San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-01-11


In those days everybody, both men and boys,
wore wigs; and Peter, at these moments of
violent passion, would become so profane
that his wig would rise from his head Some
said it was on account of his terrible Ian
guage; others accounted for it in a more
philosophical way, and said it was caused by
the expansion Of his scalp-as violent pas
sion, we know, will swell the veins and ex-
pand the head. While these fits were on him
Rugg had no respect for heaven or earth
Except this infirmity, all agreed that Rugg
was good sort of man.
ut was late i'm autumn one morning that
Rugg, in his own chair, with fine, large
bay horse, took his daughter and proceeded
TO Concord. On his return a violent storm
overlook him. At dark he stopped in Menot-
omy, now West Cambridge, at the door of a
Mr.. Cutter, friend of his, who urged him
to tarry the night. On Riggs declining to
stop, Mr.. Cutter urged him vehemently
why, Mr.. Rugg,' said Cutter, the night is
exceedingly dark; your little daughter win
perish; you are in a., open chair and the
tempest is increasing
"'Let it increase, said Rugg, with a fear
full oath; i will see home to night, in spite Of
the tempest, or may never see itp
"At these words no gave the whip to his
high spirited horse, and disappeared in mo-
ment. But Peter Rugg did not reach home
that night, or the next; nor, when he became
a missing man, could he ever be traced be-
yond Mr.. Cutters in Menotomy.
"For long time after, on every dark and
stormy night, the wife of Peter Rugg would
fancy she heard the crack of a whip, and the
fleet tread Of horse, and the rafting of a
carriage passing her door. Tho neghbors,
too, heard the same noises; and some said
they knew it was Riggs horse, the tread on
the pavement was perfectly familiar to them.
This occurred so repeatedly that at length
the neiShhors watched with lanterns and saw
the real Peter Rugg, with his own horse and
chair, and child sitting beside him, pass di-
rectly before his own door, his head turned
towards his house, and himself making every
effort to stop his horse, but in vain.
"The next day the friends of Mrs Rugg
exerted themselves to find her husband and
child. They inquired at every public house
and stable in town. but it did not appear
that Rugg made any stay in Boston No one,
after Rugg had passed his own door, could
give any account of him; though it was as
serted by some that the clatter of Riggs
horse and carriage over the pavements shook
the houses on both sides of the streets.
"Thus Rugg and his child, horse and chair,
were soon forgotten, and probably many in
the neighborhood never heard a word on the
subject.
There was indeed a rumor that Rugg
afterwards was seen in Connecticut between
Sufiield and Hartford, passing through the
country with headlong speed. This gave oc-
casion to Riggs friends to make further in
quiry. But the more they inquired, the
more they were baffied. If they heard of
Rugg one day in Connecticut, the next they
heard Of him winding round the hills in New
Hampshire; and soon after, a man in chair,
with a small child, exactly answering the
description of Peter Rugg, would be seen in
Rhode Island, inquiring the way to Boston.
But that which chiefly gave color Of
mystery to the story of Peter Rugg was the
affair at Charlestown bridge. The toll
gatherer asserted that sometimes on the dark
est and most stormy nights, when no object
could be discerned, about the time Rugg was
missing, horse and wheel carriage, with a
noise equal to a troop, would at midnight, in
utter contempt of the rates of toll, pass over
the bridge This occurred SO frequently,
that the toll gatherer resolved to attempt
discovery. Soon after, at the usual time, ap-
parently the same horse and carriage ap-
preached the bridge from Charleston square.
The toll gatherer, prepared, took his stand as
near the middle of the bridge as he dared,
with large three legged stool in his hand. :,
As the apparition passed he threw the stool at
the horse, but heard nothing, except the noise
Of the stool skipping across the bridge The
toll gatherer, on the next day, asserted that
the stool went directly through the body of |
the horse; and he persisted in that belief
ever after. Whether Rugg ever passed the
bridge again, the toll gatherer would never
tell; and when questioned seemed anxious tc !
waive the subject. And thus Peter Rugg
and his child, horse and carriage, remain a
mystery TO this dav "--Current Literature.
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