Waterbury evening Democrat., 1890-01-11
A SPECTRAL TRAGEDY.
Strange, Weird Experience in the
 Far West.

In the summer of 1873 l was thirty years of age-in perfect health and of steady nerve. I was no believer in the uncanny-hardly in the supernatural and had always pooh-poohcd at tales of ghosts, phantoms and visions of all sorts. But at the time mentioned above the experience I am about to relate put my intellect and sensibility to test in such a manner as to make me sparing hence- forward of ridicule and forced me to find place in credence for the possibility of Apparition.
 It is unnecessary to explain how l came to be travelling in the far West without companions, except for horse and dog and gun. Following the gcn- eral route of the old overland trail, cemped one night in the edge of con- siderable forest and at point from which could look forth over a broad, open plain.
 It was already after sundown. The good horse was picketed, and, having provided a supper for myself and the dog from a rabbit which my dog had brought down an hour or two earlier, disposed things for the night, and, as the stars came out, lay down to sleep, comfortably rolled in blanket.
 lb WAS pTODdbly III Iuo houl lo VI night that I awoke and rose to a sitting posture. The moon was climbing the eastern sky, with not feather of cloud in her course. and every object stood forth as clearly as in the day.
 But it was not for me to contemplate in quietude the rare beauty of the night In almost the first moment of conscious ness my eyes fell upon lowly-moving
 ( ~f those canvas-covered wagons. the ''prai- rie schooners" so familiar in tho early days of overland travel to California. | It was approaching almost directly to- ward me and my curiosity was at once aroused. Why any one should be trav- cling thus and so late at night I could not imagine. The movement was heavy, as if the horses were jaded, and the man who walked by their side had a weary stop.
 Twenty minutes passed, the vehicle approaching nearer and nearer. Still on it came. until when about thirty yards from me it suddenly stopped, and the man looking about seemed to be considering tho wisdom of making camp
 At this point l suddenly realized that the approach of the wagon had been ut terly noiseloss. Not chuck or the wheels, not the sound of step either of horso or man. And furthermore there was no indication that had been dis covered. although ] should have been as visible to this man as he to me. What could this mean? Was dreaming? No,
 1 was never more awake. Was this
 hallucination? No, for tho dog, who
 had been aroused by my movement in
 awakening, now turned his head in the
 direction of the now arrival and uttered
 low growl. I laid my hand on him to
 keep him quiet.
 The man now stood by the forward
 wheel, looking in at the opening of the
 canvas top, and though l heard no voice
 imagined that he was speaking to some
 one within. A woman's head appeared
 and after glance around gave nod oi
 assent and the man proceeded to unhar
 ness the horses and turn them loose tC graZe. Then, after moment, in which he seemed to be anxiously surveying the
 trail over which they had come, he
 helped tho woman to alight.
 And now their movements greatly puzzled mo. Walking to and fro they , seemed to be searching for some par tioular spot of ground. As l said above | 1 Qao SeleClt0 Iuy II : the outer edge of the forest. They were moving about therefore amit } mingled shadows and moonbeams, bu ; every motion was visible. Finally th' 5 woman pointed space between tw' young trees, and the man after looking at 1t for a moment went to the rear enc of the wagon and brought forth a spade With the edge of this implement h. [ marked of rectangular space abou five feet by two, and began to dig. Al . this, let 1t be remembered, was in abso } lute silence. Here were apparentl 3 living beings, actively engaged, and no
 more than one hundred feet away, an f yet no sound was borne to me on tn quiet air.
 ) By this timo my curiosity had turne to marvel. Here was q contradiction 0 3 common sense! I could not believe tha 5 what saw was real; these beings mus l be apparitions. And yet here by m l side was the dog, as alert as l, an t trembling with an impulse to invest , gate, while obedient to my hand of re = straint.
 , The digging proceeded, and the soi < being soft, some five feet of depth wa s soon reached and then the man thre' : out the spade upon the ground. Tn  !, woman meanwhile had been pluckin r branches of evergreen, bringing thel
 in armfuls and throwing them beside l. "the grave," thought And now, wi> - the utmost care and patience, the whol n cavity was lined with these sprigs ( t evergreen, held in place by twigs thrul n into tho banks on either side.
 !, This done the man sprang' out. Th l. two surveyed their work for a momsn F and then, after gazing onoe more, as n in anxiety, over the route by whic ,- they had come, they approached tn a wagon. Having rolled up the canvs f on one side they lifted out a sma f mattress, depositing it upon blank' l which thoy had spread upon the ground s CHRISTOPHER & DAVIS,
 NrDruA n