The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1883-02-01
A STRANGE STORY.

Ter night IN 10 was SlItlu4 III illN
Office reading over my well-thumbed
copy OF the Code. hunt NO up the law OF
murder / was smoking my pipe and
hal gotten up to STIR up the embeEs in
my stove when | saw from my window,
which fronted on the. public square,
man walsing along in what seemed TO
be deeD me citation. His hands were
locked behind him, his head dropping
on his breast an his stop was slow and
weary A dog followed at his heels.
The dog was a fierce looking bulldog
il was a clear, cold night bitterly cold
and the moon shOne with Su n bril-
liancy overhead as to light up the
square The rays of the moon, al .el
to the Wilderness of the snow which COW
cred the ground foot in depth made
the night as clear rs day The hour was
late and / was surprised 20 see any one
out Of doors at such an hour. The VII
layers were long since at home anil not
n light from any window could be seen.
My curiosity was aroused, and having
marked my page and placed my book on
the table, / went TO the window.
watched the man with a great deal of
interest As I'm all Western towns, the
court-hou-e stood in he middle of the
square. IL was a solid old stone build
inc with immensely thick walls which
out at each corner of the four walls. A
tall spirc rose from the building, in
which the old brazcn bell had NJ out
its various calls for a century or more.
This spire cast q long, slender shadow
over the square The shape of the
shadow being triangular, the apex OF it
reached directly under nv window. In
my desire TO satisfy my curiosity about
the solitary man whom ! had seen, i
walked to my door so as to be out of the
shadow of The spirc / stepped out on the
porch and saw a stranger figure than
before creeping along in the darkness
of the shadow of the spire, every
now and then with hasty movement
gliding into the corners where the but
trcSScs were. NV astOnishmenr and IN
tercst arose to a great degree. / softly
stepped back into the threshold of my
door SO as 10 be hidden from the view of
both men, but where j could plainly see
everything. 1t was growing exciting
now, and my heart thumped against my
breast with q noise, as thought, that
could be heard by both mon. When
the man with the dog had reached tue
town pump and had stopped to drink
from the nozzle, the person who had
been creeping along in the shadow
stepped suddenly out into the moonlight
and with an oath rushed upon the first
man. The man ut the pump turned
quickly at the sound of rapid footsteps
approaching, and, seeing a man with
arm appraised and lTandishug a large
knife rushing toward HIM, fled with Il
loud rcam or terror. The dog faced
the pursuer. He seemed to be trans
formed from a dog into a fiend. With
eyes fairly dart.ug fire, every bristle on
his body standing up like quilts on a
porcupine, he waited for his approach.
With a growl Of fierce anger he s7rang
mt the throat OF the man with the knife.
hut the dog was beaten down by the
man, who rushed on in pursuit. My
tongue was paralyzcd; / tried to cal
out. With my eyes almost starting
from their sockets and all power of mo
ton having left my body, | saw the
.pursuer gain his victim and with
another oath plunge his weapon up tC
the hilt three or four times into the
body of the screaming man; the muir
dered one fell and the murderer cast
his knife into the snow and fled. BY
that time / had regained my senses.
am an old man and easily excited.
rushed toward the body of the muir
dered man. and when ] had nearly
reached it the body and the dog. which
had crept to its masters side and wa
licking the dead mans wounds, hal
disappeared. ! stopped and stared a
The snow where I had seen the dead
man lying With every nerve in my
frame quveriug with pain and excite
mcut, l reelcd and fell fainting i'm tho
snow.
When regained consciousness wa,
living in the snow where | had falle H.
Dazed and faint with cold and the eN
element of the scene l had witnessed
/ arose and cUcpt to my Office Nearly
stupeied, | could not recall for the mo
mcnt why / had tainted. l crOuchet
over my stove and tried to collect m,
thoughts My brain whirled amidst
chaos of con letting omotions-doubt
fear and belief. The sto G having
warmed my chilled body. with a name
less dread / went to nv door and peere,
cautiously out. fearing lest | should Sc
repetition of that awful scene. But al
was quiet. not a soul could be seen.
was nearly twOo' clock, and the vilager
were asleep The moon was still shin
ing brightly and made each flake O
snow shine with the luSter of 4 priceless
diamond. Not a blot nor toot-trac
married the white carpet OF snow tina
covered the ground Nevertheless
when ! closed my door ] doubIe-lockc
il and rolled my table against il.
pulled my window-blind down, an
-
the startling inc dents of the night.
never had used liquor. could not at
tribute it to that. NV mind was pen
fectlv clear NJ the time. I had nevC
experienced an optical delusion.
would swear on my dying bed that
saw these men, heard the screams c
the murdered man nj each stroke of tn
knife. heard the growi Of the dog an
even the crunchng O. tho crisp snow a
the men ran oycrit ! saw the body q
ii lay there with red blood gushing froI
the wounds and staining the snow.
do not believe i'm the supernatural. an
as | relate this, years afterwards. | bC
licve now rs firmly rs l did then tbs
these strange things took place. Gg
let me go on and relate the incident
that followed this strange occurreng,
On the next morning | went to OF
Squire Harris to dinner The SOUR
and his family were the ariStocrlts
the place Their home was a grand oil
mansion ON a high hin that overlooke
the lovely little valley i'm which the Vi
laUe nestled. 1t was the habit of I'll
Squire to give q dinner once mont
to all of his friends in the village.
was one of his particular friends an
owed many n kindness to the good @.
man. On that morning trudgcd 4
the steep path 10 the hall rs il was q
ways called bv the village folks. ON m
way up / heard noise in the thick al
dcrgrowth that bound the path {
either side. l stopped, thinking
might surprise a maUaudor in u
Squire ground. l pushed aside Il
bushes and upon looking through | 81
only a dog. But, Heavens above,
was the same dog l had seen the pr
y-ious NIGHT The same fierce bull-dO