The Nevada journal., 1852-05-22
From the Lady's Book for VI ay.
PHANTOM OF THE WABASH.
BIT WILLIAM Z. GILMORE.

BIT WILLIAM =. GILMORE.
"Thank God for this shelter tonight,
And the fire so cheerful and warm
The snow falls fast and bitter the blast;
Didst ever see such storm?
"And Heaven was kind to me"
Said the weary traveller,
That led my feet through the snow and slcet
To find thy cottage here"
GAY, indeed quoth the kindly host;
"Thou hast reason for gratitude:
Hadst thou passed this, thy bed wist
Had been in the bowling wood.
For the nearest roof to mine
One must ride all day to see;
And-nay, sit still! that scream so shrill
Is no strange thing to me"
"God help us p the traveller said;
"Twas dreadful sound to hear!
Did it not seem far out in the stream
Some one is drowning, | fear"
"Nay 90 not forth from the door,
Lest thou wouldst see sight
Thou wilt try in vaie to forget again,
In the broad Wabash tonight"
"Now what is this fearful thing
That mHst not look upon?"
what Heaven has sent as punishment
For deed Of murder demo
"Tis now twclyemonth since
To my door q stranger came;
And her he led was his wife, ho said
But never learned his name.
"a stern and dark browed man,
While she was wondrous fair;
And. If his wife, ne'er in my life
Saw such ill-matcd pair.
"That night fell dark as this;
The sky was overcast;
The air was chill, but very still
The stream flowed smoothly past.
"The wife turned deadly pale
When thus the husband said
Our way is long, the urgencc strong,
Tonight we must proceed
II stood by tho rivers side
Till the boat was out of sight;
Then heard plash in the dark Wabash,
And a bitter laugh that night!
"The boat returned with him,
But he spake not word,
Save that his wife had lost her life
BY falling overheard.
u thought of the fiendish laugh,
AS we walked side by side,
And could but fear he had murdered her
His young and lovely bride.
1--WE sat by the fire again,
But. he showed no trace Of grief;
Twas silly, he said. to weep for the dead,
For lite at the best is brief.
"IIe liked not my troubled lool,
And walked in the open air.
A moment passed, and all aghast
shook for very fear.
"The sound thou hcardst but now
Was but stihed moan,
Were it compared with what heard
That night when he had gone.
81 rushed to the rivers side
o God what sight view
The broad Wabash was all afash
With flames Of dismal hue.
"And the murdered woman's head
In the IN midst Of the heatless blaze;
Her trcsscs hung all dankly strung
About her pallid face.
"Her cheeks so humid and cold,
Her lips so thin and blue,
Yea, even her eye one might descry
Half shut and Of stony hue.
"When could turn away,
Lying prone upon the ground,
Ths murderer, half dead with fear,
A maniac man, found.
IA babbling idiot since,
He strays by the water.sidc,
And every night appears the light
And ghastly phantom bride.
To-day, when gave him food,
He cried, with giggling glec,
That tonight one year he'd wandered here
And the morrow would set him free.'
Then mp rose the traveller:
"Now would see this sight
Pray, let us 60 amid the snow
To the waters side this night"
Together they went their way,
Mid the snow, to the Wabash side;
Tho corpse Of man, all pallid and wan,
They found by the foaming tide.