yes. 1 can't say do believe in
'em. tut guess should believe in EN-,
lief had such luck in ge,lin' sight ON
'em as man did dawn 10 Jerusalem
South, good many years ago The
way OF il was this: You sre il was a
dreadful cold winters night, about nine
O'Clock. {llow the Old Souh Bay roared
that nigh,!) when there was sleigh with
three fellows into il, druv up under he
hoss-shed at The tavern. Two on 'em
got out; and as they got out they said to
lt'other oDe,-s.Jim. jist you sit there and
mind The horses while we 60 in aud ge,
somethin' warmin' - we'll be right out a.
gin, They went into The tavern, but
they didn't .come right out agiu." By a
ljagfell; though when they did come out.
they had more than jugiull apiece inlo
'em--both on 'em had--ha! ha! Fore
they come out. though, Bill the 'osler
said 10 the man si,tin' in the sleigh. .Ef
| was yon. wouldn't sit there in the cold
as long as you're a-sil,in'--blamed ii
would; Why don, you 20 10 and ge,
someshin. too!' The man never said
no,hin' though. in answer. bu, sot up as
siraigh, as an Indian. Bill, who was
lookln after some other hosses under
The same shed. a'ier while said some
Thin more TO him. but he was still as a
'ys,er. Poorly soon. Bill said 10 himself.
"Goy blamed ell dom, think he's friz TO
death, or else he'd say somffAia-! So
he. went up 10 him and shock him; and
sure enough he found him fruz stff as a
stake, and when he come 20 hold up his
lantern 10 look, he found him propped
up on each side on the seat; the lines was
wound round his hands; he was untitled
lup with conlfurlers about his face, and
he was stone dead!
BILL sasn't nobody's fool. ef he did
attend 10 hosses. He smelt the whole
thing out 10 once. Two or three graves
had been robbed about there, only little
while before, and the two chaps in the
tavern was two body -galherers that had
been paid by doctors 10 get bodies for
EN-, for to cut UP. and they Il been and
robbed a new grave that night; and here
was the corpse wrapped up and proppea
i u?in that sleigh. so that folks wonl,in',
suspicion noihing about IL! Now, what
Edypu 's?ose Bill does! He goes and
takes, Bill does, that body out Of the
sleigh (for he wasn't afraid of the very
desil.) strips off the cIoihes. and puts il
Into The oat-bin inside, and faslens The
door; then he puts on the dead mans
1 clothes hisseli, and he goes and gets in
70 the sleigh with EN- onto him, puts the
lines round his hands, props hisself up.
and waits for the body -sna,chers 10 come
ourfrom The bar-room. Poorly soon out
they come, gotin on the wide seat aloag.
side OF him, and druv off. There Bill
sits as stiA as rail; hut 'twasn't long
fore one o the chaps says to other, feel,
in o. Bills leg li,tle, .sWhy. The bdy's
gerinn warm! Feel O. sha, leg!' r'olh.
er one put down his hand, and feh O.
| Bills legs; and then he star,es.. back and
said, It's fact. BY thunder! il is warm,
and no mistaken Twas Bills time
now; so he turned his head round. stiff
like and straight, wiihon, moving his
body, and, says he, ~ farm? wal 1
guess you'd be WARM ef you been took
out Of as hot place only lit.le while a.
4 go, as | was.'
4 .BilI says il wasn't half second fore
both of them chaps had pitched head
i frs. ou, o. that sleigh, and n'ither on
'em slapped runnin' ill they was clear
out O. sight. Then he turned right
square round and druv back 10 the ,av-
ern. There he told the whole story;
aud he made good speck out o. the
thing, too, IN the end: for you SEQ the
1 friends o. the man iha. was dug up guy
him fifty dollars for saving Of the body,
AID as nobody ever came back alter the
sleigh aud hosses, he sold 'e,n to Capt,
i B., down on II Plains, for
/ nigh upon three hundred dollars! rrwas
I a fnst rate team--so they said. That's
the most profitable, and about the nuly
ghos, tha, ever | heard tell on! Good
d many folks faiks about seem 'en, but /
4 expect they never did--not rally"
\ tS Corners have always been popu.
4 lar. The chimney corner. E,r instance,
" endeared 70 The heart from the earliest
d to The latest hour of existence. The
corner cupboard! what stores Of sweet