The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-02-14
fspec sal Correspondence of the Dispatch ]


"McCl iesney Ghost"
(spec sal Correspondence of the Dispatch
LEXINGTON, Va, Feb. 8, 1871.
/ The Rockbridge Agricultural Society
have elected for the ensuing year the fol'
lowir ,s officers: President, Colonel j. ID. Fl
Ross Vice-Presidents, John Alexander,
Har ~. f. Moore, G. j. Brawley, A. j. Ham.
ilto n, James A. Strain, and j. b. +. Leech.
The president was directed to correspond
with the managers of other societies IN this
section with q view Of arranging the time
Of holding their annual fairs, so rs not TO
| conflict with each other.
| The intermediate examinations at the
| University are over, and the results show q
| good degree of earnest studiousness on the
| part Of the students, as well as high stand
ard adopted by the professors.
{ Our people are considerably exercised on
| the subject of marrow gauge" railroad
!! to Goshen. The !" Franklin Society" which
| has been 80 often the leader Of public opfn-
/ ion in the county, is now debating the pro.
priety of withdrawing the subscription oil
Rockbridge from the Valley railroad 4. e.,
If they do not begin to dig dirt very SOON
and using it to build "pony railroad !"
from Goshen.
Our people are still good deal interested
in the buchanan ghost" and your cor
respondent has been very extensively Gin
| teryiewed" by all sizes, ages, sexes, condi-
tions, and coiors q. e., so far as we have
| different colors here, OF people eager to
; know "the latest" what we think "
about it, &c. Tired of repeating story q
week old, we wrote to our friend MIR.
Thrasher for "the latest" and we are now
dealing out his reply.
,, He had not been disturbed for three days
ND to Monday but for five days previous
to that time the disturbances had been
more frequent, violent, and mysterious
than ever. Brickbats. old bones, chips, bill
let's of wood, ears of corn, stones, &c,
would be thrown about the house-the
rooms would be disarranged; beds thrown
over the floors; the clock, lamps, books,
&c. scattered about; the knocking at the
doors rs violent as usual and still all
efforts at detecting the perpetrators unsuc-
cessful.
, One day two young ladies from the
!, neighborhood arranged the parlor, locked
!, all of the doors, sent Anna Prlng out OF
the house with one Of Mr.. Thrasher's little
boys to watch her, and then carried all OF
the keys up stairs. In few minutes they
returned to find the door open and the
room more disarranged than ii had ever
!, been before. The mystery was increased
by finding a strange key that would not
lock or unlock any door in the house stick
ing in the key.hole Of the parlor door.
| Upon another occasion Mr.. Thrashcr
himself. after sitting sometime in the
dining-room, locked the door and went up
stairs to his chamber. Just as he was
about to enter he heard voice down stairs,
land, returning Immediately, he found that
1.-THE plates, dishes, &C.. had been taken from
the pressand scattered over the floor, and
various other things done which MI.
Thrasher thinks it would have taken any
ordinary agency some time to accomplish,
: and vet he says that he is confident that he
was not absent from the room more than
three minutes.
A number of gentlemen have been at the
shouse at different times, and have heard
land seen these manifestations without
being able to detect the guilty parties.
are thoroughly convinced that Anna
lPring, aided by an outside confederate Tor
confederates), is at the bottom Of the whole
disturbance. They give certain recent de-
velopments which strongly point in that
direction, and account for many Of the
phenomina quite satisfactorily on this
theory.
But they utterly fail to account for other
things that have been done, or to show any
motive on the part of either the girl or her
confederate.
these gentlemen reason that as the little
girl, aided by outside confederates, could
do many of these things, the probability is
that she is privy to the a1hole.
Mr.. Thrasher, who is fully persuaded Of
her entire innocence, reasons on the other
hand that, as there are many things in
which Anna Pring could not possibly have
hand, it is not reasonable to suppose that
she has anything to do with the disturb
ances at any time.
! We await further developments, and
hope that the day is not distant when the
wretch Tor wretches) will be caught. Ger
tainly this worthy family have been annoyed
long enough.
This "ghost" story has revived among
" ghost" story, which was. in brief, as fol-
lows: The family of DR.. McChesney, q
: most worthy citizen of Rockbridge, were
for months annoyed by the most mystic
rious and unaccountable things. The shovel
and tongs, and andirons, would suddenly
; leave their places, with no visible influence
to move them, and walk or dance all over
the room-the dishes would fly from the
table and break all to pieces-the din
ner would leave the ovens and pots
in which it was being cooked, and
4
enter the house in the most mvterious
manner, and change their course with
out any ostensible cause; and many other
similar things would be done in broad day
light, and Ia the presence of scores Of the
most respectable and reliable citizens OF the
county. A negro girl, who was accustomed
to have violent spasms, was suspected of
some agency in the matter. In Salem,
Mass, she would have been burned for d
witch. In this slayery-cursed county
she was simply sold.
After she left there were no further dis
turbances, but they followed her wherever
she went.
These things were attested by numbers
of witnesses Of the strictest integrity, many
of whom are still living in the town and
county.
We wish your senior editor would give
us a leader explaining these mysteries.
LEXINGTON.
: SERIOUS IF NOT FATAL Acc1DENT.-Wm.
! Newman, youngest son Of Mr.. Oscar New
: man, of Fairfax county, was seriously if
; not fatally shot by his dog on Thursday
last. MIR. n. was out hunting, and having
: discharged one barrel of his gun at squir-
rel, rested his gun, with the trigger to the