The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1879-12-23

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in the wind. So the good people of the
long ago came to regard the place as be-
witched by the vindictive sister, and no
one cared to be found in the dismal place
at night But an important road, con-
Meeting the Tomhicken and Nescopeck
valleys, led right through the bewitched
gap, and it was consequently not always
possible to avoid it. The road was al
ways beaten hard and in the best of
order. Yet farmers in passing over it OH
their return from market, with four
horses attached to an empty wagon,
would often come suddenly to q stand
still. Then the farmer would crack his
whip, the horses would throw themselves
into the harness and scratch the ground
for a foothold, but the wagon would
stand as though riveted to the earth be-
meath some invisible weight. The farmer
would then know that "the witches were
riding his wagon" and simply wait till
they got of, when the team would travel
on as easily as before.
About ten years ago q mining COM
pany began operations four miles up the
gap, but there was no success predicted
for it in such place. And little later
Simon Kase ran his new railroad right
through the gap. About this time
Henry Croll, who owned valuable farm
out in the Nescopeck Valley, sold his
property for a large sum, and, fearing
neither Simon Kase nor the witches, de-
cided to build a large hotel right in the
mountain gap. His friends expostulated
with him, reminding him that he could
not succeed there. He went to work,
however, and in a short time had the
new hotel under roof. The new coal
mines attracted great deal of travel,
and before long Croll was doing
a fourishing business. He had ten
sons, and he built house for each
OF them near his own. Other relatives
followed, so that the place seon came to
be called "Crolltown." At the end OF
two years the town contained fifty
houses, and had besides the hotel store,
limekiln, post-office and a school-house.
Soon after this Croll began to show some
strange eccentricities He became very
quarrelsome, and without any apparent
reason would forbid his best customers
the house. A large portion of the popu-
lation had found employment at the
neighboring coal-mines, which, owing to
some cause, no longer afforded constant
work. Croll and his village began to 20
down hill together. The unfortunate
landlord then advertised his property for
SAFE, but when persons appeared to buy
he spoke so unfavorably Of the place and
its surroundings that they went away
disguised. He now did no business at
all. The people had become indolent
and indifferent, and the storekeeper was
drifting on toward ruin. Their school
teachers year after year got the blues
and left the place before the school term
expired. Croll, seated in his bedroom,
disheveled and haggard, surrounded by a
crowd of loafers, would discourse on his
approaching ruin.
lie knew how much he was worth,
what his loss was per day, and conse-
queutly how long it would be till he was
a beggar. He seemed determined to fail,
to be utterly ruined, and made no effort
to avert the misfortune. He frequently
reminded the lime-burner and the mer
chant of the place that similar fate
awaited them, and told them exactly how
long they would last. At the time he
predicted, the Sheriff came along rand sold
him out of house and home. He then
moved back into less pretentious dwell
ing, and has since resided there, often
without enough to eat. The whole place
has become the abode of misery and
wretchedness. a ..t
1t is a remarkable fact that few years
ago in this region belief in witchcraft
was almost universal. The most absurd
stories We're credited. Even now not a
few are to be found who believe that
Croll and his town are laboring under the
curse Of the black-eyed girl, or are, in
other words, bewitched.