The New era. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1865-1871, 1867-04-25

Torrance of duty. Moreover, we sol
EMMY pledged ourselves to stand by
each other to the last extremity, and in
no case desert an unfortunate comrade,
even though Pluto himself had him by
the ears. Being fortified with these
commendabie resolutions, soon to be
weighed in the balances Of actual ex-
pertinent, anu calling to our aid all
that we had ever heard Or read against
the absurdity OF ghost existence, we
clambered over the fence, and started
forward, led on by a bullet-headed
scape-grace, from the State of Ohio,
who protested to fear nett Ter
man nor devil. It had been thought
expedient to employ strategy in this
perilous undertaking. The course, there
fore. we were now pefsuing, would
have been described as the hypotenuse
of right-anged triangle. having the
monuments for its radical index, and
thanking them on the right, and which
led us to about q central position on the
north side. This part OF the grounds
abounded in Il variety Of shrubbery,
but had fewer tomb-stones, It icing APP
propriated mostly to the interment OF
the poor. At the north side, close to
the fence, and occupying central po-
sition as regards that end, stood Il ctus-
ter Of tall NAPLES, and under the shadow
Of these we now found ourselves, aav-
ing been but few minutes in reaching
them. Right in our rear, and stretch
ing far away to our left, was q grove Of
white oak and ash, looking horribly
gloomy and spectral; and it was deem
ed prudential that this woods should be
explored; which duty WAS assigned to
the worthy hero who had thus lar led
our advance. Our surroundings were
far from being delicious; in fact, they
tended to excite gloomy and supersti-
tious fears. sit was the very Witching
hour of night" when the pale tenants
of the SHADOW land" aare supposed to
wander abroad, If happily they might
find some unfortunate kindred in the
flesh whom they could prepare, for his
possible future, by pouring into his nor
ror-stricken soul the sad tale OF their
own lamentable woes. x slight breeze,
which had now sprung up, moaned dis
mally through the branches Of the ma
piles under which we STOOD and died
cent woods; from the depths of which
the lugubrious 'sWoo hoo Of q villain
Gus owl, who had returned, disappoint-
ed and crest-fallen, from friendly vis>
it TO a neighbofing henroost, aWoke
the siumbering echoes far and near, and
which, mingled with the dolorous notes
of 4 melancholy Whippo-Will, signaling
his mate 10 moonlight fitting, in
creased the growing agitation OF the
now uneasy students. 1t seemed really
that every circumstance conspired to
disturb our equanimity, and, as some Of
the more eredasous thought, to endan-
ger our safety itself. just about the
spot we Were standing. only few years
before, an appalling crime had been
perpetrated. The story ran to the effect
that maid, whether of high or low de
gree does not appear, to escape the inn
sought this remote spot as promising a
safe, if not a sacred asylum against his
prosecutions 1t may have been at the
"hush of eve'-but her tormentor, like
a very Nemesis, had tracked her to her
hiding place, and here, amid surround
ings which should have softened his
nature, again protiered his unwelcome
suit. Upon being refused, positively
and finally, he deliberately stabbed her
through and through, till life was ex-
tinct, and then finished the fiendish
deed by cutting his own throat from ear
to ear. Each one now bethought him.
self OF this horrible and appalling trag-
edy, and almost imagined he could see
lne tefrOf-Stflcken lace OF tfllS unlOrtun-
ate maid, cut OFF in her youth by the
hand Of an atrocious fiend. But even
these gloomy and unwelcome thoughts
could not deter us from our original
programme--to ferret out the mystery
ofthose shadows. In laundering around
l all at once stumbled upon an object
which excited the liveliest curiosity of
the duliest member Of the crowd, and
was the instant occasion of the widest
sur.nises and most improbable conjec-
lures. 1t was nothing less than q par
TALLY eXhumed grave, over which were
placed, longitudinally, two pine boards,
supported, at either end, by transverse
pieces of wood. These boards lacked
perhaps a couple Of inches of touching
each other, and through the crevice, we
could discover that considerable exca-
walton had been made beneath; though
for what purpose, we could not divine.
myself thought it not improbable that
"grave-robbers" might be in the vicin-
ity, the present appearance seeming to
indicate the operations Of those vaga-
bond pests OF society, but / carefully re-
Trained from intimating any thing Of
the kind since I did not wish to allay
the superstitious terror that was fast.
CraftiOU the ynaStarv nyar fhaiu ,utton