The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1888-01-24
ANOTHER GHOST STORY
A Strange Mystery Of Towards
Fork, East Tennessee.
THE GHOST OF. A MURDERED MAN

On the night Of December 49, 1879, John
McWade was murdered near Howard's ford,
in the Little Tennessee river, in Eastern Ten
nessee, writes a correspondent of the Cincin-
natl Enquirer. For miles along the river the
country is wild and sparsely populated. Even
on the brightest day of the year it is lonely
enough, but on the night in question it was
doubly dreary. The day was dark and cloudy,
and toward evening it begin to rain, and when
night came On the rain poured down in tor
rents.
A few hundred yards from the ford lived
an old man and his wife, whom the neighhors
called Uncle and Auntie Howard, and after
whom the ford was named. At about o'clock
this night Mr.. Howard said he was startled by
a piercing scream, as if some one was in great
distress and crying for help He went TO the
door and listened, but could hear nothing save
the incessant pouring of the rain and the sob
bling of the winds. Il reckon it ware only
fancy" he said to his wife, as he went back to
his pipe and his corner by the fireplace, "but
it did sound uncommon like human" The
next morning, when John McWade was found
at the ford with his head nearly severed from
his body, the cry for help of the night before
was explained.
Little or nothing was known Of the MUIR
dered man. Two years before this he had
purchased a small farm in the mountains, but
where he came from and what were his ante
CeQentS ne Qlun I choose 10 disclose 10 ms
neighb0rs. Some said he had q history back
of him, while others, mostly the mothers of
the neighborhood declared he had been
crossed in love and had come to the mountains
to forget his sorrow. Of one thing, however,
they were sure-John McWade was not
farmer. Who had ever seen him do a days
work? And yet who bad ever known him to
want for money?
At first the simple country folk looked upon
young McWade with distrust; but the mum
L. L.
for them completely won them over, and all
msgivings were dismissed But when he was
found murdered at the ford their suspicious
asserted themselves again, and all were more
anxious than ever to penetrate the mystery.
The nearest they could come to clew was
this: On the night Of the murder, and little
while after it was committed, stranger
stopped at the house of Milton Barnes, who
lives about five miles from the ford and who
was McWade's nearest neighbor (who lived
two miles further up the river, in the direction
the stranger had Gomez, and asked for supper
and feed for his horse. Barnes afterward re-
membered that the stranger had
ASKED A NUMBER OF QUESTIONS
concerning McWade, but he thought nothing
Of it at the time. He furthermore declared
that the stranger could not have reached the
ford before the murder was committed, on ac-
count of the darkness of the night, the rain,
and the fearful condition of the road but
Judging from the time when he left the house
must have reached it about o'clock at night
All these facts led to the belief that the
stranger, whoever he was must have been the
murderer of John McWade. That the deed
was not committed for plumber was equally
evident from the fact that nearly 800, besides
his handsome gold watch, were found on Nc
Wade's person the morning after the murder
McWades house was carefully searched by
the officers in hopes that something might be
found which would lead to discoveries; but
- T., No. Co., IL
quiet, forgotten. But something was shortly
to happen that would refresh the memory of
the people of that neighborhood and invest
the murdered man with a new interest.
Now comes the startling point of this story
Just one year to the very hour and day from
the night of the murder, old Daniel Howard
said he again heard the same cry for help,
rather faint at first, but growing stronger rap
idly. as if coming nearer the house. All of
sudden it ceased: but the next instant the
latch on the door began to rattle, followed by
a sharp rapping on the window; and looking
up, Howard said he saw the murdered Nc
Wade peering in at the window Only the
head and shoulders were visible, but the
plainest part of all was the bloody cash across
the throat.
Howard rected his experience to the neigh
bors, and, while few were found who inclined
to the story, most Of them said it was only
fancy.
The months went by and Towards ghost
came again, and that night at s o'clock How
ard again heard the cry and saw the murdered
McWade. This time his statement was to be
corroborated by Kabel Gordon, one of the men
who had laughed at the story the year before.
1t so happened that Gordon crossed the ford
this night at about O'clock. He had crossed
it hundreds Of times before, and in all hours of
the night, and had never had any trouble
with his team; but this nigh 'they were
shy, and he had hard work to get them down
10 Ila OpI A J 81 a cnl 4ter,Y,. ola ~,
white rose up at the side of the road, which so
frightened the horses that they broke into n
dead run. Scarcely had they reached the other
side of the river when, Gordon says, there
broke upon his ears the most appalling scream
he ever heard-a mingling, 1t seemed to him,
of fear, pain and anger. Then he remembered
Howard s story, and he knew that he, too, had
seen the ghost of the murdered McWade
a few months after this old Mr. Howard
died, and his wife went to live with married
son. The place passed into the hands of man
named Dawson, from Virginia, an entire
stranger in that section. He moved in the
spring of 1888, The year went by and the 18th
of December came around again. The night
was just such a one as the night in '79-the
rain came down in perfect deluge and winds
moaned through the gulleys of the mountains.
Precisely at eight O'Clock Dawson AYERS, as he
and his family, consisting Of his wife and three
children, the eldest of whom was q young
man twenty-five years of age, were sit
what seemed to be a cry for help, faint at first
but growing stronger each instant, as if ap-
preaching the house. He and his son both
sprang to their feet grabbed their guns and
started for the door. Suddenly, he says, The
scream ceased. Then followed the peculiar
rafting OF the door-atch and the tapping on
the window, described by Howard They
looked toward the window and there they saw
the head and shoulders of a man. His
hair was dshevelod, Il CHASTITY pallol
overspread his face, and across his throat
ran frightful bloody cash. The specter
for such ii was, vanished as quickly as il
came, but there was very little sleep in that
household that night.
In the morning Dawson went to neiGhbor'
and related the occurrence of the night before
When asked how the apparition looked, strange
to say, he described the appearance exactly Of
the murdered McWade. The story Of the muir
der and the former visits Of his ghostship wa!
then told Dawson, who declared it was the
first time he had heard OF it,, and il is believed
he told the truth. However this may be, true
it is that nothing could persuade him TO remain
in the house longer. Before night he had Sc
cured another house, a mile down the river
and moved his family into il.
The house finally got such a reputation thai