The record-union., 1891-10-31

I . IN,eIlI
| ing bluff in its rear and the forest on
every side-it is not strange that the very
surroundings should give rise to tales of
! the weird and supernatural.
! Many years ago the creek which fur
nished the mill with its power changed
its bed, and where once a roaring torrent
dashed down the ravine q tiny springfield
brooklet now winds dreamily through
| the dark shadows to the river. The
change in the creeks bed rendered the
milk worthless, thus running its owner,
who suddenly disappeared soon after his
misfortune. What became of him was
never known until two years ago, and
how the mystery of his disappearance
was finally solved is told by James r.
llama in the following paper recently
read before the club:
THE MILL AND THE MILLER
sit was in the summer of 1887 that a
party OF college friends and myself went
into camp at Indian Ford few miles
| above TOWNSVILLE, in the vicinity of the
Hibernian Mill The hunting and fish
ing were excellent, and as for the soli-
tude, there was superabundance Of it.
The old mill was the only building in a
radius of two miles, and that was so COW
cred with Virginia creeper and other
| tangled vines that it resembled a great
! bank of fiery blossoms and bright leaves
rather than the handiwork of man. Be-
| fore coming | had heard much of the
! ghost Of the old miller Garlneau that
walked of nights, and was held in such
respect by the county folk that they
would not come within half mile of the
mill to gather berries or search for stray
| ing cattle. The mill had been built in an
outlandishly wild place in order TO obtain
advantage of splendid fall and other
natural aids to the milling business.
/ When the great freShet OF 1868 threw the
bed of his creek four miles away Carl
neau, who was dependent solely upon
the mill, was practically reduced to pau
perism. a childless widower, he had
lived for years reticent and solitary, but
after his misfortune he became sullen and
! morose, never stirring from his wind
mill few farmers called on him occa-
sionally, and found him either sitting on
the mounting block in front with his
face buried in his hands, or wandering
aimlessly through the great building,
which, though worthless now, had cost
him a small fortune. His visitors became
less numerous and his moroseness great
er. He would converse with no one. and
finally two spectators who came to pur-
chase his machinery could find him no.
| where. His room contained all his
effects, but he was gone as from the
world. Years passed and the property
was sold for taxes. 4 part of the ma
chinery and the mill-stones were re-
|
to stand, a melancholy monument to the
uncertainty Of human aims and eXpecta-
| tions.
GARINEAU'S GHOST.
''Yet though the mill stood there so
silently, it was rumored about in time
that the ghost of old Garineau held high
carnival in the lonesome rooms. Sturdy
schoolboys, who passed their days play
| ing truant in the woods, came whimper-
ing home at dusk with wild tales of hav-
ing seen an apparition at the mill. Squir-
| rel hunters saw the hanp as they qui-
city crept up the old creek bed peering
about for game, and they usually lost no
time in giving it a wide berth. Uncle
Jimmy Dawson, the veteran coon hun
ter, was out with his hounds one night
and treed a coon in a small buckeye just
behind the mill. Now, Uncle Jimmy
wasn't afraid of 'hantS,' not he, and was
swinging his ak, with right good will,
| when suddenly his eager hounds dropped
their tails, and, uttering low whines,
sulked rapidly off into the brush. Uncle
| Jimmy, looking up from his work to see
what caused all this, saw what made even
his stout heart quail, and giving vent to a
squall of terrified dismay, he fled precip-
itately from the spot. Looking from the
window of the mill loft was the ghost
| itself, frowning angrily down upon him,
! and attired, as Uncle Jimmy ever after
that old Garineau wore many years be-
fore when the mill was opened at the
| time of the grand barbecue given in its
| honor by the countryside. In view of all
these experiences, then, it is not strange
that the simple and superstitious people
of that section soon learned to shun the
wild dell at whose mouth the haunted
mill stood like a sentinel guard. With
the spirit of romance and bravado, so in
cident to youth, the members of our
&C .nping party delighted to hunt up and
| down the ghost-ridden glen, declaring
that we would shoot the spook on sight.
| We kicked open the rotten door of the
old mill and sacrilegiously joked and de-
claimed in the gloomy, cobwebbed rooms,
which for years had known no earthly
| visitants. We assembled into the great
| storeroom above, and in the gloom and
confusion one of the boys came near fall
| ing through a black hole in the center of
the floor. This hole was the opening to
sort OF chute into which grain had once
| been poured to conduct it to the hopper
Over two feet at the opening, it gradually
| narrowed until at the hopper this funnel
was but six inches in diameter. The
hole was then filled with dust and cob
webs, and would have been anything but
| a pleasant place into which to have fallen.
| We explored the garret or loft, and
looked down from the window upon
the very buckeye tree at which Jimmy
! Dawson was hacking away when inter
| rupted by the ghost. We sang and hal
looed through the old shell in most de-
monstrative manner, and If our spook
was anywhere in hearing it must have
been mortally offended.
AN EvENTFUL EXPEDITION.
''We had been in camp for probably ten
| days, when late one afternoon it was dis
covered that some of our supplies were
entirely out. 1t fell TO me, after some
! parley, to ride six miles to TOWNSVILLE
and stock up. Hunting our horse in the
pasture required some time, and when [
passed the old mill, on my way to the
village, it was almost nighttall, and when
| l finally reached the pike, after a hard
ride down the desert lane, it was dark.
| 1t was after o'clock when left Younts-
! vile for my return to camp, and IN the
west the clouds hung black and glover
| ing, obscuring the moon which had
lighted me on my way. Long before I
| reached the lane, over whose rough and
| broken way l dreaded to ride in total
darkness, the heavens were reYerberating
with the echoes of the thunder which her
aided, the approach of beating storm. /
! cursed my bad luck most heartily, and
| reaching the lane | lashed my horse along
! the perilous route at the imminent risk OF
| breaking both our necks. The occasional
! flashes of lightning kept me keenly alive
to a sense OF my danger by revealing the
stones, washoutS and gullies in the path,
! but, intent on reaching the sheltering
mill before the rain poured down, urged
my painting beast forward. We were
| about hundred yards from the old
! building when the first large drops began
to patter on the parched, gasping earth.
and / had barely time to lead nv willing
horse through the wide door, which we
had kicked open few days before, when
! down came the rain. A puff of wind