Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1891-08-06
FAMOUS BLOOD STAINS.
.-rpIOUS SCENES OF VIO-
IENCE IN ENGLAND.
.,.;oos Concerning Them-Silent,
|S"P,,,h,e witnesses of Tragic
scenes Committed In the
Distant Past.

.ntrv.seats are romantic stories of
aas blood stains still visible-the
usnt indelible witnesses of tragic
scenes s committed in the distant past,
w. the London Standard. At Con-
10y serer hall, Shropshire. there is said to
~ HOOD stain which has been there
.;.ce the time of Henry ILL.,, and can
s sat he etface5. According to a local
.Sod;tion. which has long been current
" the neighborhood. it is the blood of
Iord Knevett, the owner OF the hall
I'D estate at this period. who was
a,a;n by his son. But this story. which
- utterly at variance with facts bear
;.r IN the history OF Condover and its
nwners in years gone by, must be
classed among the legendary tales Of
the country.
A. Cothele, mansion on the banks
=, the lamar, the marks are still to
ha seen Of the blood split by the lord
If the manor, when. for some sup
no,ed act of pertidy. he slew the
warder Of the drawbridge. Nathaniel
hawthorne, on one occasion. enjoyed
the hospitality of Smithills hall. Lam
cashire, and was SO impressed with
the vell-known legend of the Bloody
Footstep" that in three separate in
stances he founded fictions upon it.
A curious story is told by Miss
Jackson in her "Shl opshire Folklore"
of blood stains at Plaish Hall, near
Cardington. This legend runs that a
party of clergy were assembled one
night at Plaish playing cards. All the
doors we're locked, when suddenly they
burst open without any apparent cause.
Again they were locked, ''but presently
they were burst open second time, and
third. Then the old gentleman APP
peared in the midst of the company,
and they all rose and fled excepting
the host whom the others basely left
face to face with the enemy. None
ever saw that wretched man again,
either dive or dead. Only a great
stain of blood, shaped like a human
form, was found on the floor of the
room, and despite all efforts the mark
| could never be washed out" Ever
since this occurrence the house has
been haunted, and at midnight a
i ghostly troop of horses are heard. with
| such noise that none can sleep.
The Cornishman knows from the red
flmy growth on the brook-pebbles that
blood has been shed there-a belief
still firmly credited. Thus, some
years ago, writes Mr.. Hunt in his
Popular Romances OF the West of
England" "a Cornish gentleman was
cruelty murdered and his body thrown
into brook. l have been shown
stones taken from this brook with
bright red spots OF some vegetable
growth upon them. 1t is said that
ever since the murder the stones in
this brook are spotted in gore, where
as they never We're so previously to
this dreadful deed" According to
another strange Cornish belief told of
St. Dennis blood, it is related that at
the very time when his decapitatiOn
took place in Paris blood fell on the
stones Of the churchyard OF St. Denis.
Ever since these blood stains are re-
ported to be especially visible when a
calamity OF any kind is near at hand.
The red peoples which followed the
blowing of the fields of Waterloo after
the duke OF Wellington's victory was
SAID to have sprung from the blood of
the troops who fell during the engage
ment; and the fruit of the mulberry,
which was originally white. tradition
Informs US became empurpled through
human blood a notion which in GER
tain parts of Germany accounts for the
color OF the heather. Defoe speaks
ora certain camp called barrow Hill,
ana writes: They say this was a
Danish camp, and the roads here
aoouts being overgrown with Dane
weed, they fancy it sprung from the
blood of Danes slain in battle, and
mat II cut upon certain day in the
Year bleeds." In Wales the dwarf
elder is nick-named PLANT of the
Blood of Man." and the wall-fower is
known in Palestine as the "Blood-
drops OF Christ" Among other plants
which are said to owe their dark
s'ained blossoms to the blood-drops
winch trickled from the cross may be
mentioned the wood-sOrrel, the spotted
pelsicaria' the arum, the purple orchis.
anu the red anemone; while u French
.esend accounts in the same way for
ue crlmson'spotted leaves of the rood
selken.