Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1883-09-01

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bed, young man, with fair hair curling
about his temples; his breast was bare,
and we saw great bleeding wound there.
lad my pistol under my pillow, and |
drew it out and looked at him.
"Away you go, or fire." said; "1'm
not fool to be tricked In this way"
Instead Of obeying, he slowly moved to-
wards the bed. Jane shrieked and drew
the counterpane over her head. covered
him with my pistol. Zone step moro and
/ fire." said. He TOOK the step. l fired.
A shrek of laughter followed, and there
was no one there. arose and searched
the place. Every window was barred,
every door was locked. | unlocked one
of the doors, and entered the adjoining
room. A great bed, with tester and caE-
opy, stood there, and upon this lay the
figure of woman, all in white, covered
with blood. l rushed towards it, lamp in
hand. Again those hollow shrieks of
laughter, and nothing but the stained and
yellow ticking OF an old feather bed lay
under .his canopy.
"Luke. Luke" screamed my wife WHO
had followed me, clinging TO my arm.
"It is all true. Let US leave the place"
"Jane," said |, "it seems to be true that
this place is haunted, but we have risked
our all OH it. The things we have seen
have not hurt us, and propose TO drive
them away. I'll take you TO the village,
If YOU like, and leave you there TO live,
but here l stay till | beat these ghosts"
"Not alone" said Jane; and she did
not leave me.
II you believe mo, day and night for
three weeks we were haunted rs people
never were beforc-faces, voices, hands
In the house or in the field; and worse
than all we grew i'll.
l sent for the doctor, who wouldn't
come, and We went to him.
"You are poisoned" he said. "What
have you eaten, or what have You been
drinking?"
We thought it over, and told him that
we knew of nothing harmful, and that
we cooked and prepared all cur own food.
"I never knew anyone to pass I day at
that cOnfounded house you 1.-Two in, with
ont being effected in this way" said he;
.'even those who did not eat there. Con-
stable Collins says he touched nothing but
cold water, and he came to me nearly dy-
ing"
cts the we'll, thcn," said I.
"They used to call 1t the best well In
the country" said the doctor.
"It has q nasty tasto now," said /. "l'll
beg water from my neighbor until I've
cleaned it out"
And that day began. We got better
slowly, and | tried to hire two farn-labor-
ers TO help mo with my vol. Not one
would come. was almost tired Of liv-
ing rs | did, and feeling like maniac {;
and one day went to the well, and sat
there, wondering whether itmight not be
best to give up and go somewhere as n
farm laborer, when felt what seemed to
be m icy hand on my head, and looking
up, saw my two ghosts, side by side.
They were horrible enough, | can tell
you, and they looked Mt me and pointed
into the we'll and then heard two voices
crying:
"Get us out, Get US out! Get US out
and bury US! The water is cold, and our
wounds are deep. Get US OUT"
And then the truth camo to me, good
moss knows how. Twas just able to crawl
over to my iieighbor's house, and | said
to him:
"Mr Jarvis, will you send one Of your
men to the authorities and have the po-
licemen sent up TO my placer There IS
something in my we'll that ought not to
be there"
Well, they came, and was right. They
took out of that well two bodies rolled up
in sheet lead. By bits of jewelry, and
things of that sort, they found out that
they were the bodies Of the young wife Of
the old proprietor and the young man who
used to run after her. Tho old man had
killed. them both, but lie must have had
help to bury them In their leaden coflins.
And now people began to remember how
two plumbers, who had a good deal Of
this sheet lead III their shop, grew sud-
denly well of, and went from that place
about the time the old man sold the estate,
and they believed that he paid them for
helping him to dispose of the bodies. They
were buried in the graveyard, and Jane
and never saw the ghosts again. The
farm land and summer visitors brought
me the price had agreed upon for the
place, and I've been a prosperous man
ever since.