Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1889-02-16

utterdble terror for that instant. Fear
held dominion over me Fear such as |
had never dreamed of, ruled in every atom
OF my be ng. The sound of the slutting
of door rcsouuded in my ears like IN
unexpected thing, faint light fitted for
an instant along the wall, and IN its mo-
mentary CLEAN | saw a woman's face, n
wicked face, and q girls form, a shadow
crouched at my side, The light was gone,
but there still rung in my ears a long, low
Sob, like the cry of lost soul. and the
sickening noise of fall on the stones
below.
IT must have been some time after this
TINT Margaret found me sitting ON our
stairs Lelow the c.osed dnc:. How | came
there do not know. She did not spe Il
to me, for think she knew by my face
what had happened, and she followed her
instinct In treating me much a. / bad
treated her. AS sron as any power OF ac-
t.pl returned to me, | resolved upon quit
ting the house instantly, and set about
preparations for our departure with
feverish activity. | could not be easy 50
long a. we remained In the building, and
We spent the few days necessary for the
Iepackiug of tho furniture at Leland's
Ho el, visiting tho house as little as pos.
sible and never remaining over night
she could recover from the shock to her
nerve; and be fit for work.
knew it would ho useless TO try and
persuade Mrs. Capel that all she had re-
lated was but the illusions of an over
wrou- lat Imagination. | relea ed her,
there ore, from the engagement and de-
termiucd - inspect tho building for my
own satisfaction. An old doctor who re-
5 ded on West Monroe street, in the neigh
lo.hood. to d me that the last permanent
occupants of the house, before it began to
bear so evil reputation, had been two
women, mother and daughter. The
mother, a widow owned the place. Sho
was torcc-t mpered, hard woman, who
seemed possessed, as the gossips said, by
n spirit of unnatural hatred toward her
daughter, n girl with a certain sad beauty
of her own, as the do tor described her to
me, but not ght in her mind She was
not an idiot, but lacking the doctor
termed it. As she grew into
WomlnhCol her mental deficiencies
incrcJsd d, and the mother, tiercely proud
In her way. Colld !. OF endure the spectacle
Of her child's mi-fo tune. She wolld
Ii We hidden her away from the world, but
The girl rcLcllcd There were taunts,
quarrols, sometimes blows, between the
lwo, and the mother, defiant and furious,
locke | her daughter i'll the rear part of
the building. Here the tragedy of her
life played its If out AMI here she was
found one morning by the servant, who
slept in remote attic, lying dead mt the
foot of the stairs. How she came bv her
death 10 one knew. There WAS nothing
to drec ~ criminate the mo:hor, and the
inquest that was held resulted in YER
Diet of "accide tai death" The mother
herself died soon after, leaving her prop
crty TO a distant cousin, who rtaped little
benefit from the house. since it soon be-
came I'M o-s lie to let it.
The doctors account seemed to lend
weight 10 the stat ment of Mrs. Capcl.
| entirely disbelieye in the supernatural,
and, after making an examination of the
pr III SEES, was on the point of leaving,
when | noticed n panel in the open door
that had peculiar surface. As | stood
watching it, while night-sha were fall
ing, the outlines of two figures became
more and more visible. One was that of
q middle aged woman, with hard, fierce
face. while the other was that of u Young
girl III a crouchiIg attitude. When the
door was closed the panel could not be
seen except from the extension. | exam
inc the framework of the ioor and found
it TO be in a rickcty condition. \ gust of
the framework threw the door sufti
GENTLY aslant to free the bolt from
the clasp and allow the door to
swing open into the hall. and reveal
the painted panel. On subsequent il
quiry, | found that the cXte lsion had ut
one time been occupied by an artist, who,
Doubtless, hearing of the tragedy as re-
late by the doctor, had painted tho scene
on the auel. ] also discovered that the
artist had been making experiments with
phosphorcsccnt paint, and also with a
paint that changed color at various 10
grees of temperature. | had the frame
work of the door repaired and the panel
taken out, AMI since then 10 tenant has
come to me with ghost stories. | have
the Panel at home in nv Parlor. In the
dark, when the weather is Slightly damp,
the two figures come ont very distinctly,
but at times they arc invisible. The
luminous paint used is now quite com
mon, but he artist who invented it has no
idea of tie supernatural sensation this
early experiment made on tie tenants of
bo HolStal Haunted