North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1866-02-14

| lem and as result, the house IN queStl on
was literally beseiged on a certain night
by brave men and smitten hearts. 1t SC
happened that no ghosts made their ap-
pearance on that night, no raps nor thumps
were heard, save the din and rattle OF
voices from those present.
The whole party left at daylight in dis.
contented mood, and in no manner wiser
tor their sleepless adventure in the spirits
mansion Billy - thought world oi
Rose so, on the following night, soon aft
or dark, he concluded to visit the ghost
or whatever they might be-and we shall
let him in here, to tell his own story:
81 moved cautiously toward the building
and entered side door, There were four
rooms on the first floor, and as | wanted
some way to escape if things did not suit
me, held the impression that / should
stop where | was, so closing the door but
stood perfectly silent for half an hour
No unnatural sound was heard during that
time, and now that had broke the ice, |
ventnred little deeper and reached the
middle room. My feet had scarcely cross
ed the threshold. when thump! thump
thump! greeted my ears, followed by a
most unrarthly yell which proceeded from
directly over my head, in the the name OF
! all that is mortal p exclaimed, "makc
yourselves known whoever you NAV be,
or shall try the virtue of cold lead in
your case.
Rap! rap rap! was the only answer
which | received, and raising my revolver
| sent bullet through the ceiling. The
report was instantly followed by he Wy
thump, like the body Of a person would
cause falling on tire floor A gleam Of
triumph shot from my eyes was sure
had dispatched the supposed ghost;
listened again with breathless assurance
no sound prevaded the deathly stiffness
which followed, and struck match in
order that might ascend the stairs had
almost reached the top when my match
went out, and simultaneously / was seized
| bv two apparations. bound hand and foot,
and dragged to side room. | could rot
speak, for so Unexpectedly overpowercd,
the shock s:iffled and choked me.
Presently / opened my eyes, snd with
the aid ofthe moons pale glimmer l saw
one ofthe strange objects remove a robe
which covered tie head, and reveal hu
man face and such eyes-they seemed
like balls of fire moving about at leisure,
stopping occasionally to gaze wildly down,
to my terror stricken vision Slowly re-
covering my seIfpossession, raised my
head partly from the floor, and cried out :
For the love of God, give me liberty or
Kill me on the spot!
Then came voice in shrill and rum
bling tone, which will never be eradicated
from my memory, saving:
"Silcnce-silence while you live, for
soon you will die!'
"Oh,' thought to myself, "where was
my courage now? Lost. lost ~ mur-
INJURED, and sank back in despair.
lay thus completely prostrated for
sometime, when new sense of my pcsi
tion ncrved me to desperation. ) I resolv-
ed that it must die, it should not be with
out struggle. and remembering that
bad pocket knife with me. managed to
get my hands in snch aposilion as to reach
t,which did, aud cut the cords that bound
me, and sprane to my feet. If my cour-
age had been renewed | must acknowledge
it predominated for a moment only; at the
first glance observed the ghost preparing
for my execution A huge block and
glittering axe was all | remember seeing,
when fell senseess to the floor.
Again returned to consciousness and
again l raised my head to look about me.
The preparations were near completed, the
apparations stood about the same distance
from the stairs as myself-life was precious
and with one bouEd / cleared the stairs
and sped out of the door.
did not relate this adventure to any
one. Ii had, | was certain they would
laugh at me: therefore kept mum, and
concluded that if this was the road to. wo-
mans affection. would 90 the other way,
and live and die bachelor.
The next victim was George
being daily sworn, deposeth and saws: I
would do anything to win Rose Beaumont
and earning of the proposition she had
made, L expected there would be trcmcn-
dons rush for the haunted house so I'd
wait for few DAYS. and then ascertain if
there be such things as ghosts in the vicin-
ty, and, IT so, whether [ could not compro-
mise with them. in order to arrange things
with the charming Rose.
WAITED until Saturday evening and
abont eight o'clock on that evening. I
swung large bowie knife at my side land
went forth to- meet the foe. believed
too, that "a faint heart never won fair la
dy," and feeling nv heart to be in the con
dition to win Rose, was confident Of suc-
cess. As I opened the front door, called
out
"f there be any snirit present; they
will please make manifest by rapping three
times" a+,..., - :, - -.
The response came immediately, for
L 81 49,