The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-07-15

There is a house in Poverty flat which is
h~aunted--or so they say down there, and
any one who has seen the house Will
agree with them. Its physiognomy is
exactly that of the genuine haunted house;
with its m-oss-covered and sunken roof,
its broken windows and vacant, cob
webbed rooms that the spiders them
selves nave either deserted or else paid
for their attachment by inanition. The
house stands quite down TO the rivers
edge, and one end Of il projects over the
stream and rests upon posts that look
very much as il they needed rest them
selves. Against these posts the water
breaks and murmurs, and seems IL one
has been told the story, to be forever re-
peating il. A d~isreputable and grim-vis-
aged old house, in short, n n well
suited to the part il has been called upon
to play. But whether in its natural adapt
iveness for the part, originated the story,
or whether the story itself is responsible
for the appearance of the house, will now
never be known, for the time when the
house was not said TO be haunted, is a
time far beyond the ken of even the old
est inhabitant.
But neither story or house have lost
anything of interest through the lapse of
time, and the one is told and the other
pointed out to all whom chance or Curl
osity may bring to the spot.
Regularly every night at II o'clock, the
visitor is told, n ghostly procession may
DC seen, by anyone having the hardihood
To approach, to pass IN succession every
window in the building. First ZONES n
young man dressed in the picturesque
Costume of tho wes,ernar of 10 years aao
r., - nun. ~ - ~ ts.
u ~ r'' u. e"r's y, ne"a.se ooos
OF young girl. Behind nm hobbles an
old woman OF strange and repulsive as
pect, who holds uplifted in the long and
skinny fingers of her right hand a blood
stained knife. Her eyes are liked with a
steely glitter upon the young man in front
of her and her toothless gums are dis
played i'm a smile of fiendish triumph.
When one asks the reason of this
strange procession he is told this story:
Years ago there lived in this house an
old woman and a beautiful young girl.
The old woman was n half breed with all
the ugliness of mind and body the cross
generates. How she and the girl, who i'm
every way was her opposite, ever became
SO intimately connected was a mystery.
The woman herself said that
the girl was her daughter but little ere
dence was placed in he's statement. and
h genera belief was tina she had stolen
II girl. The known vin~dictiveness. how
ever, OF the old bag kept them from ask
ing unpleasant questions or airing their
2pin,ons m her presence; pi'y was felt
Tor the girl on accouit OF her lonely, iso-
lated life, and at first some attempts were
made by the kindly hearted to vary IT.
But these attempts were always resented
with such bitterness by the old hag, who
seemed to see in them nothing but en-
gradually they relinquished them and left
the two severely alone. Neither ever mani
Tested "a desire To break through this self
imposed ostracism although as the years
went by and the girl grew to womanhood
b sad, wistful expression that always
on that srirituelle ethereal tone that iso-
lation so often brings. And though she
never murmured IL was known that the
old hag's watchfulness of her was due, not
to love, but TO s~elfishness, for without the
girls care and nursing. she, in her en-
feebled condition that increased with age
would have hardly been bic to exist at
all.
II was about this time that a young
trapper came to the settlement, and,
catching a glimpse of the girl, fell in love
with her. 1t was not till after difficulties
discouraged a less determined lover. that
he succeeded i'm becoming acquainted
with b girl, and winning her love. Their
meetings even then were stolen, and con-
stantly clouded with the fear OF the old
hag discovering their secret. Knowing
that she would never consent TO their
union, the young man, after much per-
s~uasion. induced his sweetheart to run
away with him The girls room was the
n opening ont upon the porch that over
hung the river, and their plan was that
they should max their escape by water,
the lover stealing up In a o under the
cover OF the night. Their plans were
undertaken with the greatest secrecy.
The old woman seemed TO be ut
terly unconscious of what was trans
piring. But at times. as the day
set for the escape drew near, the girl was
made uneasy by the malicious cunning
the old bag would call into her eyes. u
endeavored to calm her fear with the