The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1873-01-11

IGracn GrcanwO0d-s Washington letter to the Nc
Yor!. Times

~ D.
York Tliaes.
Our last horror-for really It shocked us al-
most as such things used to-Was II tirst-class
murder i'm i'll its circumstances and detail, and
in the deliberate and cold-bloodcd yet clumsy
and audaciolls manner of its execution. |
do not remember s,lci!a Washington murder
in The old DAYS, hut since we have become a
Territory We have advanced. I refer to the
butchery of Rogcr$Li the Polish jew, by
Tom Wright, a black man through and
through.
In the account Of this dark and dreadful
decd there are all the tragic clements Of the
n,d murder stories which we used to Shud-
dor over round the winter evening tircside.
with that awful, uncanny sort Of enjoyment
which is one Of the mysteries of human ia.
ture IN its innocent childhood. There were
wicked plottings, watchings. and waitings !;
there was lonely old farmhouse, with dark
closets: there was black he|damc supposed
TO he In the plot. and the victim was n pCdler,
who was cirred out in his own pack ut mid.
night. dead and mangled, and 50 left on the
romn>on hv the cool-iieadcd assassin. What
\ strange fascination there seems ever to have
been about tine career Of the poor merchant
Of the manipulating, pack-burdencd sort.
In spite of its hardship and peculiar peril
the life must havca charm of its OVID. What
an army of martyrs the peripatetic profess
sion already numbers Could there lie q
smidnight review" of murdered peders
what chastity shades would come forth from
darksone pond, rccdy river, lonely wood
and wav-it!c tlicket, and UP from pits and
uia,rieS, and from under cairns and crtlnl-
bling old liealtl->toncs. and through creakng
traD.iu0rs and out from sc"rct. dark closets !!
It NAV come from long habits OF itinerancy,
but il certainly seems that the ghosts of muir
defpd pedlers are peculiarly given to walk
ing, Only the other day | heard we'll
voucheG-for story Of an unfortunate travel
ling foot.trader," whose spirit would not
down, though bis body lay for years at the
bottom of an abandoned well. Strange to
say. all was not well with him. Eh rGr-
>j-tcntlv haunted the lonely old farmhouse
in which. it seems, he was murdered, and
drove tenant after tenant away. He was
never seen. but in the nighttime he could be
distinctly heard. walking with slow, heavy
tread, in the long hall, IN the stairway, into
and about The fatal chamber i'll which no one
dared to sleep. After while he would dc
Sccnd the stairs. slowly. YEARLY, pass through
the hall, out tue door, down the boardwalk;
of the yard. and OF into The silcrcc and
deeper mystery. At last the old house bad 4
tenant who was not to Ec frightened away
a perSon Of large nerve, active Christian
| faith. and the courage of Il good conscience
| a woman, of course, and she resolved to get
| at the heart of the horror. Sitting mp late
and alone one night, she heard III" Invisible
guest in the hall outside her room, heard him
ascend the stairs. enter the chamber over
head, and walk about alter the old fashion.
| She waited till he descended the stairs.
| then boldly stepped into the ball, lamp in
| hand, and confronted him or it--some-
thing. nothing, us flr rs sight was concerned !;
but she r"soIu.cly addressed herself to the
sound. "Why 10 YOU trouble us:" she
-aid; ave have never harmed you. In the
name Of God, leave Us in peace :" The foot
steps paused fora moment, then slowly went
pas; her, accompanied. she said, 10y strange
draught of cold mir, Though no outer door
| was then open. She Instantly followed the
presence. which seemed TO pass through the
| door she nausCd to unholt. Outside she still
| heard the steps. and followed them down
the yard to IN old well, long In disu3e and
| covered over. There the sounds suddenly
| ceased, and all WAS utter stiffness. The next
day the brave wonlan sent for workmen
and had the well uncovered and dragged,
and at the bottom was found Truth. in a
ghastly t0rm-a human skeleton. Then old
| towns-pcople recalled Il mysterious disappear
| ancc. long ago, of a certain pcdcr and a
| sudden emigration of the somewhat di6repu-
table family who ut the time he was missed
lived in the lonely old farmhouse. need
hardly add that after the poor bones had been
given Christian burial those "Fnotflll< on
| the Boundary of Another World" passed
over to where they belonged, and left their
earthly hauntS to silence and to peace.
There have thrown in Il delicious ghost
story, such one as would have delighted
would have saved it, and spiccd it, and stuffed
it, and served it up as :. magazine tale. But
d. not make much account OF such Iriies.
You are welcome to it.