St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-12

lh, ~(>-)S1 of the Cincin-
w natl Enquirer.
For m es
along the river the country is wild
and sparSely populated. Even on the
brightest day of the year it is lonely
enough. put on the night in question it
was doubly dreary, The day was dark
and cloudy. and toward evening it be-
gan to rain, and when night came on
the rain poured down in torrents.
\ few hundred yards from the ford
lived an old man and his wife whom
the neighbOrS 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 was crying for help.
He went to the door and listened, but
could hear nothing save the inceSsant
pouring of the rain and the sobbing 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 a 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
murdered man. Two years before this
he had purchased small farm in the
mountains, but where he came from
and what were his antecedentS he
didn't choose to disclose to his neigh
bOrS. Some said he had 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 a
farmer. Who had ever seen him do a
days work? And yet, who had ever
known him TO want for money?
At first the simple country folk looked
upon young McWade with diStrust: but
the numberleSS little acts of kindness
that he had done for them completely
won them over, and all miSgivings 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,
a Stanger stopped at the house of Milton
Barnes, who lives about five miles from
the ford, and who was McWade's near
est neighEOr (whO lived two miles fur
stranger had Gomez. and asked for SUP
per and feed for his horse. Barnes
afterward remembered that the stranger
had
ASKED A NUMBER OF QUESTIONS
concerning MeWade, but he thought
nothing of it at the time. He further
more declared that the stranger could
not have reached the ford before the
murder was committed, on account 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 and the time the murder was
committed, he must have reached it at
about s o'lOck 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 COM
mitted for plumber was equally evident
from the fact that nearly 500, besides
his handsome gold watch, were found
on McWade's person the morning after
the murder.
McWade's house was carefully
searched by the officers in hopes that
something might be found which would
lead to discoveries; but not SO. In time
the affair was almost, if not quite, for
gotten. But something was shortly to
happen that would refresh the memory
OF the people of that neighborhOOd and
invest the murdered man with 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
hrst, but growing stronger rapidly, as if
coming nearer the house. All of a sud-
den it ceased; but the next instant the
latch on the door began to rattle, fol-
lowed by sharp rapping on the win
dow; and, looking up, Howard said he
saw the murdered McWade peering in at
the window. Only the head and Shout
ders were visible, but the plainest part
of all was the bloody cash across the
throat.
Howard recited his experience to the
neighbOrS, and, while a few were found
who inclined to the story, most of them
said 1t was only fancy.
The months went by and HOWard's
ghost story was forgotten. The 18th of
December came again, and that night
at SO'clOck Howard again heard the
cry and saw the murdered McWade.
This time his statement was to be cor
roborated by Kabel Gordon, one of the
men who had laughed at the story the
year before. 1t so happened that Cor
don crossed the ford this night at about
So'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 night they were
shy, and he had hard work to get them
down to the ford. All of a sudden
figure clad in white rose up at the side
of the road, which so frightened the
horses that they broke into
dead run. Scarcely had they
reached the other side of the river
when. Gordon says, there broke
upon his ears the most appalling scream
ne ever heard-a mingling, it seemed to
him., of fear, pain and anger. Then he
remembered Towards story, and he
knew that he, too, had seen the ghost
of the murdered McWade.
a few months after this old Mr.. How
ard died. and his wife went to live with
married son. The place passed into
the hands of aman named Dawson, from
Virginia, an entire stranger in that sec
ton. lie moved in the spring of 1883.
The year went by and the 18th of De-
cember came around again. The night
was just such one as the night i'm '79--
the rain came down in perfect deluge
and winds mOaned through the gulleys
of the mountains. Precisely at o'clock
Dawson AYERS, as he and his family
consisting of his wife and three chill
dren, the eldest of whom was young
man twenty-five years of age, were sit
ting around the fire, they were startled
by what seemed to be cry for help.
faint at first, but growing stronger each
instant, as if approaching the house.
He and his son both sprang to their
feet, grabbed their guns and started for
the door. Suddenly, lie says, the scream
ceased. Then followed the peculiar
rattling of the doOr-latch and the
tapping on the window, described by
Howard. They looked toward the win
dow and there they saw the head and
shoulders of man His hair was