Huntsville gazette., 1881-07-30
Throckmorton's "Ghost."

ana JOnn lnrOckmOrtOn SuOSt.
Wherever John Throckmorton was seen
shabbily dressed girl followed after
him, dogged him with her presence and
haunted him like a nightmare. Ii he
left his hotel in the morning to walk
down the street, this shadow in dingv
black would. appear promptly at his
heels, saying not q word nor breathing
to those who observed an intimation of
her purpose. If John ThrOckmorton
was at his club this woman hung faith
fully about the door until he made his
appearance, and then wherever he went
she followed until perhaps he sought
refuge in his private chamber, where
bolts and bars kept her back. No mat
ter if it rained pitchforks, if it were hot
ter than hades or colder than the breath
of the Arctic, John Throckmorton ap-
peared not in public but that his shadow
was close at hand to torment him with
her presence, to taunt him with his
crime, to teach him repentance. Her
image was ever before his eyes; she
perched about him as relentlessly as
F'gar Allen Poe's raven sat upon
"The pallid bust of Pallas,
just above his chamber door,"
not phrophet or a thing of evil, but a
woman full of vengeance, full of deter
mination, a woman scOrned.
Throckmorton went to Boston, to
New York, to Philadelphia, to New Or
leans, but it was all the same. His
shadow was faithful in its pursuit. 1t
couldn't be lodged. Even when this
man sought refuge and surcease in the
army his shadow, like Nemesis, was
still on the track. John Throckmorton
grew gray, and thin, and shaky with
age; the girl grew into woman, and
with her maturer womanhOod came in
creased determination. She would make
him suffer; she would teach him contri-
tion. The picture has been seen a
thousand times on the streets of Louis
vile. A tall, slim man with white side
whiskers, white hair and face express
ing mingled modification and reckless
ness, lin front; woman, shabbily dressed
and closely veiled, shrinking along be-
hind.
Throckmorton and his ghost, " whis-
pered the spectators, as the two marched
silently down the street.
6 The woman he ruined" speaks an
other voice.
"The woman he scorns, rather,n says
somebody else.
"The woman who will die at his
heels,'' says another still, aad so they all
talk.
John Throckmorton and Ellen Good
win keep up this weary journey through
life. 1t is rare that they speak to each
H. t,ra ai-,, xNrf.,,1
breathes an oath or a threat, but the
woman only smiles. She is carrying
out her purpose. What does she care
what Throckmorton says, or what the
world thinks? Some say she is insane,
but those who know her best say not.
Throckmorton, among his friends,
laughs the matter away, but his preten-
sion of carelessness is all assumed. Up
on one occasion, as the story goes, he
meets her on a bitter cold day in the
Second Street market and curses her.
For once, the woman's temper gets the
better of her. She seizes an ignoble
weapon, frozen rabbit, and in the
twinkling of an eye John Throckmorton
has received blow across the face and
is lying stretched out upon the sidewalk.
Upon another occasion there is, accord
ing to public testimony, dramatic
scene in the mouth of an alley. Throck-
morton has become desperate. He meets
her and brings forth razor to cut her
throat. She throws back her veil with
smile of scorn and says:
"Kill me, John Throckmorton, but
kiss me first.'
The man becomes powerless with awe
at the reckless bearing of the woman,
and fees from her sight, but soon she
is on his trail again, and it is the old,
old story of "Throckmorton and his
ghost"
At the expiration of twenty y-three
years trial takes place in the Louisville
Chancery Court. Ellen Goodwin is
charged with lunacy by John Throck-
morton, and an inquest is held. The
Courthouse is filled to overfowing, and
the excitement is intense. The prose-
cutting witness, with scores of other wit
nesses to back him, tells the history of
the long years that the accused has dog
ged his footsteps.
After while Ellen Goodwin is placed
upon the stand to tell her story She
was SnA Out iiAtOCn lCuic oS aye, Slc
says, when she first met this man
Throckmorton. He sought her out at
home and she learned to love him, sub
sequently falling victim to his licen-
tious caresses. Even after this ''Iloved
the man," she said, $50 passionately
that found the desire to be at his side
irresistible. began to follow him upon
the streets solely because | loved him.
He laughed at me and spoke sneeringly
of me to his friends. He forgot the
promises he had made me, and l forgot
my love for him. learned to hate him.
Before l had followed about after him
because worshipped him. Now | de-
termined to follow him because he had
scorned me and because hated him as
intensely as had loved him. l sought
to teach him contrition, but he was toe
proud to repent, too stubborn to seek
my forgiveness, and was too resolute
to forget my purpose, and so day after
day and night after night 1 have been
upon his track. have suffered and SC
has he.,'
Upon the occasion of this trial Eller