The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1875-09-02
A BABY IN A TREE TOP.
A Singular story Told in Good Faith by the
Reading Pa.) Papers.

Reading Pa.) Papers.
A Reading (Pa.) Eagle correspondent
writing from Morgantown, sends the fol-
lowing strange account of the affair,
which reads like weird story of leger-
demain, or like romance of hobpoblins
or witches. The letter reads as fol-
lows ...s -. ......-.
read in the Eagle an account of a
singular noise at the Ringing rocks. near
Pottstown, but we have something on
The summit of the Welsh mountains.
midway between Morgantown and
Waynesburg, and about one fourth of q
mile in from the main road connecting
the above places. For the past two
weeks the cries of q child could be heard
by persons passing along the road, and
at first nothing was thought of it, but
ono Sunday nisht,os Robert Gorman, re-
siding north of DowuIugJown, III COM
pany with another gentleman and two
ladies, were passing the point the cries
became beartrending, and they thought
some one was treating a child shame
fully. Mr.. German proposed to his
friend to walk into the woods and ascer-
tain the cause.-the ladies to remain in
the carriage. AS Mr.. German thought
it only short distance to the house the
child was thought to be in, the ladies
concluded to go with the gentlemen, and
the horses were secured to tree, and
the company started-the cries still in
creasing. After walking a short dis
tance, one of the ladies, Miss Ellie
Parker, who resides near Paoli, stopped
suddenly, and told the party to look. up
near the top Of large tree just in front
of them, and there was seen baby seat
ed in small basket, swinging back and
forth, with but faint cries. The ladies
became frightened at the sight, and
begged one of the gentlemen to try and
get up the tree and bring the child
down.
The distance up to the first limb was
some twenty feet, and the gentleman
found it impossible to get up. While
the conversation was going on as to how
the child could be brought down, the
child gave one scream, and as if by
magic, the basket fell half the distance
to the ground, causing the ladies to
scream and the entire party to be more
or less frightened. In less time than it
takes to write this, the basket and its
contents were back in its place again,
the child crying all the time. This
movement struck terror into the party.
They watched the movements of the
basket and saw the baby plainly for five
minutes afterward, and all at once the
basket with it's contents suddenly disap-
peared. The party state that the whole
affair is one of the greatest mysteries
they have ever met with. Mr.. German
said it was child's play, but it neverthe-
less was reality. The ladies state that
the child was alive, for they saw it plainly
move when it fell down toward them
A party numbering some twenty repair
ed to the place and all saw the same
thing What it is is grand mystery, as
too many reliable persons saw it to be a
hoax. Mr.. j. S. Peters, residing south
of Lancaster City, was one of the party,
and he says he saw the baby in the bas-
ket, saw it move, and saw the falling and
the disappearance. How long this will
continue / am unable to say. A num-
Der from Churchtown are going over to
witness the mystery. If the affair can
be explained I'll write you again.