The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1868-07-30
THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
ny REV. I. r. HOLToS.

THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
NY REV. I. r. HoLToS.
!. G l. ai s.:.st IL:
crowded manufacturing villages Of
Chisopee river and the quiet villages Of
Gnmby and South HadIey. stands 2
i.s s!lgSlsl III 4 I! l'|saEs X.
single room In this last II the only room
inhahitable. The two-story part, now q
ruin, has nsver been more than . mere
shell. a quarter Of . centpsy ago Sbu.
bael695A - \ ~. pasnseI AAuos ~.
chasd around It, ana brought black
eyeds igA.tsnpsss6 via = T. .Bst. -
wAa11 0iAt tn Anlio&jplaat. ArsntAfd
and sooq every appearance Of comfort
and 66hsestic happiness ned the place.
And one dismal November night the
wrseebea 116 ssuamoslsd her neighhnss
ftodI tn&1Y beds % where the poor cot
lay dead II the foot OF the cellar stairs.
No inquest w. held, none doubted that
he vs. killed b : fall in drunken at
in attempting smother visit to his cider
Tl5e widow rented the place to . ten
nant sho neither kept il well, nor paid
its rsnE She gent NTH her little boy who
wasnot quite m idiot, 10 work in . pa
perzgpi1 a1the village then called Skip
muck For long years she changed
from l1etory 70 factory = best she could
keep her son employed. He was always
harmless and still. He was always
obedisnt when under his mother's eye
and working at her side. They earned
more than they spent, but the prudent
people 0f Ludlow, where last they had
lived. feared To allow them to "gain .
settjeuent' and thus render their town
liable for their future support. 50 they
obtained the consent ~ the agent that
the widow aud her sso need not keep
strict time, and offered to furnish q
room n her old desolate house, three
miles frsm the factory, II she would live
there. Ths proud woman understood
the motive. and with flash Of her dark
eyes declined their kindness. But she
soon hought little furniture of : fami-
" thaS 1as moving away and re-estab-
lisbed he,.saf in the gloomy old
wreck.
II was now late in the fall when the
Widow Jones flrst poticed that the grass
was disappearing from the roadside BY
the bau opposite her door. 1t soon
grew obviously worse; and, though a
baId~pss on q mans head II no great
wonder, this bare spot, with no boot
marks on it, baffied all her ingenuity.
The fence, too, seemed TO be worn ~ il
by Iouagsss leaning against it. What
could it mean? No human gathering
could have been held in that lonely
place since the day when that mol err
ing frame was raised except on that
sad Day when the moldering frame OF
the owner went To its long home.
The explanation OF that mystery in
wolves US in . deeper one. One night in
September . man from Ludlow wa
passing the house just after the factory
bell had announced the hour Of nine.
As he ncared the house he heard q
grOan. II was q single groan and then
all was still. But it was such q groan
as no one utters twice. and he who hears
1t never wishes to hear it again. HI
felt IL his duty to rush into the house
but dared not. After long hesitation ht
went his way, specializing whether the
widow had murdered her idiot sou q
had been murdered by him. AM
when he saw them both quietly come
into the village the next morning h
first doubted his eyes aud neyt his mem
DRY.
But I &c same errand again brough
him past that lonely house few night
later. Again he heard the nine o'clocl
bell as he approached tho house ant
again, as he was opposite the house
that dreadful groan. The next nigh
he walked out with a neighbor, SO tim
ing his steps that when near the hous
both heard that mortal sound. Bot
were. certain that 1t came from til
house.
Three went out, and five, and flftee'
and thirty. All heard the groan; an
oil agreed that 1t was exact to its tim
to q quarter ofa minute. Old Captain
Hardcastle said that ifhc were shut u
in bold as dark as midnight, he coul
tell within ten minutes when the tim
for his eleven O'clock" came, but h
couldn't keep time with a ghost. On
guessed the spirit heard the bell. TIL
agen4stopped the bell one night, butth
greaa was heard as usual. And 1t wa
not. q similar groan but the same groan
repeated every night. No ear could tel
any difference not made by the direc
ton and force of the wind. Some won
dered whether it had been repeated
every night since poor Jones "brok
his neck, Othere said, that If the,