Iron County register., 1889-08-08
BLOOD-WEEPING ROSES
a Spookfsh Tale of Love. Mystery ar
Crime from Texas

BLOOD-WEEPlNG ROSES.
A Spoohish Tale of Love, Mystery and
Crime from Texas.
On what is known as the Rivar
Road, and about three miles from
town. stands a dilapidated old house.
the history of which no one knows.
but it dates back to the time when this
was but frontier military post With
in few rods of the deserted house
lies grave, on which not a sprig of
grass grows, although the ground
about it is overrun with vegetation.
But at the head rose-bush until
lately spread its untrimmed, uncared-
for branches. These branches. sum-
mer and winter. were covered with
roses of such a burning, vivid red as
to even offend by their raw, unshaded
color. these roses, on being plucked,
fade and fall to pieces almost iustan-
taneously. L am an enthusiast about
roses, devoting much time to the cult
ure OF them, and am thoroughly ac-
qualnted with all varieties. But the
one growing ON that nameless
grave was unknown to me, and
although l have tried again and
again to grow it from cut
tings. 1 have never succeeded. After
planting. the sprig would invariably
be found dead the following morning,
and blackened with a dull, smooty
satin, which was not to be explained
by any peculiarly of soil or atmos-
pheric influence. But the most sineu-
lar thing in connection with these
flowers was not discovered by me until
a few days ago. I had occasion to
drive out on the River Road early one
morning, and as l passed the grave the
unnatural crimson hue of the roses
struck me more forcibly than ever.
They hung heavy and full, with the
dew dripping from their large, curved
petals. Fascinated by their strange
beauty, dismounted and took one of
them in my hand without plucking it.
The moisture shaken from it fell upon
my fingers and, to my great wonder,
| saw it was thick. viscid fluid that
resembled fresh blood too much to be
pleasant. 1nvoluntarily I carried my
hand to my nose and the sickly, f1eshy
odor of new-drawn blood was unmis-
taxable. | shook the horrid drops
from my hand and saw that they were
thickly exuding from all the roses and
dripping heavily to the grave beneath,
as if from fresh. gaping wound.
took my knife and made an incision in
the main stem and the bloodlike sap
oozed freely out. Struck by what l
deemed only q freak of nature. cut a
good-sized branch from the bush and
shook the roses over my handkerchief
to catch the crimson dew. The branch
withered in my hand in a very few
minutes, the sap becoming so foul with
an odor of animal corruption as to be
unbearable, 50 / was obliged to throw
it away; but / carried the stained
handkerchief to Dr. N, a promi-
nent physician of this city, who is also
a fine chemist, and asked him to de-
termine the nature of the fluid. / told
him all l knew concerning the roses,
and was of course. believed by him,
but upon calling for the handkerchief
the next morning was accused by the
doctor of trying to hoax him.
What made you tell me that cock
and-bull story about that rose bush?
Why, man, you knew it was blood on
that handkerchief. My microscope
revealed it at once, although there is
something about it 1 can not under
stand in the least-a corruption and
vet life. However. it is only blood.
and human blood at thatn'
II fn11 i'm,
the truth about the rese-bush on that
lonely grave, extraordinary as that
truth might seem. On hearing this
he hurried me off to the spot. 1t was
still early enough for the dew to yet
remain on the grass, and the roses to
be heavy with that horrible moisture.
DIR. N examined it closely, and
came to the same conclusion that /
had, that some deed of blood was thus
revealed. and that the victim OF the
deed slept in the grave beneath. This
we believed. although both of us had
hitherto been scoffers of all belief in
supernatural occurrences. We re-
turned to town and procured couple
of men to assist us in opening the
grave, which we did at once. Judging
by the absence of remains of wood or
metal, without coffin, and beneath
shallow covering of earth, lay two
skeletons. one that of q woman-a
young one, DIR. N said-and the
other that of few months old child.
A long, tapering knife. such as a
Mexican bravado carries, pierced the
temples of the infant. and from SIS
position must have pinned it to the
bosom of the mother. No clew was
found as to the race. name. or aught
else, so we reinterred the pltlful re-
mains and burned that bleeding bush.
Fort Worth (Tex. )Cor. Globe-Demo-
crat.