The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-03-24
HoYT g. CO., Proprietors.
MY FIRST AND LAST GHOST.

don't believe in ghosts. Please accept that
es q starting-point l am not in the least an
imaginative or nervous person. entertain
profound contempt for Spiritualism, and all the
morbid folGes which are connected with 1t. |
have always had quite reputation Tor good
common sense, and / have never, thank Goo
had a secret of any kind on my mind. Yet
was Che person of all others selected, as the oo-
iect of ghostly manifestation, and mere am
In u1y sedate middle age taking the public into
INV Confidence. and asking for some rational ex-
nlanation of the events which I am about to
relate, on the credit of my serious, sober vera
city.
Some twenty years ago, when was girl, or,
at least, quite young woman, went DOWN IN
to South Carolina to visit an aunt OF mine, VINO
had married wealthy planter, and settled In
what aoe are apt to consider the backwoods.
Another niece of hers, and cousin OF mine ac-
companied me on the journey-whlch was quite
q lonp one in those days-and together we were
handed about like couple ofdry goods parcels
from hand to hand, from this mans care to that
man's escort until we finally reached Laurens
District, and were deposited by very creakng
old stage-coach at the gate OF my aunt aDoae.
Idon't know who was most glad to see tnis Id
bourne of our travels, Cecilia, who was heart!iy
tired of the journey, or |, who was nearIliy
tired of her. She has been marrled woman
these eighteen years, and is head OF large
household now, so sincerely hope she has
gained some faint inkling of common sense Sc ana
sslfreliance by this time; but, if she still re-
mains the. same Cecilia Hardie, with whom 1
made that memorable journey from Baltimore
to Laurens District, why then all that l have TO
saw is. that am heartily glad Fate did not
,nake me her husband
Well. we arrived, and we soon found that thus
arrival occurred at most inopportune time Tor 3r
our own enjoyment. My aunts husband, Il
never could see the sense of calling people "un-
Gle" who are no relation to one,) was absent,
having been summoned as witness in legal ex-
animation. my aunt herself had gone to bed
from the combined effect OF nervousness ana
horror, the children were bowling as II thelr
hearts were broken, the servants were so badly
scared that they could not obey the plalnest or
der, or perform the most ordinary duty, ana the
cause of the whole uproar was that Ann blake
had been murdered.
Now yo,l NAV be sure L was both astonished
and shocked to hear this for Ann Blake was an
Irish girl whom myself had engaged for my
auntSshe preferring awhile to black nurse
for her children-and l remember well how
much had been pleased by her bright face and
pleasant manners, when she came to answer my
advertisement. This had only been about SIX
months before, and now came to the house
where she had preceded me, to find the girl,
who had endeared herself to every one IN it, ly-
ing q disfgured corpse Everybody was SO
brimful of the matter that had great difficult
ty in obtaining any clear idea of the events
which had preceded this awful result; but at
last, by dint of severe ross-questioning, man
aped to elicit from the avalanche of hearsays
and thinksos. two clear facts. /. That Ann
Blake had left the house on the afternoon OF the
day before to take walk; that she had refused
to let any of the children accompany her, and
that she had last been seen crossing the IeidS
by foot-path towards clump of woods, where
she had been found few hours later, stun Il, ana
cold. with every proof of brutal murder 2. That
n man who was an admirer of hers, had alrea-
DIV been arrested on suspicion of the crime, and
that Colonel Northrop had been summoned to
bear witness at this examination. More than
that declined to hear, and after futile at
tempt to quiet Cecilia, (who thought 1t her
bounden duty to 60 into Mysteries and restore
some order to the household, sat down to a.
wait Colonel Northrop's return. he came at
last in very tired condition-not too tired
however. to give us new corners very cordial
welcome, to cheer up his wife, to send the ser
wants about their duties, to do justice to an ex-
cellent supper, fortunately for our appeetltes,
the cook was astrong- minded person and last
", to send the children to bed, and tell us the
result of the examination The evidence, 1t
seemed, had borne quite heavily against the ac,
cused Henry Watson, handsome, dlssipated
young carpenter, who had been making love to
Ann Blake for some time, and against whom
She had been repeatedly warned. She had
been known to supply him with money on va
rious occasions, and the fact that her months
wages had been paid to her on the very morn
inc of the murder was in itself suspicious, es-
pecially as a pocket-book, identified as hers,
had been found in his possession, together with
q note from the murdered girl, promising to
meet him on that afternoon. Watson denied
the identity of the first, but could give no sat
isfactory account of it, and, while he admitted
the fact of the appointment, he declared that
he had been unable to keep it.
"You can doubtless prove an ahbt then,
said the magistrate.
But at this suggestion the prisoner was OBJ
served to turn very pale.
No, he said, he was unable to prove an al'o',
for he had gone some distance in the country to
see man on business, but he had found him,
self and his family absent, SO the walk counted
for nothing. "He owed me some money" said
the. Young man despairingly, and | wanted
him to pay me, for was in debt and l didn't
wan, want IT to G take M any more from Ann" So it went
on. every point telling against. him, until the
examination ended in the magistrate refusing
bail, and committing him for trial. 49,,
That was all. So after this had been tod
and re-told a sufficient number of times, after
we had arranged the whole order of the murder, a
to our own content-even determining, re-
member, the exact weapon that had dealt t the
ghastly death -blow-we began to think that
our eye-lids were very heavy, and that, even
when murders were On the taps, there was such
thing as going to bed. But 10! on the very D
there arose sudden and unexpected difficulty.
Cecilia protested, with loud scream, that no
earthly power should induce her to sleep alone.
And 1, quite as emphatically, if little noisily,
declined to share bed with her Colonel