The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1870-10-06
CR AZY CELIA.


Many years ago, in the Dominion of
Canada, lived a family of well-to do
French people, who immigrated hither in
the year 1853. A fair young flower was
the darkeyed Celia, and her three sturdy
brothers were jealous of the man who
might IN future years secure the budding
rose full blown, and break the chain of
happy hearts around the social hearth.
Time passed. The war and It's rewards
had called the brothers from their home ::
The father, allured by the rewards which
smuggling presented at the time, and
which was engaged in to such an extent
on the lake shore in the years 1S6I>64.
had turned his honest fsh-boat into a
dark>sailed smuggling craft Celia, fiat
tered by the commoners and recognized
by the ''select' on account of her grace
and beauty, all unconscious of the lawless
father and the fate OF the three warrior
brothers, laughed on, al! needless of what
was in store of her-becoming vain. care
less, and fond Of dress. Vanity is always
the thin ice Of destruction, and in Celia's
case it proved no exception. The spoiIer
was on the watch he recited to the
daughter the story of her fathers crimes.
her brothers death in Southern prisons.
and ended with the fairest proposal of
marriage. In her terrible despondencv.
caused by these hOrrid revelations, the
girl Celia accepted the proposals of her
destroyer, in the recklessness of her des-
pair. Shortly after one of her brothers
returned from the war, alive and well as
ever, and through his instrumentality the
rea. character of the villain. was liscoy
cred and made known to his sister,
Knowing the disgrace and degradation
into which she bad fallen, her reason, be-
gan gradually to fail her, and in a short
time she disappeared from the neighbor
hood, going no one knew whittier. Dur
ing the fall of 1865, some two years after
the disappearance Of the Frenchman's
daughter, two bunters from the township
of White Rock discovered in wild and
untenanted forest The footprints of human
being, barefooted and alone. Their Curl
osity was at once aroused, and by the aid
OF dogs, after chase of eighteen hours.
they succeeded in obtaining view of The
preached the form becoming more palpa-
BILE at every step, when the object hearing
the approach, turned full upon them in
all its horrid semblances of the humanity
it was not. Revolving and hideous as
was its appe arance, the hunters recog~
nized through all the ghoul-like aspects
the person of female lunaticl The
do IL
tangled hair the shreds of filthy covering;
the SCARED and fostering skeleton form
all told of reason lost, of a life wrecked.
OF soul which had perished With a
scream wild and unearthly she gathered
bundle from the ground, flung it across her
shoulders, and disappeared with the swift
ness of the wind The people of the
neighborbood were aroused the excite
ment ran high, and long into the early
part of the winter hunting parties were
scouting the woods in search of the lunatic
woman. AT last she was captured, lust
over the line in Sanilac County, and taken
to the common gaol. People gathered in
crowds to see this strange phenomenon.
The bundle which she was always seen to
be carrying while on her flights in the
forest, was opened to the public gaze, and
there-oh horror of horrors lay the
skull and skeleton of an infant-her babe
which she had carried through all her
ted ious marches by night and by day for
two long years and more, She was an
inmate of the Jail during the whole of the
winter and the 70 flowing summer The
only service which she renderad of tbo
time was knitting, at which she was an
e xpert. There are many yet who recol-
lect the Sold crazy woman" and but few
who saw her, viii believe US when we
state that her age, instead of being from
so to 60, as it really seemed, was less
than so years. At times she would
humble over list of names, which the
jailor would hurriedly take down as nearly
as possible in their jumbled state, and then
inquiry would be Instituted and letters
written to all parts, but all to no purpose.
Her name and history remained a sealed
volume. The following antumu, how
ever, she took advantage of the liberty
allowed her-wandered away, and was
never heard of more. Following some
ignis fdtas of ber unsettled brain, she died,
perhaps alone, unknown, with only the
wild beasts to listen to her expiring cries.
And this was Celia-the lost link in this
chain of circumstances was only discov-
cred short time since, and the writer of
this article is one of the three only who
knew the real facts. There may be some