San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1882-05-18
THE HAUNTED INN.

Many years age, long before the day
of railroads, there stood, in the ther
wild mountain regions of Western
Pennsylvania, a large, rambling, tumble
down building, which was used, at the
time of which speak, as all inn. H..
1t had been built many years before
by a visionary emigrant from the old
world, in imitation of his ancestral
home. .., a..
Why such an out of the way spot had
been selected for home no one ever
pretended to guess. But certain it was
that the owner had expended all of his
available means in its erection, and had
toiled and starved, and finally died of
q broken heart his utter want of prac-
tical training totally uniting him for
wrestling living from the barren hill
sides which lie had selected for home
His wife soon followed him to the
grave, and his children scattered, no
one knew where.
And thus it was that the once pre-
tentious mansion went to decay for
want of n tenant, and would have rotted
to the ground hal no. the spirit of i'm.
provement and enterprise finally in
vaded the region in search of the hid
den treasures of the earth. ,'.
When l visited the spot small vii
lage had sprung mp around the old
house, and that had been taken possess
sion of and the few rooms not utterly
ruined by decay had been converted
nto so called tavern.
The landlord might have starved,
however, if he had depended on native
custom, for the old house, during those
years of solitude, had gained an unsa-
worry reputation, and in the absence of
other tenants many ,tongued rumor had
peopled it with ghosts.
Its reputation had reached me before
I visited the place, but as had always
felt all inexpressible longing to sleepin
a haunted room and make the personal
acquaintance of some of the dissatisfied
.deuizens of the other shore, II was not
sorry to learn that tho haunted inn was
the only place in the town where I
could find resting place.
I was Somewhat taken aback, howev-
or, when the landlord, informed me, in .
tones of broken English and poor
whisky, that every bed and every room
in the house was full. l could not but
admit the eternal fitness of things, in
asmuch as he was full, too; but l begged
him to set his few remaining wits to
work and see if he could not find a peg
for me to hang up my tired bones upon.
After grave consultation with the land
lady, it was concluded that they could
make me a shake down, If I did not
mind sharing my room with another
gentleman who had already retired
There was nothing for it but to ac
cept the situation, and did so in good
faith. N. n. f@ss ss s' , Il
By the time the shake-down was
completed | had finished my supper
and apnouEc9 ID my desire to retire i'm
mediately. ........ ..-.
The landlord was by this time too
far gone to render any assistance. and |
as the landlady weighed not less than
800 pounds, 1 excused her from attend
ance and acted as my own usher.
She furnished me with the remains I
OF a tallow dip, and giving me a few
general directions conc orning the loca- .
ZION OF the Iotuls udue ME hoOu-lllBuh.
l fortunately stumbled into the right /
place, for hasty glance revealed the
hal just time, however,
10 bolt the door when the light went
out, and 1t remained for the moon,
which shone brightly into the window,
to light me to bed, and to reveal the
location q tie other bed, on which the
stranger slept n
am not naturally nervous, but 1 [
confess that l would much rather have
known who my roommate was, and the y
thought OF what he might be kept me
awake for some time.
To add 10 my nervousness, tho wind
had risen, and il Ehistled through the
racks and around the gables Of the old
mansion with q wierd and mOurnful
,adeaceE hich vas anything but sOOth- !