Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-06-22
A MYSTERIOUS SUMMONS.
A STORY OF THE SUPERNATURAL
TOLD IN THE SMOKING ROOM.

4 Man Saved from the Hangman In .
singular AIanner-A Fisherman's Inter-
est in the Habits Of Trout snatches an
Innocent Man from the Gal1ows.
II have known Of fisherman being visited
by ghost" said Rose, one Of the party,
land as am an old man should like the
story to be preserved. I was living some
fourteen miles from Worcester; forty years
ago, and was a keen fisherman. One day late
in the season had good afternoon Of trout
fishing In brook which ran three miles
from my house, and on my way home in a
very dark evening was drenched to the skin
by thunderstorm, in spite Of my efforts to
escape by sheitering here and there under
sheds, hedges and the like.
oBEYNG TEE SUMMONS.
"Six months afterward was disturbed in
bed by a loud voice in my room, saying:
Get up, and go to Worcester l started,
rubbed my eyes, sat up and listened, but
heard nothing, and there was not breath Of
air stirring out Of doors. Invent off to sleep
again and was again speedily disturbed by
the same cry. | now awoke my wife and
asked if she had heard anything. Certainly
j
heard voices after the indigestible dinner /
had made This was small comfort, and
again the words sounded, this time louder
than ever, at my ear. Get up and go TO
Worcester / rose and struck light; it was
4:30 a. N. and pitch dark with much rain,
could see The idea of descending, saddling
the horse for my groom lived at distant
cottage) and starting to Worcester in such a
deluge was not ct all cheerful But the same
words sounded more imperatively than be-
fore at my ear, and telling my wife was
going to Worcester for the day l slipped on
my clothes, let myself out and began saddling
a gray. With some surprise I noted that
whereas she always strongly resented this
process by leaping and kicking, on this par
ticular morning she was perfectly quiet and
tractable
II rode along the dark and rniry chain Of
roads which surrounds Wilmington with ease,
partly from knowing them perfectly, partly
because no one was stirring, and toward
dawn approached the Severn, now in full
food, where it was necessary for me to cross
if 1 did not care to go by the windings Of the
river Ia much longer road to the city. Here
I expected to spend halt an hour bawling
from the bank till the drowsy ferryman
would be pleased to awake and come over to
take us across. Curiously enough, as l rode
down the bank l espied him waiting. He
touched his hat and said: All right, sir; l
heard you shouting and came over as quickly
as / could OF course l had never shouted,
but the rain and cold forbade my raising
any question on the matter, and thankfully
got in and was ferried across. I had about
six miles to ride on the other side, and it was
7:30 o'clock when I rode into Worcester,
tired and hungry. However, put up my
beast, breakfasted and not knowing what to
do stroued out into the city. A ghostly
summons had brought me there, but had
much the same as another.
Noticing crowd passing toward the as
size courts, fell In with them, and by dint
of tipping and squeezing soon found myself
listening to the end of murder trial The
prisoner, one Llewellyn Morris, had just been
found guilty. As l entered, the judge called
upon him to say anything he desired against
sentence being pronounced upon him. The
accused seemed familiar to me, and yet
could not recall where l had met him. He
was little man, and appeared, while q
crowded court hung upon his fate with breath
less anxiety, to be the least concerned Of the
assemblage
HIS INNOCENCE ESTABLISHED.
"He answered the judge respectfully, but
carelessly enough, that he was entirely igno-
rant of the murder, and was two or three
miles away from the place where it was COM
mitted. He had q defense, a hally boy it
was called, but could not produce his,witness
He had no idea who his witness was, but on
the night of the murder he had been fishing
and Lad walked couple of miles on the road
home, till thunder reared and the rain de-
scended like waterspout, with gentleman
whom he had met at the riverside. Atlength
the storm was so fearful and the darkness SO
deep that they had both diverged from the
road into neighboring churchyard, and
taken refuge in its porch until, half an hour
later, the tempest passed on. He had con-
versed that time with his neighbor, but had
no notion who he was or he would clear him,
as that storm took place Immediately after
the old man had been murdered, and it would
have been physically impossible for him to
have stood in the porch unless he had been far
away from the scene Of the murder ct that
time As 1t was, however, having no clew
to his witness, he was content to leave him
self in his lordship's hands
"At once remembered that this YVES the
very man who had stood with me in the
church porch, and, rising amid much excite
ment, offered myself to the judge as wit
ness for the accused After being sworn, l
wrote down at the judges request what we
had talked of and what answers the prisoner
had made. Upon this the prisoner examined
me, and the answers so tailed with what !
baH 6at na i,Ydsr is.i1v
another address to the jury, and, deleting
their previous. verdict, the jury unanimously
and without moments hesitation acquitted
him. We had talked, as it happened, Of
curious legend in a neighboring lords fam
lily, and the prisoner had given me some tn
formation about the spawning of trout, which,
as fisherman, had naturally remembered
Years afterward convict at Dartmoor
prison, on his death bed, confessed that DO
alone was guilty Of the murder for which NY
In the porch SO narrowly escaped
conviction; and so, you see, ghost was. OF
advantage for once, and let Us hope, for the
credit Of fishermen, chose one Of them to
perform en- act OF justice in consequence of
his gentle, auiahle and kindly disposition
London Field
Queer kpftaphs.
The Boston Transcript has been publishing
some oddities In tbs way Of epitaphs lately.
Here are few specimens:
When was Ike you.
In years no. feT,
On the ocean told
On the line have broii'd
In Greenland I've shiver't
Now from hardshiys deliver
CapSized by old Death,
surren6cret ny breath.
And "a