The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1882-10-20
A Ghastly Specter.

A very curious story this is and, as Mr..
Romilly pledges his word for its truth
and gives all the circumstances, well
worth notice. The scene was ROtumah,
little island between three and four
hundred miles north of Fiji. The chiefs
Of Rotumah, finding the place ruined by
incessant civil war, agreed to ask for an
ne1ation to England. Sir Arthur Cor
don, governor of Fiji consented to for
ward their petition to England, and, in
the interval which must intervene before
an answer could be received, to send q
relative of his own, Mr.. Arthur Gordon,
to advise them. Mr.. Gordon went, tax
ing with him an Australian half-caste,
Thomas Simpson by name, to act as in
terpreter; and Mr.. Romilly went to
Rotumah a few weeks afterward. The
ha,f-caste murdered native, kimueli
by name, who seems to have been aware
of a robbery which the man had COM
mitted. Mr.. Romilly was called in to see
the dying man-for he was not killed on
the spot-and particularly noticed the
way in which his head was bandaged.
"a piece of coarse cloth was over the top
of the head, and round it, to keep it in
its place, were strips of banana leaves.
The whole was secured with cotton and
strings of fiber" Thomas Simpson was
tried for murder, found guilty, and sem
fenced to twenty-one years imprison-
ment.
Aboutsix monthsafterward Mr.. Romil-
ly returned to Rotumah, which was by
this time annexed, to act as Deputy
Commissioner till resident Magistrate
should be appointed. Throughout his
stay, which circumstances prolonged be-
yond his expectations, he was in the
habit of receiving daily visits from GER
tain native, Albert Alipati by name.
These visits were, much to his surprise,
suddenly suspended. Seeing the man,
he asked him the reason. Albert's an
swer was: "Me 'fraid; dead man, he
walksr When asked, what dead
mang' he replied, "Kimueli.' Mr.. Romil-
ly thought nothing of it. Such fears
were universal. But evidence accumu-
lated. The interpreter answered that
Kumeli had certainly been seen; every
one in the neighboring village had seen
him. So Mr. Romilly determined to
watch. This was his experience: 81 GER
tainly saw, about hundred yards off,
what appeared to be the ordinary figure
of native advancing. He had some
thing tied around his head, as yet could
not see what. A recollection
Of having seen that figure was forcing
itself upon my mind more strongly every
moment, and suddenly the exact scene
when had gone with Gordon to visit
the murdered man came back on my
mind with great vividness. There was
the same man in front of me, his face
covered with blood, and dirty cloth
over his head, kept in its place by banana
leaves which were secured by fiber and
cotton thread. There was the same man
and there was the bandage around his
head, leaf for leaf, and tie for tie, iden-
teal with the picture already present
in nv mind. by Jove, it's Kimueli,'
/ said to Allardyce, in whisper" They
followed the figure to the edge of the
bush. There, though it was bright
moonlight, they lost all trace of him.
Curiously enough, the day of the appear
ance was Christmas, the anniversary of
the murder. 1t was never seen again
Kimueli, one might say, was satisfied
when he had seen the white chief
London Spectator,