The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1867-10-04

| OuCe ulOTt, 100, ulS uQauClal aU8iTS DC
gan to trouble the Colonel. The estate
was again mortgaged, but the avalls
paid only his pressing debts, and soon
he was again bankrupt for a dinner.
Suddenly, however, he was seen in
possession of considerable sums of mon.
ey. Where this money came from was
q mystery; but no one connected his
having it with the disappearance of q
certain itinerant vender of watches and
jewelry, who for years had been In the
habit of making periodical visits to the
neiehborhood. This peddler is well re.
menbered by the old residents in the
vicinity. He was foreigner, and had
no settled place of residence in this
country. All that was certainly known
of him was that his name was Carroll,
and that he often carried about him
large amounts in money and jewelry.
One afternoon about the time of the
peddler's disappearance, the niece and
the uncle were heard in loud alterca.
ton in the library. ,Thesanie day the
young woman left the cottage and went
to live with some relations; and soon
afterward the children were taken away
by their grandmother. Then the soil,
tary man was left in his wretched home
with only the old servant, who through
all his twickedness1 had clung TO him
with the affection of mother.
Bat not long were the wretched mas
ter and the faithful servant left togeth-
er. Soon the silent tmessenger,came and
tore him from the, scene Of his, crimes
| forever. But was it foreveri Could
the history of the Haunted House" be
truly told an answer might be found to
this question. -
He died about fifteen years ago, and
! the house remained vacant until closed
under foreclosure someifour years after,
ward. Then it was occupied by gen.
tleman of Boston, who designed to make
it the permenent residence of his fami-
| ly. They remained only few months,
and then removed, unable to longer en-
dure the mysterious noises which, day
and night, they said echoed through
every apartment of the cottage. Anoth-
er family succeeded them in the occn-
pancy, and then another, and another;
but all were unable, to endure the
strange sounds, and all soon sought
more peaceful habitations. II
Then it began to be noised abroad that
the house was haunted. 1t was left va
cant; the country people Stunned II;
timid night travellers went by another
road, and the unknown author of the
mysterious sounds, whether spirit or
mortal, was left to hold his noisy car
nival in its dingy rooms unrestrained
by the presence of living man or
woman. .r...rz.g
How long the house was without a
tenant l have not been able to ascer-
tain; but 1T is certain that about four
years ago is passed into the hands of a
well-known gentleman of Watertown,
and then once more became q human
habitation.
This gentleman was proprietor of the
adjoining estate, and having added to it
this property-which contains about
forty fertile acres-be appropriated the
"Haunted House"to the use of his new
| ly engaged farm superintendent. The
proprietor had heard accounts of the
strange Noises, but regarding them as
idle tales he omitted to mention them
to the new superintendent. This per
son, whose name is King, is a robust
man, in the prime of life, with NERVES
of iron, and an unusal degree Of cour-
age and resolution. To his absolute
fearlessness it is mainly owing that
so much has come to the light of the
secret history of the strange domicile.
His family is small and the house is
large, and he has therefore been allowed
by the owners to rent to Others por-
tion of the premises. Thus, during the
four years he has lived there, seven diff
ferent families have been his co-ten-
ants, but none of them have been able
to live more than n few weeks under
the "haunted" roof That Mr.. King has
had the courage to undergo, for four
years, the ghostly ordeal, should be a
subject of satisfaction to all earnest ex-
plorers of the misty border-land which
lies between this life and the dim world
of shadows.
Mr.. Kings family consists of himself,
his wife-a delicate woman of about 80,
young son, and a little daughter of
some dozen years. Their first night in
the house was sometime in February,
1868: and on that occasion they had for
guests an aged lady and her sick hus-
band. who occupied the front chamber
over the parlor. Their own room was
on the opposite side of the hall, and
looked directly down upon the front
doorway. The children slept in an ad-
joining apartment.
Overcome with fatigue, Mr.. King and
his wife slept very soundly, and that
pight heard no noises. On going down
stairs in the morning, however, they
were asked by their lady gnest, who it
was that had been moving about in the
upper rooms after midnight Further
remarks disclosed the fact that during
tho night this lady had thought she
heard loud raps all about her room, the
house creak from foundation to attic as
if rocked by strong northwest wind,
and the several doors of her apartment
topen and shut with great violence. In
the morning she had found these doors
open, though she had carefully closed
them all before going to bed. Mr.. King,
who had not yet heard ofthe reputation
of the house, naturally concluded that
all this was the offspring Of timid
imagination. t.-
On the follswing night all in the
house retired early, and nothing oo-
Cured to disturb their slumbers until
about an hour before midnight. Then,
suddenly, Mr.. King was aroused by a
pounding on the door of the woodhouse
the most remote ofthe disjointed ont
buildings. The blows were those of an
axe, and the thought Of the startled
man was that burglars were attenting
to break into his dwelling. Spripging
out of bed be hastily threw on por,
I tion of his clothing and hurried down
the stairway As he went down the
noises increased; blow after blow
sounded on the deor, and echoed
through the building; and then, with a
loud crash, the iron banded frame
seemed to give way and to fail
inward into the wood room
"I shall be too late" thought MI
King, as he rushed to the outer door OF
the kitchen, This was fastened, and
placing his foot against it, he awaited
! the attack of the burglars. At first ne
heard low voices in earnest conversa'
tion, and then sharp, quick blows, as Of
an axe hewing the fallen door into ter
! thousand Fragments. Making no Sound
he waited and listened; bu. in few
,,o,,anis tho sonnds snddenly ceased