Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1867-11-19
The -Albemarle Mystery.
-------------- nc k1t'r1l q u III oIc1 y
The following authentic, detailed and thri

lngly interesting account OF the mysterious al
flair at the. residence Of Mr.: John S, Moon,rnea
Scottsvle, from the beginning, ten months
since to November 10th, is from an extra o
the ScotIsville Register:
Il ScoTrsvILLE, ALBEMARLE Co., VA, I
/, November llth, 1867.
| About ten months ago. candle. box dllet
with rags, saturated with whiskey, was PLACED
against side of Mr. John S. Moons house
| five miles from this place, and ignited. Abou
! O clock at night, the fire was discovered ane
extinguished = and the unburnt rags discovered
| to be fragments. of garments missing from MIR
4 Moon house, in the then past several months
| Whether this effort to burn the house had any
connection with what has followed, is no
| KNOWN
| MIR. Moon was not again m0lested that he i.
aware of until Spring opened, when a member
Of his family saw a man standing motlonless +;
| few feet in front Of his house, late at night.
| On another occasion, two men were seen tC
walk back and forth across the yard.
| On another occasion, negro woman report
ed She saw a black looking man crouched al
! Mr. Moon front gate, late at night; and or
! another occasion, also late at night, a similar
/ looking man was seen cronched near. the gate
| who afterwards got up and went towards the
| house. 4s4.a-. .es..;f ~ ~ t;r rs F
Daring Mr.. Moon ABSENCE attending Court
| about that time, his parlor door which had beer
carefully shut and locked, (fhe key being left in
| the lock at night,) was found open In the morn
ing. r9's@s e,sseso
In. a night or so afterwards, a parlor window
which had been fixed with straw stuck in a
crack of it, was found to have been hoisted the
store room door was found open, (unaccount-
ably.) several mornings about that time.
After this, Mr. NJ. fixed his inside and out
side doors and windows in such way as to
know if they were disturbed, and found they
were repeatedly opened. He watched on the
inside of his house for good many nights near
ly all night, but failed to detect any one at
tempting to enter. No one disturbed the house
the nights he watched. =
One night about six weeks ago, Mr. NJ. fast
ened all the doors and windows, carefully. He
was the first one to get up the next morning.
and found his inside dining room door had been
opened store-room door opening into the
dining room had been unlocked and opened-a
door opening into the kitchen from the dining
room had also been unlocked and opened, and
the Sliding Kitchen door had been moved back.
light had been seen to fash about the hou &c
that night after the family had all retired. =
From the store room about four or five pounds
of sugar, gotten aud weighed the evening be
fore. had been taken, and the Whlskey out of a
demIjohn, known to have been full the night
before, was missing. BY the sugar, was bas-
ket Of silver ware which was not disturbed. e.
The next night, Mr. Moons son, about IA
years old, was sleeping in his. fathers office,
which is about 100 yards from the house. Ga
this night an effort was made to hoist the Win
dow, which awakened his son. He jumped up,
saw man run off-got his gun and made lnef-
fectual pursuit. 4s
VI liz
ing -room, and man seen from an upper win
dow to run off from the house through the back
passage door, which was found open. though
carefully closed short time before. This door
had not been locked, because Of sickness in the
family.
The next night some one was heard to stun
BILE on an open shed over the back passage door
"a loud crash immediately followed. Upon
going out, Mr.. Moon found on the ground, not
far from the. she'd. several ladies and childrens
garments, taken from the upper part Of the
house, and the remains oFtYo plates taken from
the dinlng-room, wrapped up in thenl-also, a
Bible taken from the diningroo mantle piece,
a few feet off A child S bonnet wrapped upin
roll of children's clothes was found Oh top of
the shed. & re s0l
The next night was dark, windy and rainy
About midnight, a pane of glass in one OF the
NlluUWS NdS otiu tEtO
sash raised Some one was heard to jump in,
and when the alarm was given, to jump out
again--no one was seen.
The next night was windy and dark, and The
rain fell in torrents. Every door aud window
was carefully closed by Mr.. NJ except the back
passage door, and he placed all Of his family in
his chamher-ln g gnaigs opening next to him,i
lie SAT in this open door with his gun in bis
hand about two hours. when suddealy his cham
Der around the corner from him was bursted in
with loud crash He RUSHED to the spot, but
could not nave seen OF heard man moving III
three feet OF him, on account OF the darkness,
wind and rain, and the cutlery OF his family:
lie then closed, aud locked the door in which
he sat, and in order to keep from being seen.
against the sky, orawlaa around to the front Of
lne house, and placed himself &c yqrds 10 front
of his front door, whereof be remained until about
day. While there he heard the rattle ola sash
of a glass, but could see nothing for the dark
ness. Inthe morning he found that the putty
around side light to his front door, next to
the lock, had been cut out, evidently with the
intention Of unlocking the door. An effort,
which was nearly successful, had also been made
to force in the side light sashes and the pannels
below them.
The next day was clear, and Mr.. Moon made
arrangements for eight of his neighbors to sur
round the house about half an hour after the
moon went down, which it did that night about
II O. clock. If any one entered the house. 1t
was understood that Mrs. Moon, at one of the
end windows up stairs and one Of her sisters
at the other were to raise signal lights. Mr..
Moon retired to his chamber in his usual way,
so as to deceive the burglar, and after locking
the door, extinguiahing the light, and rustllng
the bed clothes, sat with his gun in his hand.
A short time after the moon went down, soft
footsteps were heard in his parlor but the wind
was blowing. and the sound might have been
deceptive. His son crept down, and peeplng
into the dining room, saw that window had
been hoisted. Upon going back and reporting,
the ladies doubted the report. He went down
a second time, satisfied himself fully. and com
ing back, it was determined he should shoot the
rogue as he went out of the open window In Anew
minutes he saw man about twenty steps from
the house and fred on him. The signal lights
went up--the man fell fat and crept off. AT
the same instant that young Moon fired, man
ran between two of the guards. about two hun,
dred yards off on the other side Of the yard,
and was fired at by one Of them with a pistol.
The other guard could not fire for fear of shoot
ing one of his companions. The next morning
tracks made by coarse boot, or shoe, We're
found coursing down the hill from that point.
That night the store room door was found
locked, but upon going in they found bag,
with two apart alents to it, left on the Hour bar
rel, and about double handful of coffee split
in with the -four. A shawl, missing from the
dining room, was dropped at the spot Mr..
Moon son shot at the man. 1t seemed to
ha va ,hann rorforat tod with three ShOtS The