New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1852-07-29
CITY Intelligence,

8 a SPECTRAL pISITOR-ANTOINE, DELlSLE.-
:! His form you may trace, but not his face :,
IT'S Swallowed by his cowl,
But his eyes may be seen from the folds betwene,
And they seem of a parted soul.'
The recent impressive man-choking, wherein Delisle
and Adam fatei to suffer double death-being
hung twice-was attended with many circumstances
of horror that the memory iof the legal butchery
will not soon away The CHASTITY form of Delisle
he stood upon the scaod his ashen features mued in
awhite napkin, white blouse dangling from his angular
shoulders his elbows pinioned strained backward
his shrinking body quang in the agony of fear his hol
low cheeks and eaden lack lustre eyesurnishing pic
ture that daguerreoyped the imagnations of
many to be effaced. Many a woman
has since fancied his bloody hand dangling at midnight
with the folds of her curtains children in their
have been haunted by his grinning vsage, and
hardy have not hcsaed to admit the deep impress
sion which his taking off has left upon their excited
and sombre faneies
This much by way Of prologue:
few nights since party of vending their
course honeward from hilarious assemblage and their
way lay through the haowy of the Merchants
Exchange twas the very noon ofnight' when Fairies
play pranks with unwary mortals, and witches gallop
astridc on broomsticks and COLLINS take their ngs by
the dim light of the stars. Ut dusk and gloomy
hour. A heavy mist enveloped the lower atmosphere
through which the lamps glmmered with yellow dead
and uncertain light The walls of the Exchange rowned
give back the sounds of their heavy footballs and the
aspect of the place gave their magnations the ns Of
it's own sombre colorng.
Suddenly, on nearing niche in the massive walls of
the Exchange where the glare of the distant
only to make the darkness visibe' the party
uaneousy startled with the view of fearful apparition
Under the arch and rigid stone, dressed in the hab
imens Of the grave with eyes fixed vacancy, in them
nospecuation ray of intelligence seemingly pin
toned back, fingers rgidly distended like birds claws
body awry neck turned askance knees half bent mouth
wide opened and teeth exposed grnning horrby-stood
the apparition, as it seemed, Of parted soul.
There time for contemplation parley for the
whole party rushed back startled by sudden fear
exclaimed in voice, Delisle % All seemed stricken
with the horrd fancy that Delile the homicide Delisle
the gbbeted elon, had either back dsemboded
ghost revsting the upper air to hory the vision his
destroyers that by tangled invention of the
DOCTORS he had been resuscated to anticipate the
MES Of dissolution yet once again For there stood the
shape-so like phantasm-n form and feature SO like
Dese, that of the party doubted its identity All
exclaimed Delislefor the shrinking FORM the twisted
neck the bandaged head and the blood spot his
shirt-he crimson witness OF his first plunge from the
scaoda presented exact sembance of the entombed
felon, Delisle
To say that the party exhibited signs of perturbation
or that they might in these days of pistos and
fee for two be considered sanderous but that they
made toeraby fast time in the way of tall walking we
wlasseyerate without fear of contradiction Stationed at
convenient distance the party had leisure to conem-
plate the vision None doubted that it was Dese
ctated and resurrected for it had garments the
same cut and color of those by Delisle
hung it stood in the shrinking attitude its elbows
in position if tied behind the back and the face
was bandaged in precisely the Here was
for the exercise Of conjecture cause of the
dead mans resurrection or for the play Of superstition
that could believe dsemboded spre to have revisited
thus the gmpses of the moon' from the climate
down below.
One of the bodet of the party resolved to speak it,
but on his approach it salked gravely from under the
arch of the Exchange through the main hail. in
the direction of Canal street. There eloquent adj
moniton in the upfted finger of the vision perceived
1t was about to be spoken to, impressive than the
warning of Amundivelles Black Friar-
Say naught to him as he walks the hall,
And he'll say nought to you;
As he sweeps along in his solemn pail
As over the grass the dew!
But the less of the party was resolved
to speak to and to cross it, though it blasted hm
Proceeding to Canal street, in the middle of the
Neutral Ground, the goblin' called halt and com.
menced series of cabalisc motions with the ends of his
fingers upwards towards the stars.
Then STOPPING down, he drew Arcurus and Orion upon
the sand and for the lost Pead he stuck peg to make
up the original number of All the constellation
named before his excited fancy by representative marks
drawn in the mud. lie plainly making what he
thought, very pretty thing of it, Whether his plan
was to map out of travel through the universe
and to journey through space by of harmon
hops from star to star matter of debate with the
spectators They determined, ghost ghost, to pry
into the thing.
Accordingly u bold adventurer approached the mud
scratching astronomer, with ''A hail, and what's
your name!" Who arc you, asked of the ghost
Like the famed saddle nag of Baalam standing stock still
and speaking word he did not rise after the man
ner of nortas encountered with flesh and blood, but
progressed upwards from the ground like marsh
haaton and stood out under the pale gimmer Of the
risen moon, substantial and well defined reality
Who you?n again was asked.
No answer-but glaring of those leaden eye-balls,
chuterng of the naked teeth and swaying in the
chill night wind of those gossaer vesments and low
moan, as the escaping Of pent-up agony.
The pertinacious questioner again asked, Who are
yous Are you not Delisle?"
Slowly and solenly in tones that sounded as of the
sepulchre. the form promptly answered. Antoine De-
Isle, ye-as' That there general vamosiag OF
the rauehe at this startling pgonouncement IL Is uane.
esssssy 10 say The party left the locality ana Al ass