The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1877-10-18

. woman clasped and wrung her hand
raising them above her head in pas
sionate appeal against her own vic
lence, then wrenched the knife fron
the wound, flung it upon the fire
snatched the baby from the cradle, ant
fed into the night; fed as she hal
come, noiselessly and mysteriously, TO
no door opened for her exit, or CLOSED
behind her.
g.ided from the room with q swift
stealthy motion, and moving as i
afraid of waking the evil memories
that slept within those walls, loosei
my horse aud led him to the outer air
A few miles brought me to tho cab
in of a settler, of whom l stopped te
inquire the way.
After giving the required informa
ton, and an invitation to break kfast
which was in no mood to accept, the
backwoodsman inquired, with consid
erable astonishment where did you
stop last night 2, stranger Reckon
you must have camped outF
No. replied l, watching him as
spoke; mo, l slept in q deserted cabin
about tive miles back on the road. Do
you know the placer
what, strangerl you don't mean to
say you slept in Hsrtwell's cabiu?
reckon you're sound sleeper, il all
the stories heern tell are true.'
sWhat stories have you heard?'
sWhy. they do say there's more COM
pany there o. nights than there is O.
daytimes,' replied my host, cautiously.
Who lived there? What happened
asked l, trying to hide my interest in
the reply.
We'll, the cabin was built by one
Hartwell, a matter of five years ago.
He was q stranger in these parts, and
an unsociable kind Of man who lived
by himself, and to himself. as the say
ing is. After 9 while he went off, and
we calculated we'd seen the last of him,
when back he came, this time with a
young woman, about IA handsome a
gal as ever you see. Whether it was
Hartwell's wife or not, nobody know
ed, but they rather calculated not
why, I can't exactly say; but that was
the way folks felt about it,
after. while there was a baby
born and HartWell came to get my
old woman to go and see her. She
went, but when she came home she
said abe. didn't like being there nohow
everything seemed so sort of strange,
and the gal or woman, whichever she
might be, didn't do anything but cry
the whole Hvelong time. She kalki-
lated, my old woman did. that the girl
had run away from her folks with him
and that she'd been brought up kind O.
delicate, and didn't know how to
rough it as folks do here in the bush.
Anyhow. my old woman was quite
unhappy for time about it, and said
she wouldn't go there again, nor no
more che didn't
"A while after that 1 heard that
Hartweli had took up with q young
equaw. and set out to bring her home
to live in the same shanry with the
other one and then the news was that
a hunter, going by there one day, see
the door standing open. and looked in
to haye a chat with the folks but
when he did he see the dead body of
Hartwell himself, and no sign of wo.
man or children about the shanty.
Il went to see him along with the
rcst and after time we brought him
out and buried him in the ground. We
didn't see anything of the others,
nor we didn't care about hunting
great deal in them woods just then
but it's generally reckoned she laid
him out in a mad fit, and then run and
herself and the young one
into the pond there is there. Anyways
the place has bad name, and l should
not care to sleep there. Maybe though
stranger, you, amt SO particular said
the old fellow, glancing up in my face
with a grim.
Thanking him for his story, touch
ed Sancho with the spur, and rode on,
only anxious to leave the neighbOr-
hood of the accursed spot as soon as
possible.
never visited it tagain-never heard
more of the terrible legend-never
forgot the horror of that night.