Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1875-11-05
house, these incidents merely caused
me a momentarv surprise.


me momentary surprise.
The first thing worth recording oc-
CURED at the beginning of July. I
was sitting, about midday in an open
alcove at the end Of the walnut tree
walk, sketching designs for some flower
beds, and, as l well remember, think
ing of nothing conductive to uneasi-
ness, when 1 became sudde J con-
scious of an indescribable ense OF
panic, such as you might fee lad some
frightful sceHS or object un ,xpectedly
presented itself to y-.r new. Yet ]
saw nothing, heard notL ing, save when
some sound from the Instant village
made itself family audible through
the stiffness ofnoon.e Trying to laugh
at the fancy, I bent over my work.
when again the panic seized me, and
with such force that my pulse bound
ed felt it-and l hardly Jared to
lift my eyes, least they should rest
upon some horrible thing that had
noiselessly crept upon me! l did, how
ever, look up, and the quiet sunshine
and the glowing flowers seemed to re-
buke my senseless terror.
"This is too absurdw l said aloud,
and took up my pencil. But once
more | seemed to feel the approach Of
the fear and, this time, without wait
ing for it, l jumped from my seat with
a sort of cry, took to my heels, and
never stopped till arrived breathless
in the house!
did not, till succeeding events
seemed to give kind of significance
to this adventure, tell it my husband.
| knew I was a nervous little thing,
and that he knew it, and feared that
the first result would be course Of
tonics, which I hate
Extract from the diary of Col. Ell
derton, August 6, 1885: at is certain
ly singular house! The old sounds
that, after the residence Of only day
or two, l began to hear become more
frequent. / have hitherto been able
to conceal them from Edith. Yester.
day it became impossible.
We were sitting in the snail study
at half-past nine in the evening. The
windows were closed, and the door
(leading into the halD wide open.
We were both reading, when we dis.
tinctly heard slow, measured footsteps
cross the hall, coming, as it seemed.
from the dining-room. They stopped
at the study door, then suddenly ap.
peared to sound more distant. Bolts
were drawn and undrawn. My wife
supposing it to be the butler, merely
wondered why he stayed in the hall
Finding, however, that all was again
silent, | took a candle and examined
every room. All was quiet, the win
dows closed and fastened for the night
and the doors shut. A servant com
ing to remove tea, we asked who hac
been moving about the hall, and re
ceived for answer that no one since
nine o'clock had quilted the supper
table in the servants hall. My wife
who was sitting beside me on the sofa
nestled little closer, but gave Nc
other indication of alarm"
Mrs. Elderton briefly notices thi!
incident in writing to her friend, theI
passes on to another of more startl
| ing character:
"About two in the morning of the
18th August | was aroused by Cuth
berts starting up in bed, with the ex
clamation that an attempt was being
made upon the house. l entreatee
him not to 60 down alone, but to ring
first for the butler, who that nigh
happened to have the pistols. We a
that time slept in the drab room ives
wing.
l had myself heard nothil. :, being
sound asleep; but my husbal.' tole
me that the first noise that surprised
him was the violent shaking of the
hall door, then of the windows Of the
room below, after which a voice dis
tinctly said, "Hush!" the SSH" which
was much prolonged, being taken up
like watchword, by another ''Hushv
and that by another, as if the house
were surrounded. The noises there
upon ceased, and on examination be-
low nothing was found to throw any
light on the disturbance.
During that autumn We frequently
heard footsteps pass our door at nigh
sometimes accompanied by the rustl
ing of silken dress, also noise below
as though furniture were being moved
about. Invariably, if either of US wer,
awake at two or three o'clock we hearG
sound as of a large chest violently
thrown down, sometimes once, but
more frequently two or three times
We tried in vain to detect the origin
of this sound.
l can scarcely account for the in.
difference which We got, at last, to re-
gard these unusual things. But
growing more and more attached te
the place, which was becoming real
little paradise under our hands, we
were both indeed to confess the reality
of anything to its discredit. 1t was
only when the daytime noises were toe
loud that we cared to interfere. ]
have again and againascribed them te
the servants, and gone up stairs to re.
quest them to be more quiet, yet | have
found the doors all shut, and no one
in the rooms or on the stairs. And
yet the noises had made the CHANDELIER
vibrate."
Col. Elderton's diary in September
"But for my little wife's pluck
would ON her account, give up this
blessed house at once. These mys.
terious doings annoy and enrage me-
[ connot in the least divine their
source.
Finding that the silk-gown rustling
was of almost nightly occurrence,
laid trap last night for the intruder
stretching bit Of black silk right a.
cross the passage. l did this without
my wife's knowledge, as l knew
should have to keep awake till one or
two in the morninU and did not wish