Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-07-13
Where a Tragedy Took Place.

al wouldn't tear that front wall down
for $50, coo cash" said Mr. Thomas III.
Green, of Philadelphia. Hundreds of
people have asked me why l didn't
cree nicer front when / was over
hauling the building" continued Mr..
Green, 'but l much prefer allowing the
old brick front to remain, because of
the historic associations of the build
ing. Here it is that Benedict Arnold
once made his home. In the early part
of the present century the building
came into the possession of the ances-
tors of the well-known Burd and Shin.
pen families, whose histories are prom
inently interviewer with that of the
city itself. One of the female members
of the Burd family on dying bequeathed
the property to relative with the in
junction that the home should never be
converted into stores. To disobey this
command would necessitate demolish-
ing the front, and SO you can see why it
is wish to allow the wall to remain,
because by SO doing 1 consider l am
complying with the dying Injunction of
its former owner.
do you know there is a romantic
story connected with the house," said
Mr.. Green. About fifty years ago one
of the daughters of the l5urd family was
engaged to be married to a prominent
Southern gentleman. On the night be-
| fore the day fixed for the wedding a
large company was gathered in the par
Tor of the mansion, and the converse
ton turned upon ghosts. When the
hour for retiring had arrived the ladies
were pretty well worked up with the
stories they had heard The betrothed
couple fingered a few moments in the
.parlor, and when the lady expressed a
fear of meeting with ghost her broth
er spoke up and said: Look out for the
! ghost of Benedict Arnold tonight. The
Southerner, handing the lady pistol,
said: Place this under your pillow and
if any ghost appears don't be afraid to
shoot The brother, who was a sort of
| daredevil fellow, resolved to have some
fun. He contrived to steal the weap-
on away from his sister, and when
everybody was asleep he dressed him
self in the uniform of an officer of
the Continental army. Entering the
chamber of his sister, he made a noise
which awOke her, and when the terrified
girl saw what she believed to be the
ghost of Arnold she set up such a
screaming that she awakened the house.
hold In few minutes the room was
filled with the other members of the
family When the matter was explained
by the erring brother the future hus-
band of his sister became SO angry that
he grossly insulted the young man and
then and there challenged him to fight
a duel. In Il few hours the prelimi-
naries were all arranged. A little piece
of woods in the southwestern part of
the city was selected. which they
reached about daylight. Pistols were
proposed, and the two plucky men
faced each other at twenty yards dis
lance. AT the first fire both fell, NOR
tally wounded. and when the seconds
and the physicians drove up to the man.
sion in the early hours of the morning
they tenderly conveyed two corpses to a
resting place within its portals, and the
heart-broken sister was compelled to
mourn the untimely death of a brother
and lover" -Philadelphia Record.