The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-11-13


bank resumes payment. ~
A TenacIons old Lady Rises in Her Comn
to Enforce orders about Her Funeral.
bowling Green (Kyl Democrat, oct, Is
The ideaFthat. mankind do not carry
their grpdges beyond the grave seems
to have received 9 severe shock by %
recent occurrence near aRumsey, 10
neighboring village of ours, located
on Green River, in the Junction OF
Butler aud Mclean counties.
The story, as told BIZ q eredib BILE resi-
dent of the neighborh is TO the
effect that some years ago an old gen !!
tleman died in thatinaig ghborhood and
Willed certain property to his .rela-
tives. lie gave bis WiIes life interest
in his reaA estate, which was to go az
ter her death to his nephew, who was
also to have the rest of his personal
property net especially devised to
others. Unexpectedly to his wife this
amounted to more than was evidently
Intended, for he chose to. claim and
get possession of even that property
which she had considered as her own.
The avarice of the nephew SO irritated
her that she declared that he should
never enjoy the property after her
| death, and she should live SO long that
his expectations. and hopes should be
long unrealized. Her ,tenacity of her
own way was such that many of them
declared they believed she would
either live forever or haunt the neph-
ew- after death. For years there were
| chickering's and bitterness between the
aunt and nephew, aud no opportunity
was lost by either to annoy the other,
and when the nephew was an old
man the aunt died, apparently of nat
ural decay; went out like an exhaust-
ed taper. just before she died, she
gave directions to her attendants
about the manner in which her re-
mains should be prepared for the
grave, and amOng other things, she
strictly enjoined on them to pnt no
flowers about her corpse, to use no
shroud, but clothe her corpse in black
dress and have no useless pomp or
paraphernalia connected with her fu-
neral. Her orders were strictly OBJ
served, except that after che was
/ placed in her coffin young lady, who
had not heard of her eautipathy for
flowers, placed SMALL bunch on, her
breast, She had hardly laid che floral
testimonial of her respect ont of her
i hand when the corpse began to move,
and in a few seconds itheOld woman
sat up in her coffin and threw the
flowers at the young lady, who, half
frightened oul9 Of her senses, ran
screaming ont of the roen, while all
thoee who beheld. the spectacle were
shOcked beyond lneasnTe, bat the old
lady being appRtently satisfied when
| the Offensive ornaments were got rid
of, quietly laid down again and was
buried Undue time. AS soon as the
funeral was over, the nephews entered
| and took possessf0n Of her Inheritance
moving bis family into the old house.
] which was q much better building
than the enc he had occupied. He
was coRgFatulatiug himself on, his
good f0rtRnei while setting things to
rights, but on the first night Of his ar
rival he found thateld. lady intended
to keep her threat Of haunting shim.
He was not made of the metal 10 fear
ghosts, and he allowed no tribe to dis
turb him but ab0pt midnight he was
awakened by the screaming Of his
children, who had been @Wakened by
the well-kRown step. Of his aunt ras If
walking abeut.the room, aud one OF
them declared. she saw the gh0Rt Of
her aunt, and heard her footatepaelat-
tering up the stairs. The father, al
though anxious to comfort his chil-
dren, had to acknowledge he too. had
heard the steps. but secuted the idea
of ghost, and went to- bed. The
next night the step was heard by all,
q strange, ,whitish light .hoateds through
the house, aud was recognised By
some of the members Of the family as
having the form ofa woman, clad not
/ in white, as ghosts are generally seen
but in the black dress in which the re.
lentloss aunt had been buried.
The some blood curdling sights and
sounds were endured for several
nights, when the heir was enAirely
unable to longer, endure tho annoy.
ance, and moved out of the house,
which has ever since remained unten-
anted. AS the lonely traveller masses
the house in the night the strange
light which annoyed the family of the
heir is sometimes seen passing and re-
passing before the uncurtained win.
dows, and snch is the reputation Of
the house that the owner can notlget
a tenant to enter it, aud even the
greater portion of the surrounding
| grounds have been allowed to go to
waste--so great is the dislike to ap-
proach the premises.