Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-05-09
DAILY EVENING STAR.
IContin,led from first page

lCOuttJsttea from TfSt puge.I
upon my mind. I halted-my breast
heaved-my knees trembled-and a pro-
fuse perspiration rushed from every pore.
Mastering every energy that
fear had left me, / slowly retraced my
steps. The feelings of the condemned
criminal, as he PAGES between his cell and
the fatal gibbet, would be state of bliss
compared with what suffered, and I en-
deavored to muster in nv mind every
motive that could stimulate me to exer-
ton.
AT lengthI stood trembling and breath.
less on the spot had quilted. Slowly !
raised my eyes, and shuddering, closed
them In terror, though nothing met my
view within the void before me. The
heavy toned bell of the fort tolled the
hour of one. Reassured, gazed more
earnestly towards the summit of the arch,
and beheld, while the deep note or the
bell, yet sounded in my ear, the same
frightful object emerging, as it were, from
the solid masonry Of the roof 1t now
lowered over my head in horizontal po-
sition, which, as it hOa.ed nearer and
lower, was changed for an upright one;
the breast dilated and swelled, as when
one draws heavy suspiration: no sound
accompanied the motion. Despair gave
me courage. At my feet lay the loaded
musket of the sentinel. 1 seized, and
cooking it, viewed the object of my dread
more earnestly. Inc suspirations were
continued, and I now saw that the head
was but one unshapen battered mass of
red raw flesh.
Assuming as military tone as terror
would permit, / shouted, "who goes
there 2" No answer.
Again and again shouted the soldiers
challenge, though each time fainter and
fainter. | now fancied l could almost
touch it. Bringing the gun to my Shout
der, took aim-'twas within foot of
the musket muzzle-I fired. The loud
echo was repeated hundred fold, rever-
berating holloway from the arch before
me, and more sharply from the grave
yard beyond. Thick smoke filled and
obscured the passage. I could not have
mlssed-my courage was as the nerve of
despair. Slowly the breeze dissipated
the dense smoke; and there, futterins
wildly, like an eagle over its prey, and
certainly now not more than two feet
from my head, was this " thing of fear
and dread" l sprung upwards and
clasped it in my arms. / felt slight
resistance. Something snapped loudly ::
and cloth, cold, dark and damp, as the
covering of the dead, enveloped my head
and shoulders ~ Twas no unreal
shade" l felt twas substance. Terror
vanished, and | became on the sudden
strangely valiant. Sounds of human life
were around me: the prisoners were
alarmed, and talked loudly in their quar-
tiers. Lights moved towards me from the
guard house, with the sounds of measured
foot steps. Itwas the sergeant and guard.
They moved in line, steadily, and with
ported arms, ready for the charge: and
at my feet lay the object of this warlike
preparation. And what was it? A shirt
Of srhtte linen which had been pinned
by the sleeves to drying line, reaching
from window of easement to the op-
poslte one; to the collar was pinned red
nlghtcGp and pair of red carriers, 1.-THE
seeming stream of blood, and to the
bottom was attached pair of stockings,
1.-THE jointtess legs of my GHosr!) The
line being rather slack, it had been watt
ed backwards and forwards in the breeze
that blew down the passage, causing it
TO advance and recede; and as as it bellied
with the wind, it seemed to dilate and to
diminish In form, causing the before so
evident suspiration, and giving it the ap.
perance of supernatural animation.
Need say that the Court Martial pas
Sed leDlelt sentence on the moor hlack
delinquent who had quilted his post
Nsed | enumerate the jests and iibes that
poor endured from my brother officers
And need describe how sheepish look.
cd when, as L was bea,ung two belle Guada-
lOupeans round the Place de Mars, one
Sunday evening after garrison parade, |
heard my sergeant say, in no dulcet strains,
to comrade, as he touched his can in
passing. ''There that's the Irish officer
who caught the Ghost ~