The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1889-08-09

MY dear old snipmate,'' | said 81
owe you more for you, fidelity than I
have ever paid you. What do YOU
wish me to do?"
''Be good to those I leave behind
me, sir.
l promised him that I would be-
| friend his family, and he died con-
tented.
Back at Provincetown, 1 looked them
up. The place where they lived has
,, something to do with my story, and
will say few words about it.
If you 60 up from the harbor there.
well out of the town, back to slightly
place that overlooks the whole BAY, and
gives you glimpses of sails ten miles
out at sea, you will find large, RAM
bling old frame house, two stories
high, standing broadside to the har
bor You could not well miss it; there
is no other like it in the town. and
every body knows it. In the old colo
, NAL days, more than hundred wears
ago, retired sea-captain built it and
lived in it for twenty years; since
which time it has seen all kinds of vi
cissitudes, and been inhabited by doz-
ems of families 1t was stoutly framed
and well built, after the fashion of our
fathers, or it could not have endured
the uses that it has been put to, and
had two timbers of it left. As it was
when first visited it to eondole with
the mates widow and child, and near
ly as it is now, twO-thirds of it is badly
dismantled and out of repair, leaving
four rooms in one end above and be-
low that are habitable. In these
rooms Mrs. Wayland and her daughter
lived. Inquiring my way to the place,
l learned from several mouths that the
unoccupied part of the house was GER
tainly haunted. 1 was told of cries
and shrieks that had proceeded from
the upper stories on windy nights; of
the rafting of chains, and noise of pis-
tol-shots and clashing cutlasses that
had been heard from there by belated
and terrified passers. 1t was generally
thought (among the people who be-
lieved these things at alD that the sea-
captain who built the house was a
buccaneer, and that the spirit of him.
self and his crew had occasional possess
sion of the place.
l found the little family of the de-
ceased mate poor and in distress. The
earnings of poor Wayland had for
years gone to satisfy the creditors Of
other days; they were in arrears for
rent, and were threatened with expul-
sion from the old house. In a fit of
anger at the landlord l purchased the
place outright, giving for it twice as
much as it was worth. AS delicately
as l could | relieved the widow and
child. They were grateful, of course;
the widow, cOnsumptive for years, was
sinking under the blow of her hus-
bands death. The daughter was just
half my age. became interested in
her, and before long persuaded myself
that wanted to marry her. A week
before her mother died we were made
man and wife. l repaired the old
house, and it has been our home since,
though there are still many rooms in it
unfit to be occupied. When talked
with my wife about the place she told
me that neither she nor her mother be-
lieved in ghosts, but that they had
heard some very strange noises at
night in the other part of the house,
and that her mother had more than
once gone into Mysteries over them.
This, with what l had heard from
others, gave me my clew to my future
course.
In my brief stays in Provincetown
between voyages l have skillfully given
out hints that l believed that the spirit
of the old pirate, Lobdell, roamed
through the house on stormy nights
I have really enjoyed seeing the shud-
behring's and pale faces that my stories
on this subject have caused. When
have been asked how could live in
such place, have replied that 1 had
it on my hands and nobody would buy
it. This has satisfied people.
In such a community, made up
largely of sailors and their families,
there is of course much superstition.
These tales about the Lobdell place
were generally believed because people |
were ready to believe them.
But why did wish to give my own
property so bad a reputation
Simply because / had made treas
ure-house of the cellar under the UNI
used part, and nothing was so well
calculated to protect it as these re-
ports. The place is Stunned. There
is not the least danger from robbers.
Down in the old damp cellar, where
/ suppose no foot but mine has passed
for fifty years, 1 found excavated a
great hole, and in it chest. Over the
opening is stone slab, so heavy that
it has tried my strength severely of
late years to raise and lower it. Over
the slab is piled lot of widowed cam
vas, rotting planks, and worthless
cordage. stored here by Captain Lob
dell himself. The great deep chest is
full of stout bags of gold, with few of
silver. Year by year have added to
the store, for twenty years-till it now
holds full fifty thousand dollars.
1t is rather strange, but perfectly
true, that l found this place of con-
cealment there, chest, slab, and all,
just as | have used it. l suppose the
old buccaneer made much use of it in