Chicago eagle. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1889-19??, 1893-01-07
SHADOW IN THE MOONLIGHT.
A Weird s4ory About a Blind and Demon
allied Miner.

allied Miner.
You couldn't stop man from stalk
ing out claim j. the ground was not
ALREADY covered, and so, though none
OF us liked the looks of this new chap
who came in on us at Straw berry Hill,
we couldn't gainsay his stalking out
and putting up a rude shanty, says a
writer in the New York San. We
soon discovered that his looks did not
belle him. You'd expect to find some
lad men in the Mines but this man,
whom we soon nicknamed Satan, was
worse than any dozen of them put to-
gether.
The way he would curse God aRd
man was something awful to hear,
and we sometimes wondered why the
wrath of Heaven was not visited upon
him. We ostracized and outlawed
him, but he would not go away.
Only the fear that we would string
him up kept him from doing murder,
for he had temper like wild
beast.
One day, after dinner, and after a
spell at cursing and reviling, he went
down into his claim and fired blast
which blinded him forever. Then he
became worse than before. His ours
ing and raYing became so constant
that we built him shanty on the
rocks half a mile away and led him
into it. Three times day man
was sent up with his meals, and this
continued for weeks and weeks. For
a long time there was no change in
his health or disposition, Then he
began to grow thin and wan and to
cease cursing, and one evening he
asked Of the man who brought his
meals:
Jim, is thar a trall leading up
here from campo
"No," was the reply.
'If ANYBODY was comm down the
trail from Top Notch how would they
hit me?"
"Why strike across about forty
rods above camp"
"And the door faces that way"
eyes"
"FulI moon and bright as day"
That was about all that was said
but / wish to tell YOU here that when
Satan was blinded his eyelids were
closed fast. He could never open
them after that except he used his
fingers. There was an injury to the
muscles controlling them as well as
to his vision. Day and night were
alike to him.
On that very night, about half an
hour after midnight, a prowlng wolf
disturbed our camp and routed out
three or four men. They were driy-
ing the beast away when they looked
up and saw shadow on the Top
Notch trail. 1t was as light as day.
and there was no question in their
minds. 1t was queer shadow. 1t
had the shape of little old woman,
bent over with age, and it lioated
about in an uncertain way. The
three or four men passed from tent
to tent and before long sixty or
seventy Of us were out and had our
eyes fastened on the queer thing. BY
and 10y it flOated oyer the rocks and
shrubs towards Satan's shanty, and
every man of us followed it to the
door and beyond with his eyes.
''1t's woman-an old woman"
whispered score of men.
"But what can woman be doing
here"
One or two suggested that some
body go up to the shanty, but no one
volunteered. There was something
so queer and uncanny that nobody
felt like making d closer inyestiga-
tion. 1t was perhaps ten minutes
after the figure entered the Shanty
before it reappedred. 1t passed over
the same ground in the same peculiar
way and as it reached the trail it
halted for a moment. as If looking
back. Our eyes followed it up the
plain, broad trail until it grew fainter
and finally dissolved.
What did it look like to you?"
asked one man Of another.
"A little old woman, bent and
feeble, " was the reply.
All had seen alike. You may ask
why some one didn't pursue. No man
had ever seen a live woman on that
trail, or expected to. This was wo-
man, and yet it was not Its pres
enCe cast an awe upon everybody.
Some Of the men returned IT, bed, and
others gathered in groups and talked
in whispers until daylight came.
There were fifty men who went up in
a crowd TO Satans shanty.
They found him fully dressed and
seated in the door, and he had been
dead for hours. PERHAPS you expected
that, but let me tell yod his eyes were
wide open, his vision seemed to have
returned. and he was looking across
to Top Notch trail just as a living
man would - aye, looking and look
my, aud his face had softened and
smile had crept over it and been held
there 10y the fingers OF Death.
1T was the spirit of his mother, y
whispered the men, as they looked
into the face OF the dead man, ana 50
we have ever believed