Middletown transcript., 1869-07-31
popular GALES.
THE HAUNTED MINES,
By HORACE STANTON.

Some of the grandest scenery in Amer
ica is to be found amid the wild mountain
ranges and along the bright rivers OF
Texas. From the snuw-crowned heights
of the Sierras to the tropical shores of
the gulf is opened a wide vision of luxu-
rance and beauty. Her mammoth forest
trees invite the weary traveller to repose
beneath their waving branches, while her
broad prairies come down to be kissed by
the foam-lit waves of the sea. The Color
ado River finds its source in bright
pearly stream that gushes from the rocky
face Of the Guadalupe Mountains, and
then, rolling away through the wild, rich
prairies, it receives constant accessons to
its strength until it comes down to the
gulf in mighty volume of rushing
waters.
But even this wild spot, apparently so
free from the intrusion of man, was not
secure from the adventurous foot of the
New Englander; and, at the base of the
mountain, Henry Bateman had built q
comfortable cabin, while his wide and
fertile rancho extended far away through
the woodlands and prairie. A strong love
of adventure was hidden away in his prac-
tical brain; and, with his brave hearted
wife and little group of children, he had
sought home in this wilderness of beau
ty and grandeur.
Above their modest cabin the strong
towers of nature leaned against the sky !;
and they witnessed coronations grander
than at the courts of princes, when the
sunlight placed upon the mountains brow
a radiant morning crown of gold and GRIM
son, or swept the nights at eventide with
the purple glory of his mighty benedic-
ton. Farther on, amid the wild ravines
of this lofty range, were mines of silver
and gold, which had been worked to ad-
vantage by the Spaniards century before,
until the mining operations were broken
up by the Indians.
Among the few families that lived with
in range of fifty miles, was wild legend
that the ravines were haunted. 1t was
said that a pale-faced youth from the north
of England, being driven from home by
the cruelty of his father, had wandered
here and gone into the mines with the
Spaniards; that he proved more fortunate
ehun his coihraueS, anu was Hnally rODDed
and murdered there for the possession of
his shining spoils. His mother, the Lady
Helen, had died broken-hearted on hear
ing the news. And since that time-so
the legend ran-the figure of a woman in
white robes had fitted up and down the
mountain-side, amid the lofty pines and
through the dark defles, wringing her
white hands and moaning in anguish,
while her strange cries were borne on the
midnight air. The conscience stricken
murderer said the voice declared that no
more treasure should be taken from the
mines; that the hand of the spoiler should
seal up the shining ores of the mountains !;
and that whoever sought for them in after
years should fall by the hand of north
ern avenger.
The widely-scattered and superstitious
inhabitants received the strange story
without doubt or a question, and in their
humble cabins, beside the Pickering rays
of the weird freight, they gravely re-
pested it to wondering childhood and
then solemn awe, that nature never gave
would rest upon their simple hearts and
crown the ancient mountains with .ap in
de6psble fear.