Wichita eagle., 1888-12-30

ten years older than myself, and was only
so last March, and am as likely to live
twenty years longer as any man"
Here perceived that Mr.. Felt was in bis
dotage; aud despaired Of gaining any reli-
able intelligence from him.
l took my leave and proceeded to my lodg-
ings
If Peter Rugg, thought /, has been travel
ing since the Boston massacre, there is no
reason why he should not travel till the end
of time II the present generation know
little Of him, the next viii know less; and
Peter and his child will have no hold on this
world
In the course of the evening I related my
adventure.
"Hap said one Of the company, smiling;
''do you really think you have seen Peter
Ruggs / have heard my grandfather speak
of him as though he seriously believed his
own story.n
Sir" said I, ''pray let us compare your
grandfather's story Of Mr.. Rugg with my
own"
Peter Rugg, sir, if my grandfather was
worthy Of credit, once lived in Middle street
IN this city. He was a man in comfortable
circumstances, bad wife and one daughter
and was generally esteemed for his sober life
and manners. But unhappily his temper at
times Yves altogether ungovernable; and
then his language was terrible. In these fits
OF passion, If e door stood in his way he
would never do less than kick panel
through He would sometimes throw his
heels over his head and come down on his
| feet, uttering oathS In a circle; and thus in
rage nc was TIE first TO perform a somer-
sault, and did what others have since learned
to do for nlerriment and money. Once Rugg
was seen to bite tenpenny nail in halves
In those days everybody, both men and boys,
wore wigs; and Peter. at these moments of
violent passion, would become SO profane
that his wig would rise from his head Some
said 1t was on account of his terrible Ian
guage; others accounted for it in a more
philosophical way, and said it was caused by
the expansion OF his scalp-aS violent PAS
sion, we know, will swell the veins and ex-
pand the head While these fits were on him
Rugg had no respect for heaven or earth.
Except this infrmity, ell agreed that Rugg
was good sort of man.
''It was late in autumn ono morning. that
Rugg, in his own chair, with a fine, large
bay horse, took his daughter and proceeded
to Concord. On his return violent storm
overlook him. At dark lie stopped in Menot-
orny, now West Cambridge, at the door of a
Mr.. Cutter, friend Of his, who urged him
to tarry the night. On Riggs declining to
stop, Mr.. Cutter urged him vehemently.
why, Mr.. Rugs said Cutter, the night is
exceedingly dark; your little daughter will
perish; you are in an open chair and the
tempest is increasing
LET it Increase said Rugg, with fear
fr,1 tb II will bo-,,a IN l., e,;+o 80
the tempest, or may never see iGr
Sat these words he gave the whip to bis
high spirited horse, and disappeared in mo-
ment. But Peter Rugg did not reach home
that night, or the next nor, when he became
missing man, could he ever be traced be.
You'd Mr.. Cutters in Menotomy.
''For long time after, on every dark and
stormy night, the wife Of Peter Rugg would
fancy she heard the crack Of a whip, and the
feet tread Of a horse and the rafting of
carriage passing her door. The neighbors,
too, heard the same noises; and some said
they knew it was Riggs horse, the tread on
the pavement was perfectly familiar to them
This occurred SO repeatedly that at length
the neighbors watched with lanterns and saw
the real Peter Rugg, with his own horse and
chair, and child sitting beside him, pass di-
rectly before his own door, his head turned
towards his house, and himself making every
effort to stop his horse, but In vain.
''The next day the friends of Mrs Rugg
exerted themselves to find her husband and
child. They inquired at every puolic house
and stable ia town; but it did not appear
that Rugg made any stay in Boston. No one,
after Rugg had passed his own door, could
give any account Of him; though it was as
serted by some that the clatter Of Riggs
horse and carriage over the pavements shook
the houses on both sides Of the streets.
THUS Rugg and his child. horse and chair,
were soon forgotten, and probably many in
tho neighborhood never heard a word on the
subject.
There was indeed rumor that Rugg
afterwards was seen in Connecticut, between
Sufield and Hartford, passing through the
country with headlorg speed. This gave oc-
casion to Riggs friends to make further in
quiry But the more they inquired, the
more they were bafled. If they heard of
Rugg one day in Connecticut, the next they
heard Of him winding round the hills in New
Hampshire; and soon after, a man in a chair,
with small child, exactly answering the
description Of Peter Rugg, would be seen in
Rhode Island, inquiring the way to Boston.
But that which chiefly gave O color Of
mystery to the story Of Peter Rugg was tho
affair at Charlestown bridge. The toll
gatherer asserted that sometimes on the dark
est and most stormy nights, when no Object
could be discerned, about the time Rugg was
missing, horse and wheel carriage, with q
noise equal to troop, would at midnight, in
utter contempt Of tie rates of toll, pass over
the bridge This occurred so frequently,
that the toll gatherer resolved to attempt
discovery. Soon after, at the usual time, ap-
parently the Same horse and carriage ap-
preached the bridge from Charleston square.
The toll sstherer. prepared, took his stand as
near tho middle of the bridge as be dared,
with large three legged stool in his hand.
As the apparition passed he threw the stool at
the horse, but heard nothing, except the noise
Of the stool skipping across the bridge. The
toll gatherer, on the next day, asserted that
the stool went directly through the body Of
the horse; and he persisted in that belief
ever after. Whether Rugg ever passed the
bridge again, the toll gatherer would never
tell; ard when questioned seemed anxious to
waive the ubject. And thus Peter Rugg
and his child, horse and carriage, remain
mystery to this day.n-Culrent Literature.
Gen. Upshaw's Title.
Gen. Upshawis title shines with a lustcr
reflected only on those who have the honor
to be On the staff Of the governor Of
Tennessee. The general is stickler for bis
title Once when local reporter was hunt
ing some news about Indian affairs as he
passed along the corridors of the interior de-
partment he briefly inquired Of the messenger
at one Of the doors:
"Upshsw inF'