Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-08-06
A RURAL GHOST STORY.

A correspondent writes from Lancaster,
OHIO: Sugar Grove, Il quiet, lazy old
fashioned little village. situated about eight
miles soCtJl of Lancaster, on the banks of
the legendary Hockhocking, has a sensa-
I ton.
For the past fifty years the good deniZens
of the pro:stic and diminutive borough
have had most unqualified faith in the visi-
cations OF the sweet by-and-by, and many
of them have been frightened out of their
seven senses by actual RECRUITERS Witt
| this supernatural gentleman, and have
! supplied us with accurate and DETAILED.
descriptions OF the apparation.
The. facts OF the case are these: Years
ago. over half lcentury, when the pleasant
little village Of Sugar Grove comprispd
but Il log cabin, OF two one dark, stormy
night, when the wind WAS howling through
he hoarse wilderness, and the sky was
full OF ominous clouds, IL jewelry peddler
stopped at the cabin OF IL settler by the
name of Pierre Bordeau, Il little when
faced Old man Of Gallo extraction, whose.
miserable domicile stood on what is now
the farm of R. L. Sharpe. ESD, just wller-
the family burying ground IS situated
This nomadic purveyor solicited u nights
lodging for himself and horse, and. us was
customary in those GOO; old days. was un-
hesitatingly and heartily Accommodated
In the morning the peddler Of cheap jewels
turned up missing, which, however, We
casioned no very great alarm, rs it w@s
supposed that he left in the night to avoid
the little compensation old Pierre might
properly expect for his hospitality.
The peddlers disappearance had already
been forgotten, when, late in the after
noon, a neighboring Farmland found his
horse with its throat cut, lodged against %
fOod-gate across a curvature in the Hook
hooking, when the startling intelligence
was scattered abroad, and diligent search
was instantly instituted for the missing
traveller, but to no avail. Not the slight
est trace but Il pool Of blood, back of the
Frenchman's cabin, near the base of a hill,
where bubbles forth IL spring Of cold water,
could be found. Years flews round, and
the story of the miser peddler and the dark
pool of blood became q tradition, but the
weird spot about the Frenchman's cabin
was ever after thought to be haunted, and
the hunters who stopped in their wander
to slake their thirst at old Bordeau7s-
spring, gave it the name Of "ugly water"
on account Of the peculiar odor that arose.
from it and it's bitter taste, which name it.
bears to this day.
Many a night, when the sky was hidden
by the clouds, and the wind soughed and
moaned lugubriously around the hill, has:
the passing countrymen seen the ghost of
the missing peddler, which would fit along
in front of the horses until the spring was.
reached, when it would vanish, apparently
into the bowelssof the hill.
That the old jewelry peddler had BEEN
murdered and robbed no one had the least,
doubt, and that his troubled spirit had.
taken this mode to scare the murderer i'll
to confession and repentance they also.
firmly believed. Strange to say-no, there.
is nothing strange about it either for old
Bordeau was a kindhearted, inoffensive.
farmer, and ne was never suspected as.
having committed the horrible crime, OF
being accessory thereto, until the day OF
his death, when he confessed the deed, but
would not divulge the spot where the body
had been concealed.
However, almost his last words We're:
''Under the house," and on searching
there the peddler's clothes and pack Of
jewels were found, decayed and corroded
by time, but no evidence of the body or
bones. Thorough investigation was made
the whole hut demolished ana torn away
and the foundations upheaved, but no.
signs of the object for which they worked
were ever brought to light.
The confession and the demise of the,
wicked little Frenchman, however, did
not soothe the ruffled spiritsof the victim
of his treachery. and off and on the tall,
white, weird and frightful figure would.
make its appearance before the startled
vision of some passing farmer, and the.
spot was finally given up us hopelessly the
ghosts, and detour of two miles many a.
courageous man made to AVOID the place.
after the sun had withdrawn it's BENIGN
rays from over the earth.
Much speculation had been INDUCED in.
as to what disposition the old Frenchman
made of the traveller, but no definite or
satisfactory conclusion could be arrived
at until within a few days since, after a.
lapse Of nearly severity years, the whole
tragedy was made plain. Mr. Robt. Sharp.
in building his new residence, concluded
to convey water for common usage from
the spring ON the hill's base, around which
had hung d dark mystery. to his house by
means of subterranean pipes.
To accomplish this the spring had to be.
greatly enlarged, and while at work here.
in digging out ugly WATER" the skeleton
of a man in perfect preservation was ex
humed from beneath the rocks, which cor
responded exactly in statue with the mis-
sing murdered peddler. No one who knows.
the facts of the case has any doubts what.
ever but that the murdered peddler had
been buried in the spring and carefully
covered with rocks by the cunning French
man, and now that his bones have been
given d Christian burial, it is hoped that.
he will lie quiet and doclle until the great.
day, when all alike, the quick and the.
dead. shall rise to be judged.
ATTENTION TO THE OLD-A little