Democratic enquirer. [volume] (M'arthur, Vinton County, Ohio) 1867-1873, 1868-07-16
THE HAUNTED HOUSE.

A Tr No story or New England Life.
[Rey. L r Bolton, IN The Boston ooneregationAlltl
a On the wide sandy plain which stretches
its weary monotony between the crowded
manufacturing villages of ohicopee River
and the quiet villages Of CRANKY and South
Hadley, stands a lonely house ten rods
from a lonely road II is of two stories and
an i, though the single room in this last is
the only room that is inhabitable. The
two story part, now ruin, has never been
more than q mere shell. A curate of
century ago, Shubael Jones, put up, plant
ed q little orchard around it and brought
TO it black-eyed, high-tempeed wife,,
But he was at thst time an incipient drunk
ard, and soon every appearance Of comfort
and domestic happiness hed the place
and one dismal Noyemb her night the heyTetch-i
ed wife summoned her neighbors from
their beds to where the poor sot lay dead
Of the foot of the cellar stairs. No inquest
was held, none doubted that he was killed
by a fall in a drunken fit in attempting
another visit tothe cider barrel. lfsgno1 n
The widow rented the place to a tenant
who neither kept it well nor paid its rent.
She went with her little boy who was not
quite an idiot, to work in the paper mill at
the village then called "ShipmuckP For
long years she changed from factory to fac
tory, as best she could keep her son em-
ployed He was always harmless and still
He was always obedient when under his
mothers eye, and worked at her side.--
They earned more than they spent, butthe
prudent people of Ludlow where last they
had lived, feared to allow them to 'gain o
settlement" and thus render their town
liable for theirfuture support, So they OBJ
tanned the consent of the agent that the
widow and her son need not keep strict
time, and offered to furnish room in her
old desolate house, three miles from the
factory if she would live there The proud
woman understood the motive, and with o
flash of her dark eyes declined their kind
less. But she soon bought little furni-
I tune Of q family that was moving away, and
established herself in the gloomy old
wreck. GG Yint1 tt}F' t9}ly
ltwas now late in the fall when the wild
ow Jones first noticed that the grass was
disappearing from the roadside by the bars
opposite her door 1t soon grew obviously
worse; and though bald spot on mans
head is no great WONDER this bare spot,
with no hoof marks on it bafied all her in
genuity. The fence, too, seemed worn by
loungefs leaning against It. What could it
meanf No human gathering could have
been held in that lonely place since the day
when that moldering frame was raised, ex-
cept on that sad day when the moldering
frame of the owner went to its long home.
g The explanation of that mystery involves
us in deeper one. One night in Septem-
ber, man from Ludlow was passing the
house just after the factory bell had an
nounced the hour of nine. AS he neared
the house he heard groan. TWAS a sin
gle groan, then all was still. Bnt it was
such groan as no one utters twice, and he
who hears it never wishes to hear it again.
He felt it his duty to rush into the house,
but dared not After long hesitation, he
went his way speculate lg whether the wid-
ow had murdered her idiot son or had been
murdered by him And when he saw them
both quietly come into the village the next
morning, he doubted, first his eyes, and
then his memory. .f,,....... $40
| But the same errand again brought him
past that lonely house, few nights later
Again he heard the nine O'Clock bell as he
approached the house, and again, as he was
opposite the house, that dreadful groan,
The next night he walked out with neigh
Dor, so timing his steps that when neafthe
house both heard that mortal sound.
Both were certain that it came from the
house t. u. .
Three went out, and five, and fifteen, and
thirty All heard the groan, and all agreed
that it was exact 10 its time to quarter Of
a minute. Old Captain Hardcastle said
that, if he were shut up in hole as dark
as midnight, he could tell within ten min
utes when the time for his lleyen O'Clock"
came, but he couldn't keep time with
ghost. One guessed the spirit heard the
bell. The agent stopped the bell one night
but the groan was heard as usual And it
was not a similar groan, but the same gronn !
repeated every night. No ear could tell |
any difference, not made by the direction |
and force of the wind. Some wondered |
whether it had been repeated every night
sincepoor Jones "broke his neck Others
said that, if they were the widow, rath- !
er than live month in that house, they
would confess the murder, and be- hanged. |
One night the doctor and the lawyer Of |
Ludlow, both young men, went out quite |
early They went into the house and |
wanted to wait till the moon rose" The |
widow gave them scant welcome; she had |
not forgotten Ludlow prudence, and she |
always conjecthred that her present guests
had their share in that affair. Without |
candle she sat there stretching her skinny
hands to the blaze, for the night was chill |
The gawky boy, who would be nearly
seven feet long if he Strengthened out, and
who seemed TO have acquired his longitude
at the expense of his latitude, as if put
through q rolling mill, sat there in kinks
and silence. IN -. * II
They heard the factory-bell they heard a
cricket, they heard q lusty rat, but they
heard no, groan AT halfpast nine they
went out to d large, shivering, impatient
crowd that had missed their groan and felt
'rnisused. In an instant more the groan
was heard in oil its perfection. Our friends
whether the lawyer had dropped q glove,A-
The widow was making up trundle-bed
that had been lurking iunsuspected by
them beneath the large one in the darkest
corner Of the, room. They admired this
contrivanee for economizing space. Could
the widow move it easily She ran it in
and drew IL out again. By this time the
lawyer had found his glove in his pocket,
and again they wished the widow good
night ass, 81, ;koso stts, ,.,.,.7.,,,, "a, 4
!, Meanwhile the outsiders had heard two
extra groans, the first was somewhat differ
ent from the usual one, but the last was
exact.
Il have found, I" says the law lawyer, qthst
Ludlow has expended at least 300 miles
travelon foot, and all in the night and 100
hours Of loafng by these old bars just to
hear that woman draw out her trundle-bed
for that Jacob's-ladder idiot" w siom,r |
"And let me recommend. you" added
the doctor, ''when you find anything that
you cannot explain, not to jump to conclu-
sions that IL is supernatural It is more
than probable-itis certain-=that YOU can
find physical cause for every physical
effect.n iftns DIT igsraf9yos -
: And so they all went home and went to
bed. fg5 nJJ 70 3,o''efI,F1 oi i4d ta9
And the next spring the grass grew again
H. - L..