Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1878-10-09
NO. Al.
A Modern Ghost Story.

| among tne many recOllecttOnS OF nv
long travels the following incident was
a great puzzle TO all at the time it took
place, and is still shrouded in profound
mystery. After delightful tour in
to leave for Liverpool, and took the first
steamer which touched at Lisbon. The
Marathon" appeared to be a fine vessel,
and it was only after being a day ON
board that we found that she could only
make seven knots an hour, as she had
yards of sea-weed hanging from her
keel, and was going into dry dock on
reaching Liverpool TO be cleaned. The
company on board was pleasant, al
though the vessel was crowded. l
begged the purser to see if must have
a companion in my cabin, that it should
be some one nice and agreeable. He
said there was nice young lady, Miss
Mary s. going home with her
mamma and younger sisters. She
seemed bright, cheerful lassie of about
fourteen summers, and We became pretty
good friends and chatted together, while
looking on the fine coast of Portugal,
becoming more and more indistinct
every moment. Most of the passengers
soon had to retire into the secrecy of
their cabins, but we held our own, and
enjoyed the breezes until P. N. when
We assemble at table, after which We
did little star-gazing, and mOoned
away our time until p. NJ, when we
retired. Miss Mary asked me ii had
any objections to take the bottom berth.
said il was immaterial 70 me so we re-
tired. L slept SOundly until about one
O'Clock, when L was awOke i'm fright
by what seemed to be the clasp of
clammy cold hand elasping mine, as it
dropped over the edge of the bed. L
awoke very easily; so l sat up directly
and asked Miss Mary if she had touched
me, and if she was i'll? She answered
before L got a reply. When | did, It
was a startling one. "Whatr' said she,
''has that ghost come TO you? had To
leave this cabin, where L slept alone,
on that very account; but they told me
that as you were coming it would be all
right" We had no more sleep that
night; we looked. and talked, and con-
jectured, all to no purpose. In the
morning L told the Captain, and he said
the young lady had complained and said
she would not sleep there again. He
gave orders to steward TO turn the
whole cabin out, for, unfortunately, it
was the only vacant one on the ship. L
went to look on; there was not even
rathole to De seen; l asked the steward
what he supposed it could be, he
answered in a most lugubrious tone;
"I don't know miss, our cook died on
the way from Naples to Leghorn!"
What connection he could see between
the death of the cook, and our ghOstly
visitant, could not discover However,
having seen with our own eyes that
there was nothing in the cabin, we
thought we would to able to rest in
peace-sO we passed the day merrily,
although the Marathon was anything
but satisfactory boat, we felt as if we
could walk as quickly as it went, aud
then she had cargo of iron ore, which
the rollers of the Bay of Biscay caused
to move about terribly, and then heard
that ore of any kind and cattle are the
worst cargo to have in storm; they
both shift around so much. Well, night
came on as usual, and We retired with
out thought to mar our slumbers. We
again slept well, and again about the
same hour the sensation OF the clammy
hand awOke me-roused Miss Mary,
ami by the silvery rays of the moon
shining in upon US, we looked around
and at each other in amaz ement. L told
would not sleep there again. He went
round and asked some gentlemen If
they would change cabins with US; but
they did not like the idea. As all he
could do was to let us have light all
night, he did so, and to our delight We
slept until morning undisturbed. That
was the third night. The next night
went to sleep quite comfortably and
awoke with a fearful weight on my
chest, put up my hand and felt some
thing warm, soft and furry. l flung it
off and it scratched my arm from elbow
TO wrist. 1t disappeared and / saw that
it was cat. This was not an appari-
ton, for they do not scratch. Some
poor cat had hidden itself on board, and
attracted by the light, had entered our
cabin by the small opening of the win
dow. That was easily explained, but
the mystery of the clammy hand re-
mains a mystery to this day.