The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1866-06-28
4 q, Eeee,ttgic Boot Ftafsfer.

MANY xa,er4atro. a gentleman who filled
q ,,ranin-nf situation III one our banks
a! D GOOD old age. married his servant
The pairliVeu happily together for sew
cral wears. when the old gentleman dIcd,
leaving by his will fi099 TO his widow,
IN addition to an annuity Of $500 per
aonum and house, which he had bulit
and furnished in first-rate style, situate
IN the best part of the South-side The
house IS a fine mansion continuing ten
or eleven rooms, all elegantly or once
elegantly furnished, aud IS situated IN
the midst of a garden, surrounded by
high stone wall. Shortly after her nus
bands death, the wild ON became noto-
yious for two pecuIiarities. The first
was, the rigid exclusion OF All visitors,
OF whatever kind, from her house-the
inVariahle answer to all entreatles to see
her being that she WAS hot at nome, or
could not be seen; the second was her
constant attendance at all book and
other sales which took place in i1dln-
burg, where, during the season, she
might daily be seen carrying 4 large
blue bag, in which she deposited and
carried home her purchases. These, we
may mention, We're generally OF the
IN st miscellaneous description, and APP
parently made without any taste or DIS
elimination. Matters went on thus Tor
nearly twenty Years.
One Sunday the old lady, in her usual
health, went out to her garden 10 take
the air, and as she did not return so
speedily as was her wont, her servant
locked out at the main door, When she
found her mistress sitting on the stone
steps dead. This unexpected event
speedily cleared up the mystery which
enveloped her domestic relations. On
the house being entered by warrant
from the sheriff. it WAS found that she
had converted the whole house into Il
vast magazine for the conservation OF
tie purchases Of the last twenty years
and such a scene presented Itself as we
believe seldom before met mortal eyes.
Thelobby, Il handsome one, had been de c.
rated With statuary figures standing, with
the pedestal some eight feet high; but
these were totally hidden by piles OF
books. intermixed with rubbish Of every
description, heaped up oh either side OF
the lobby-a narrow track atone being
left in the CENTER, through which, With
great difficulty. q passage could be made.
Every room in the house was in Il SINH
lar state. Immense piles of books, rot
ten mattresses, stuffed dogs, female
dresses made and unnade, cheap jew
CRY, old hannets, pictures and prints,
with a Great variety Of other articles, in
termiXed with straw. hair, shavings,
cte., covered all the floors to the depth
OF several feet: and similar piles flied
the beds, and lay heaped on every art-
Gle of furniture IN tie house. The smell
from The mass Of fostering rubbish, as
may he conceived, was intolcrahIe, aud
j. sielxenea some OF the men who first
entered the house.
From the height 10 which the books
had been piled up it WAS impossible to
enter some of the rooms until Il portion
was removed and upward of five tons
weight of books had 10 be carried away
before this could be effected. No descrip-
ton could give an adequate idea of the
stale OF the house; but some approx
nation to il may be made il our readers
will suppose the contents of twenty
paWnbroker's shops, cast indiscriminate-
Iy into a heap, and after being thorough
" mixed by means Ola pltchtork, toss
ed in heaps into a circumscrlbed space.
The deceased seems to have made pur-
.chases merely for the pleasure Of pur-
chasing, us most of the smaller articles
were found tied up in bags or parcels
precisely in the state in which they had
been brought home. She seems to have
burrowed in hole which she scooped
out amidst vast quantity of rubbish in
one of the rooms; and there, on the floor,
with only IA hair mattress beneath her
the tick ofwhich had rotted away on one
eide-she took her rest in the dress she
daily wore, without blanket or covering
of any kind. 1t may be mentioned also
that the deceased, though purchaser of
books to SO large an extent, never read
any of them, nor knew anything of tt cir
value; and when asked by individuals
at sales, as occasionally she was, what
sle d with s, many books, her answer
invariably was, that she bought them to
present to ministers, or the children of
her friends. The tenacity with which
she preserved the secrets of her prison
house may also be judged of by the fact
that her present servant, IA young High
land girl, has never Though she has been
six months in her service, been beyond
the walls of the garden; and when her
brother came from the country to see
her, the police had to be called in before
that could be accomplished. The girl
was carefully locked up every time the