The Asheville citizen. [volume] (Asheville, N.C.) 1885-1889, 1886-02-12

4 proceeding, / ask e0 is the spirit Of Car
tain sIiH present?' Ther
d.csme three responsive raps upon The Il
4 bic. .fs g55 stssa tssA -
@'Will the spirit be good enough t
give me the name ofthe lady toWhor
The was engaged to be married at tn
ftinae Of his deatllT Now this engagement
had been kept profound secret n
lone outside ofthe la1l es' ihnrnetl late fam
! ily, save I, knew Of il.
"Foster put the question In his usua
manner. and appeared 10 await the an
iswer; but detected his eyes tIeftivel,
watching me, for had resotLtsEy tstS7le,
my mind from ttiAkis9 what the answe
should be- thought Of tbs races, of th,
weather OF anythin foreign TO the SUB.
The spirit appears unwilling to an
sWer,, said Fosters per 5haps you had bet
ter reduce the question to writing
Il saw through thb Fase, and wrote
the question, still thinking of the race
peafed to await an answer, and again ]
detected him in furtil scrutiny of me
I insisted upoa an &nswer and hi
showed some Signs u ses nbarTa Elen
and annoyance. L have You n3w,
thought I'VE sir, cannot you ans8 j
my question:? Upon this hes staal.ne q
out, tine spirit declines to answ ar, say
ing that you are hostile to him
This evasive reply but confirmed mC
inmy opinion. So soon as an opportu'
niLy presented, ] whispered my suspi
cions to friend On my left, asproInlneni
physician residing in one fthe Eastern
counties in this State. He caught the
idea at once, and proceeded to act upon
it. Calling up the spirit OF : relative he
put question, the answer to which he
knew bat would not think of. Foster
failed to answer Squestionand again
betrayed considerable annoyance"
"What conclusion did you reach Colo
mel ~ asked one of the three Cap
tainS
THAT the man was :. claryoyaIlt OF
mind reader"
"StuG and nensensew EiacuIated the
skeptical gent tlemah& s1AI{ Ap
"And how do YOU account for the rap
pings a'tg Askad s6re of the two Colonels
II didn't give that any thought" re-
piled the Colonel at might be done by
electricity. Ishave seen Heller tho ma
gician do far more wonderful things than
asWiIyoa oblisg,c biz, : me Sa With hisaddressg?a
Asked the skeptieal gentleman.
"Whose, Heller's? lie is dead.
"No, that other mans. F5sters?"
-''As he is also dead, I feel, delieacy
in-ah-s ~
"Ha. ha Not bad that z, exelaimed
the strange gentleman. Il can tell ofan-
other very singular occurrence which
think you.cannotso easily explain. Some
years ag , when head book keeper for a
large firm down town, it was my custom
to reach the office punctualiy at nine
o'clock every morning,zaOne morning,
from some cause, j was afew minutes
late. On enteri 1g the Office glance at
the clock and saw it was ten minutes past
nine. hung up my coat on It's peg, and
putting on my office coat started for my
desk, in approaching which. | had to
pass the desk of -, the junior
member of the firm, who was at that
time very Ill. AT this moment an enye-
lope ly ing on his desHk was lifted by
some invisible S,Szsn1A and, tier
Ing fIf6gs the asfss ,s1i
WAY %ss snHnsass adaresssd to the he aiOr I
felt very queer and remarked to one Of
the book-keepers that something had
happened to MIR. Within a half
hour telegram was, received stating
that Mfr, the junior member, had
died that morning at ten naiautes past
nine"
Gentlemen" said the Colonel, this is
just the night for a gho5t1story. Hark
how the wind roars without, and what
a ghostly tune it is whistling through
yonder key y-hole." And with that. he
lit another cigar and sitting himself more
III
When he was interrupted by fresh in
stal]ment of Colonels and Captains, who
drew up chairs and joined the expeCtant
group.
Several years ago, gentlemen, a friend
of mine. a LAWYER by profession, moved
to New York with his family and rented
the house No. 50 Johnson st. Brooklyn" f"
Here the sKepticai gentleman was OBJ
served to take out his memorandum book
and make note. "Soon- after this my
friend had to return South on some law
business, and expected to be absent sew
eral weeks. used to go over and spend
the evening with his family, once OF
twice week just toskeep them from feel
ing lonesome, as they were strange to
the city, and had but few .acquaintances.
well, on one occasion, having spent
the evening, was about taking my
leave, when my hostess, with some en-
arressmert,asked.ifI would object to re-
naming all night. She explained that
she had that day discharged servant
for her impudence, and her violent Ian
guage and behavior on this occasion had
made her very nervous. OF course as
sented. was told where to find my
room, and the family retired. I sat up
an hour or two longer, reading and smo-
king shen, went to bed and slept sound
ly until morning. At the breakfast ia
Bile my hostess, Mrs. B., inquired
how / had slept. Meyer BETTER re
piled. She appeared upaccountably re-
iieved at hearing this.
"'But,' said one of the young ladies, 6
neice, were you not disturbed at all du,
ring the night; did you hear no sounds?
Since you mention it, said /, seeking
to perpetrate a Joke, I dtd hear some
mysterious sounds in my room, some
thing ike the rustling of silk dress
upon this, the lady and her two nei.
ces exchanged swift and significant
glances. Still 1 thought nothing of this
and breakfast over, took my departure
for the city, On The next day. gentle
man, mutual friend, called on me
What's all this, said he. Z hear abou
you having seen ghosts in Brooklyn p
".I? Seeing ghosts brooklyn? Ex
plain yourself, my dear fellow, never
saw ghost in my life; my digestive OF
gans wouldn't admit of such thing
.Why yes s;didn't you see a ghost, o.
something of that, sort, two ghts ago
whilst staying at BIS house? Did yol
not tell Mrs. at the breakfast table-r
continued he in creseendo voice, some
what rexaspera1ed at my plying smile
/ for I Thought him daft, that femal,
figure had appeared in your room duripl
1.-THE enight2'
"sDh now that You mention 1t, dit
get.off some nonsense to tl:at effect bu
T..lor,, ,,,,,,xy bonor fIoSfsi Iz-o a y, q