The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1882-02-21
WOODsFIELD, MONROE COUNTY,

before; the man hal been wearing an
impenetrable mask.
l now had the KEY to the mystery and
to him, and used it. He was interest
ed in uperstitions-he was superstitious
himself. Why2 Good men may be su-
perstitious-bad men always .are-be.
cause they carry hell OF wild fancies
with them. Thus it was with this man,
as / could see by his eye, and / made
his fsncles work upon him. I told him
stories OF so, Gerry, witchcrat and magic
of ghosts, hobgoblins and devils-till
he became pale with fear, breathed with
compressed lips, and trembled in spite
of his great nerve and will.
If good men, as have said, aresome
times superstitious, why, you ask, did
think this man bad for being supersG-
tious alsor First, / answer, because
had accidentally thrown him off his
guard and read his soul; and secondly,
because he was not naturally nervous
and credulous. Fear had only made
him so; and. in one of his iron nature.
fear could only arise from the self.con-
victed nowledge of past wicked deed.
The man was even then a criminal.
But let me hasten to the denoucment.
1t Glanced that no other person was
present when this conversation occurred
about the superstliUus fancies of men,
and as soon as we were interrupted by
the entrance Of another customer, my
dark visitor left somewhat abruptly. AT
ter that he did not come as often as be-
fore, and never seemed as much at ease,
and never renewed the conversation that
had SO agitated him, and never, in fact,
entered into any other that he could
possibly avoid. | kept my thoughts to
myself, but made some casual inquiries
about him, and learned that be had been
so fortunate as to secure capital lead,
from which, with his partner, another
young man, he was taking out gold in
quantities that promised to enrich both,
and that both had the gnod will an d es-
TEEN of all who knew them.
One dark night. about three or four
weeks after this, was startled from my
sleep. by wild, prolonged shrieks, and
cries of:
"Murder! murder! help! help"
Jumped ! up, seized my revolvers and
darted out into the open air The cries
and screams still continued, coming from
a point on the bend of the river about
hundred rods below. In a minute | was
Joined by five others, oil we'll armed, and
together we ran as hard as we could to
the place from which the alarm proceed
Ell.
When we arrived there, at least thirty
men were collected in and around the
tent of the dark man l have been de-
sciibing, and he himself it was who had
given the alarm. His partner and COM
panion had been murdered. and robbed,
and he himself had been slightly cut
across the face and gsshed ON the left
arm, and be was ell excl ement, lameilts
ing his dearest friend, and vowing ven-s
geance against the assassin. 1t was
some time before we could get at the
and then we learned that
both had been sleeping side by side, when
an unknown robber bad crawled under
The light canvas, stabbed one to tbe
heart, and taken a large bag of gold
from under his head. With this he was
when the present narrator
awoke and seizsd him, and received the
wounds which compelled him to relin-
1uish his hold. Lights we're brought,
and there, sure enough, was the bloody
OF all that had been rela-
ted.
shall make no attempt to portray
The intense excitement, the wild rage and
which this daring murder
occasioned. Every man felt that, il the
assassin escaped without his just punish
nent, there would no longer be security
'or any one in our hitherto quiet and
peaceful valley, and solemn oaths were
aiken to hang the wretch, if found, upon
he nearest tree. A large reward was
offered for his detection, and every gam
bier that had ever been seen about there
was more or less suspected; and | be-
eve that, had any man been arrested on
The following day, be would have been
hung first and tried afterward. | said
ess than any, for l had my own suspi-
,ions, and | contrived my plot in secret,
making conGdant OF no one
The murdered young man was as de-
Gently buried as surrounding circumstan.
,es would permit, and then his compan.
on, my superstitious friend, grew more
moody with grief, refused to work his
lead" any more, and proposed selling
off his rocker and tools and quitting the
country altogether think he would
have gone at once, only that 1 told him
it would not look well to leave without
an effort to discover the murderer, as
some people might be malicious enough
% say he knew something Of the matter
aud 80 get him into trouble. He turned
very pale, aud declared he would stay
year if by that means he could discover
the assassin of his dear, dear friend.
On the second afternoon following tn
tragedy, almost every individual in tee
vicinity, the friend of the murdered man
among the rest, assembled at my store
at my particular request. | had told
hem ] had something to communicate
concerning the foul deed, and that l
hought it not unlikely l might give
them some clue 10 the assassin.
When all had collected and arranged
themselves as l had directed, in semi
circle before my door-eager, expec!ant,
excited-I came forward holding IN my
hand an egg. Then l male them a
short speech on the various superstitions
of mankind, which / commended had their
origin in mysterious facts revealed from
the other world by Gods good provi-
dence for the protection OF the innocent
and the punishm mt of the guilty; and
among other things mentioned how the
ghosts Of their victims would often haunt
the murderers, compelling them to re.
veal their crimes -how land aud sea had
been know to give up their awful secrets
and how it had been asserted that if
the guilty wretch we're to place his hand
upon the body Of the man he had secret
ly slain the wounds would bleed afresh,
"And now, gentlemen" | continued,
81 hold in my hand as sure d test as anv
I have named. This simple egg, so fair
to the view, contains the murderer's Sc.