Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-02-04

81 must have lost consciousness at
once, for the next thing remember was
lying on my bed in my own lodgings,
with my good landlady and the acQuaint-
ances who had dared me to the terrible
trial standing around my bed.
sit was said for some time after that
the poor Englander was going mad, us
all the others who had seen the ghost of
the Lederstrasse had done. l cheated
them however. Ny head was too strong,
suppose, for got over my fright, and
after my broken leg had been set, could
listen to their recital of what had
taken place. Learned that those who
had set themselves to watch in the street
had heard first strange, low, grinding
sound-ny screws no doubt-then after
a long interval my frantic screams, a
crash and the clatter of broken glass, and
had seen me fall as lifeless lump upon
the street pavement.
''They picked Inc up, and one of them
described that as they did SO he chanced
to look upward and saw at the broken
window above, shining in the moonlight,
pale, shadowy face and the glitter of
two bright eyes.
sit is not strange to say my right leg
was broken by the fall; but it is, think,
somewhat strange to relate that my left
was blackened to the knee as if scorched;
nay, it is SO to this day-see"
My friend showed me his blackened
| leg.
"And that is all?'' l asked.
"All, heber Himmell Is not that
enough? Can you wonder after what I
have told you that don't like the Leder-
strasse?''
wonder; not I! I would not go near
the place again after dark for a grand
dukes ransom. But who do they say
the specter was?'' Ta. f.
81 do not quite know. There is leg
end of some hosier who once lived in
that house and was rich, who fell into
some disgrace, and the reigning duke of
Sake -Dummelsheim seized upon him,
andwith d refinement in cruelty, in order
to extort from him his money, caused
| him to be put to q torture something in
| the manner Of our ancient machine
called the boot which crushed the leg
| of the victim. In this case the instru-
ment was o hose of steel, which was at
the onset icy cold and was then heated
| by fire to almost a red heat. The poor
hosier sank under the dreadful torture.
sit is said that his ghost now seeks to
avenge itself upon all who approach his
ancient abode, and that he tries ON them
his ghastly hose; if he succeeds in getting
both hose on their legs they die and his
spirit is released from its wanderings."
Such was the case of the queer old
Anglo-German. went to my inn and
to bed; there lay and pondered long
upon the strange story had heard. My
sleep, when sleep came, was not of the
best. Every COW and again awoke
with start and a shudder, and fancied
that ghostlY hosier was pulling upon
my own legs the spectral h,se of the
story.
A day or ,wo passed by, and one night,
as I was packing my portmanteau for
my homeward journey on the morrow,
was startled by great yellow Light in
the sky. Soon after l heard the hoarse
and blatant voice of the alarm bell. |
dressed and went out, and found the
whole population of the place running
in one direction. followed the stream
of folk. 1t was fire, some one told me,
in the Lederstrasse; the haunted house
was burning down. We arrived in the
ancient narrow street; the sight was
magnificent; the whole dwelling was en-
veloped in flames. No one took the
slightest trouble or endeavored to get
the flames under control. All were star
ing and gaping in idle curiosity.
sit was bad place." some one said
"and they were well content to see il
uerish-"