The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1877-04-19

ana your Jury gave correct verdict
Mr.. Coroner. 1t was apoplexy. All
well, don't go; don't be in hurry
But his visitors had retreated.
"It is Choker," said the undertake.
to the Coroner; "yet / buried him, and
he was a dead man them
Its Choker, but he was dead when
| held an inquest over him." said the
Coroner.
They hurried away, and the crowd
hurried away too.
That day the grave was examined.
1t was empty; even Choker's coffin
was gone.
After that every one believed the story
but the clergyman and scientific gen
| tleman.
The former declared that it was wick
ed to believe in ghosts; the latter, that
there were no such things as ghosts.
" Choker is not at the house at all, {"
he said, "and his body is in the grave !;
but your imaginations have been so
worked upon that you fancied you saw
him in the house, and you believed that
You did not see him in the grave When
man is dead and buried, that's an end
of him.
:" But go to the house and see for
yourself" said some one. "Alive or
dead, Choker is there"
(" Sir" said the scientific gentleman,
% neither alive nor dead, can he be there
A body can not burst its coffin-lid, arise
through the turf, and walk about the
town as before. If | should see Mr..
Choker l should not believe | saw him.
My common sense tells me that can not
see him, and never allow my senses to
contradict my common sense. The
house is empty. There is no one there.
Ii is all imagination"
However that may have been, every
one else in Grabtown saw him, sooner
or later The lamp burned bright in
his window at night. The garden pros
pered under his ghostly tillage. He
drew his money at the bank as usual.
As ghost, his silent, reserved conduct
seemed very suitable TO his condition.
AS ghost, it seemed very proper that
he should have no friends and no kin
bred. People avoided his house at
nights, and boys ran scampering away
when they saw him plodding along
lonely lanes by moonlight, and old
folks shook their heads and said it was
curious; but there was Choker, a fact to
every one but the scientific gentleman,
who when he passed him, muttered to
himself, "Optical illusion, !" and whether
he was a ghost, or man endowed with
the power of defying death and the I'M
dertaker, no one felt prepared to an
swer He was known some times as
" Choker's ghost " and some times as
Choker that came to-" but no one
he was Choker, and the very Choker
they had seen dead, subjected to an in
quest and buried; and all this went for
ten good years, and people had grown
used to it, when one cold winter morn
ing a small note was brought to the doc
tor, bearing the words:
Come 10 me. I'm i'll. CHOKER.
Don't 90 DEAR" said the DOCTORS
wife.
81 must" said the doctor, and went
accordingly.
He found the door of Choker's house
open, and the popular ghost himself
wrapped in blanket by the fireside.
"Come in" he said, gasping for
breath. al wasn't sure you'd come.
I've been feeling the Inconvenience of
being supernatural since I've been too
i'll to make myself cup Of tea. just
see what is the matter with me, will
you? / think it's serious, whatever it
is.
The doctor did his best
His private opinion was that Choker,
whoever he might be, had not long to
live. Whether he had ever been dead
before or not, he was certainly going to
die now.
alt is as l thought" said Choker,
looking into his face. a knew the
malady was incurable years ago. But
the end is at hand now, eh?"
ain the case of any other man, l
should say yes, >" said the doctor, ''but
/ examined you once when you were
certainly dead man, and can't judge
for you. don't ask your confidence,
Mr.. Choker, but that affair is a puzzle
to me, though, of course, I've never
taken you for ghost"
81 think I'll confide in you, doctor, 3"
said Choker, 'only you must promise to
keep my secret while live. The night
before you held the inquest on old Cho-
ker came into Grabtown. I'd been an
actor once, then a soldier; lost a leg, and
come home to starve or beg.
"The door of this house stood open,
and in it stood man. went up to
him.
"'Sir,' said l, they say felIow-feeling
makes us wondrous kind. You've got
a wooden leg, and perhaps, know it isn't
just the thing to stump over the country
all night with
. 1t was old Choker l spoke to, and
what he said was. Il don't under
stand about your poetry, or Scripture,
or whatever it is, but do know about
wooden legs. Come in Invent in, and
he gave me supper and bed in the
garnet. We both saw that We looked
considerably alike, and laughed over it.
That night 1 slept in the garnet, and
when | awoke in the morning found
my host was dead, and the house full of
neighbors.
81 felt that, as the death was sudden,
it might be best for me to keep out of
sight. / was as sorry for it as a stranger