Omaha daily bee., 1889-07-21

and poor whites of the vicinity found
in the building and fences an abundant
supply OF fuel, of which they availed
themselves without hesitation, openly
and by daylight. BY daylight alone;
after nightfall no human being except
passing strangers ever went near he
place.
1t was known as the ''Spook house."
That it was tenantod by evil spirits,
audible aud active, NO one in all that
region doubted, any more than he
doubted what he was told OF Sundays
by the travelling preacher. Its owners
opinion OF the matter was unknown;
he and his family had disappeared one
night and no trace of them had ever
been found. They left everything
household goods, clothing provisions,
the horses In the stable, the COWS in
the field, the negroes in the quarters
all as it stood; nothing was missing
except a q n woman, three girls n
boy and n babel 1t was not altogether
surprising that q plantation where
seven human beings could be simultan-
eously effaced and nobody the wiser,
should be thought TO be under some
monstrous curse and tceming with pos
sibilities OF evil.
Ono night in Juno, 1860, two citizens
OF Frankfort, Col. j. G. McArdle, n
lawyer, and Judge Myron Weigh, of the
state militia, were driving from Boone
vile to Manchester. Their business
was SO important that they decided to
push on despite darkness and the
storm, which eventually broke
upon them just rs they arrived
opposite the "Spook house" The light
ming was SO incessant that they easily
found their way through the gateway
and into II shed, where they unhitched
their team, which they conducted into
an adjacent stable and embarrassed by
no other light than hat OF the heavens.
They then vent to the house, through
the scourging rain, and knocked at all
tho doors without, however, eliciting
any response. Attributing this to the
continuous uproar of the thunder, they
pushed ut one of the doors, which yield
ed. They entered withoutfurther cere-
mony. That instant they were in dark
ness and silence absolute. Not q CLEAN
Of the lightning's ~unceasing blaze pen
etratcd the windows or crevices; not a
whisper of the awful tumult without
reached them there. 1t was as If they
mad suddenly been stricken blind and
deaf, and McArdle afterward said that
for a moment he believed himself to
have been killed by a stroke of light
ming as he crossed the threshold. The
rest of the adventure can as well be re-
lated in that gentleman's words. from
the Frankfort Gazette OF August 6,
1876:
when I had somewhat recovered
from the dazing effect Of the Transition
from uproar to silence, my first impulse
was to reopen the door which l had
,1nsnI mud frnr1 tho Lnnh nf which I
was not conscious Of having removed
my hand; / felt it distinctly, still in the
clasp of my fingers. My notion was to
ascertain by stepping again into the
storm whether | had been deprived of
sight and hearing. l turned the
door knob and pulled open the
door. II led into another
room! This apartment was suffused
with q faint, greenish light, the source
of which could not determine, making
everything distinctly visible, though
nothing was sharply defined. Every
thing, | say, but, In truth, the only OBJ
jects within the blank stone walls of
that room were human dead bodies. In
number they were perhaps eight Or ten
it may well be understood that l did
not cooily count them. They we're of
various ages, or rather sizes, from in
fancy up, and of both sexes. All were
PROSTATE on the floor in all kinds of
attitudes, excepting one, the body,
apparently of a young woman, which
sat up, its back supported by an angle
of the wall. The babe was clasped III
the arms of another and older woman
A half-grown lad lazy face downward
across the legs of a full-bearded man.
One or two were nearly naked, and the
hand of q young girl held the fragment
of Il gown which she had torn open at
the breast. The bodies were in various
stages of decay, all greatly shrunken in
face md figure. Some were but little
more than skeletons.
"While | stood stupcficd with horror
by this CHASTITY spectacle and still hold
ing open the door by some u~naccounta-
BILE pervcrsity my attention was di-
verified from the shocking scene and
concerned itself with trifles and details.
Perhaps my mind, with the instinct of
self-preservation, sought relief in mat
tiers which would relax its dangerous
tension. Among other thing observed
that the door which / was holding open
was of heavy iron plates riveted. Equi-
distant from each other and from the
top and bottom three strong bolts pro-
truded from the beveled edge. | turned
the knob and they were retracted flush
with the edge, released il, and they shot
out. 1t was a spring lock. On the in
side there was no knob, nor any kind of
projection-all was Il smooth surface OF
iron.
while noting these things with an
interest and attention which it now as
tonishes me to recall, | felt myself
thrust aside, and Judge Weigh, whom in
the intensity and vicissitudes OF my
feelings | had altogether forgotten,
pushed by me into the room. For
Gods sake,' / cried, do not go in there!
Let US get out of this horrible placed
''He gave no heed to my entreaties,
but las fearless a gentleman as lived IN
all the SOUTH walked quickly to the
center OF the room and knclt beside one
of the bodies for closer examination
and tenderly raised its blackened and
shriveled head in his hands. A strong
sickening odor came through the door
a completely overpowering me. My
senses reeled; | felt myself falling, and
in clutching at the edges OF the door
for support closed it with n sharp click!
Il remember no more; six weeks later
! recovered my reason in II hotel at
Manchester, whittier | had been taken
by strangers the next day. For all these
weeks | had suffered from a nervous
fever, attended with constant delirium.
l had been found lying in the road
several miles away from the house; but
how | had escaped from il to get there
lT,4a,, I, on nc cnn.