The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-07-03
NUMBER %.

the hearth. The two had sunk into moody
silence, when suddenly Herbert started
and exclaimed -.,.
s'What--what was that, Mary ?''
81 saw nothing. Oh, William! you star
tied me so that | am all unueTyed."
% Mo- can see nothing either, but
hear--Oh, l hear deep, agonizing breath
ing close TO my ear. 1t Is as if q weight is
pressing upon the breast of suffOcaJing
man, and a giant hand seems 10 clutch my
feet, Oh, my God what can this be ?''
His wife arose pallid and trembling, for
she too heard the sounds he described,
though she did not feel the numbing pres
sure upon her feet. In a voice strained
with agony, Herbert said:
You refused to believe me, Mary, when
| told you that the old man haunted me
now you hear for yourself-hark -
This exclamation was caused by crash
which came from the next room. 1t seem-
ed as if some heavy article of furniture had
fallen and broken in pieces This was fol-
lOweu 10y an uproar which sounded as If
the fragments were eudued with life, and
were carrying ON brisk warfare against
! each other.
The children were in that apartment,
ana the mother seized the candle and rush.
ed To see what had happened. The room
was found in its usual condition, but it's
young occupants were all awake and fright
ened ut the tumUlt around them. AS the
light streamed into the apartment the noise
shifted to the attic by this time Herbert
had recovered sufficient self-contrOl to fol-
low his wife. They quieted the fears of the
children, as well as they could, and when
they again sept, the two assembled to the
upper rooms and examined them.
The. strange noise had partially died
away while they were soothing the fears of
the children, bu- as the two mounted the
staircase they again commenced; every
nook was examined, but as they entered
one room the sounds invariably fitted be-
fore them TO the next.
In this terrible watch passed the greater
| portion Of the night, and when they retired
Il perfect chorus of raps was kept up
| around the bed.
The horror of those hours left their i'm
press forever upon the unhappy man. He
arose with hair partially blaRched, and an
expression Of bewildered anguish upon his
features which never again left them. 1t
was many years before SpTitualism came
in vogue, and although hundreds beard
these noises, no explanation was offered.
The common opinion was that the miser
had indeed sold himself to the Evil One
for the power to torment his unhappy son.
1t is an established fact that William
Herbert never remained three nights in any
house without having, on the third one,
the same inferno enacted beneath its roof.
y
writer SAW him in a Western city, whittier
he had come at the invita- 10 of his broth
| er, on his way to take possession of a farm
| belonging 10 the wife of the latter which
| had been offered him as an asylum for his
| premature old, age. His wife was with
! him, pale, emaciated woman, who looked
as if a weight Of sorrow brooded ever upon
her heart.
Before they came to c. Mrs. Geo.
| Herbert stipulated that they should not
| remain in her hOuse over the third right,
but William unfortunately was attacked
! with illness, and two weeks elapsed before
he was sufficiently recovered to proceed to
| his new home. The usual consequences
! followed, and for eighteen months it was
| impossible to sleep in peace in their house.
The noises gradually subsided, but the
| evil spirit seemed to be omnipresent; for
! while they still made night terrible there,
| letters were. received from the new home
saying that even TO the secluded spot they
| had sought the mysterious sounds had fol-
! lowed them, and to his dying hour William
Herbert was haunted by the spirit of his
| father.