Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1893-08-11
IAN AVENGING SPIRIT.

Hark. There 1t is The ghost is taking
bis midnight walk There can be no
mistaking that light stepecho through
Me wide and silent hallway It is the
Shostl
i Springing up grasp Dalrymple by the
1r1n and give him a raising shake He
tarts mp with sleepy, half frightened
I box tf
~ Jack" said ! In an awed whisper.
slisten! There is the ghosts step. This
Ouse is haunted sure, he's coming down
tairs!"
Dalrymple rubbed his eyes and sprang
his feet Ghosts nor men had no ter
prs for him, and it was for this reason
nat had asoi him to spend night
nth me in this house, about which were
!@1o many stories of ghosts walking at
4 night, and which was 80 much avoided
u nv the villagers.
And in truth the houses uncanny repu-
&tion was not without foundation 1t
Iad not been occupied for thirteen years
nd was now inhabited by rats and cock
&{paches: its roof was all moss grown and
III approaches to it were grown up in
5eeds and briars. No one had cared to
- near it in thirteen years. Its last oc-
9Gupant was rich old man who lived in
t only during the summer and was all
4 lone. For fifteen summers he lived
there. The people knew but little of
Lin save that his name was Caspar
Iroup and that he was very wealthy.
4
z (as one day in August inst thirteen
A BARS before the occurrence of the Incl
lent narrated at the beginning of this
tpry. He was observed walking about
Ne plac, ;,erintendinc some work that
"a was having done The next day the
y hOuse was shut up and he was seA no
more 1t was thought that he had re-
L }prned to the city. and would turn IN
The next summer. A few months later
younger brother of his came down and
femoved the furniture and closed ND the
1Onse. That was the last ever seen of
Easpar Troup, and the next summer the
Mousse was not opened.
W. The big, roomy house remained all
fhrough the year following closed M.
deserted and alone The villagers who
4 passe,l by it at night began to tell strange
sSatories of the sounds that they heard in
aide. and declared that they had often
zen light shining through the blinds.
md had heard voices moaning as if in
pain. These stories gave the house a
reputation of being haunted and it was
given wide berth by all at night. Just
~ many other houses are in nearly every
5KSv3 1lo,r.. LN,r tL;,toa,, ,,ao,e A.
6nstaned the reputation we'll and even
Increased it. 1t became the talk of the
iowa. and any number of intrepid youths
spoke of spending a night in the house
md solving the mystery. But none ever
y did so determined to see if there was
anything in the many stories that had
been told. and proposed to lack DIAL
rymple that we spend A night in the
Z house and meet the ghost face To face
And so il came to mass that we renair-
ed to the silent honse one nipbt inst
offer dusk. and oneninp the creakino
door entered the wide hallway. All
was dark. We lighted wax tauer and
eet it down in the hallway to give ms
Hight We spent the first few hours of
the night speculatiny ahont the amman.
nnce of his ghostship. and finally. be-
coming wearied we had fallen asleen
had scarcely gotten asleep when heard
the footsteps us decribed above.
And after rousing Dalrymple we walk,
ed into the hallway.
s We could hear the footsteps sounding
"a the hallway Just over our heads. II
was the ghost and it was coming toward
the stairway. Nearer and nearer the
footsteps came, and faster and faster nv
heart beat Another step-
Great God! There it was, Hideousl
Horriblel
At last had seen ghostl In all my
most horrible freaks of imagination !
had never conjured up anything half so
frightful or hdeous us this 1t was the
figure of an old man, who might have
been thousand years old so bent. so
feeble and decrepit he seemed. He was
leaning with one hand on cane. while
with the other he steadied himself on the
railing of the stairway. But more hor-
srible than all was the awful gaping cut
which extended from one of his ears to
the other and which was dripping with
blood His white beard was clotted
with blood, and the long white hair
which fell IN folds over his shoulder was
soaked with gore.
8 ms horrible. unearthly figure came