Press and daily Dakotaian. (Yankton, Dakota Territory [S.D.]) 1880-1889, 1881-12-21
A STARTLING GHOST STORY,

Y.A]
A STARTLING GHOST STORY.
Til" Materialixed eplrlts OF IllItcra.e De-
fnncts swsr,ning Upon Yanktnn County
School section.
Reou'ar Correspondence.
Welchtown, Oak. Dec. 20, 1ssl-Our
usually quiet community has recently
become greatly excited by the reappear-
ance OF the ghost Of $780, 1t will be re-.
membercd by the readers of your paper
that in the early part of the summer of
ieso, school district No. AZ was haunted
Dy the nightly appearance Of something
which many persons believed. to be a
ghost. Its appearance as then described
by those who saw it was truly frighttul
and alarming. Its form was tnat OF an
Old man bowed with the accumulated
weight OF years. His dress was similar
to those worn during the dark ages. His
long hair OF reddish gray color:Hoated
on the breeze and his mutterings and
groanings struck terror to the heart of
the listener.
The ghost now appearing nightly is
Identical in appearance with the. dcscnp-
ton above given, with this addition. ho
now appears mounted on horse of whit
lsh color and is attended by four smaller
ghosts. Two Of these smaller ghosts
bear strange resemblance to ghost in
chief. These four minor ghosts are evil
IDENTIFY subordinate to the principal
ghost and do his bidding with prompt
ness and dispatch.
Precisely at the hour of midnight the
ghost in chief makes his appearance on
the school house grounds. He then ut
ters series of unearthly groanings, after
which the four minor ghosts may be seen
approaching from different directions
The four minor ghosts take positions on
the four corners of the school house
grounds with the ghost in chief in the
center. The mutterings and groanings
are then commenced by the principal
ghost which are repeated and re-repeated
oy each of the subordinate ghosts. This
exercise, Us described by eye witnesses,
is said to continue full thirty minutes.
during which time the school house and
grounds seem lighted with an unearthly
and non-diffusiye light aud strong
odor of sulphur permeates the
air to great distance around. The NUT
terings become fainter and more indis:.
tinct, the lights become dim and finally
all disappears in thin air.
The language Of the spirits seems to
be conglomerated mass of jargon OF va
rious languages and tongues. Occasion
ally few words Of broken English may
oe heard: Golden schools" "high tax
es," "let every man educate his own
children "down with the county super
intendency," ""no female teachers for our
public schools" "down with school dis
trict school officers" "Oh, for the time
when public schools were unknown,
when midnight darkness reigned in
every human soul. Let those golden
lays return; let them return. Oh. for q
lodge in some vast wilderness where pub
lie schools do never Gomez" are some of
the mutterings of these midnight visi-
tants.
Now can it be possible that the with
cred soul of some old heathen who lived
in the ages of darkness has become SO
troubled on account of the educational
progress and advancement of our times
As to cause him to leave the dark domain
Of hades, visit our earth accomp panied by
bis comrades in darkness and make
hight hideous by his howlings about
public school buildings, or is it that his
'atanic majesty knowing that the sue.
cess of our system of general education
will be the essential downfall of his king
lom of darkness, has taken new depar.
ture and sent his emissaries to do bis
works OF darkness and hatred to man.
kind, or is it that some dwarfed, selfish
human soul which yet lAgers. in its
house of clay, and who is as incapable
of comprehending or appreciating the
Importance OF education as Digger In
dian is to comprehend demonstration
of the binominal theorem, has become SC
affected by the efforts that are being
made to support good school in his
district that his sleep has taken the form
of somnambulism and unconsciously
rises from his bed at tho hour of mid
night wends his solitary way to the
school house grounds, where he meets
his fellows. who are his co-equals in ev.
cry respect, and there together the,
breathe their groanings on the air o
midnight? Each Of these solutions o
the phenomenon has its advocates Ii
the meantime we will keep you advised
IN regard to future developments.
Very truly yours,
VERITAs.
FLOUR! FLOUR!
The celebrated -four of the Washburl
mills, Minneapolis. Minn., for sale at Il
A. Schoregge & Son. Every sack wal
ranted. Try it. 1t can not be beaten.
nv r,CYY COD ryr .,rr1,