The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-21
An AWFUL MISTAKE.


NIlEN OF inc AslrA AAlAAAE NA UT hEltAAN q
large, rambling, torn-down building
which was used at the time I speak Of as
an iuu. Why such an out-of-the-way
spot had been selected for a home no ono
ever pretended to guess But certain II
was that the owner had expended all his
available means in its erection, and had
toiled and starved, and finally died Of a
broken heart, his utter want Of practical
training totally uniting him from
wrestling a living from the barren hill
sides which he had selected for a home.
His wife soon followed him to the grave
and ms children scattered. no one knew
where. And thus il was that the once
pretentious mansion went to decay for
want of a tenant, and would have rOtted
TO the ground had not the spirit OF I'M
provement and enterprise finally invaded
the region in search Of hidden treasures
of coal.
When | visited the spot a small village
had sprung up around the old house,
which had been taken possession of, and
the few rooms not utterly ruined by de-
cay had been converted into so-oalled
tavern.
The landlord might have starved, how
ever, if he had depended on native custom,
for the old house. during those years Of
ton, and, in the absence of other tenants,
many-tOngued rumor had peopled it with
ghosts.
Its reputation had reached me before I
visited the place, but as / had always felt
an inexpressible longing TO sleep in a
haunted room, and make the personal ac-
quaintance of some of the dissatisfied den
liens of the other shore, was not sorry
to learn that the haunted inn was the
only place in town where l could find a
resting place.
l was somewhat taken aback, however,
when the landlord informed me, in tones
of husky English and poor whisky, that
every bed and every room in the house
was full. | could not but admit the
eternal fitness of things, inasmuch as he
was full, too; but l begged him to set his
few remaining wits to work to see if he
could not find peg for me to hang up
my tired bones upon. After grave con-
sultatiOn with the landlady it was con-
Guided that they could make me a shake
down if did not mind sharing my room
with another gentleman who had already
retired.
There was nothing for it but TO accept
the situation, and | did so in good faith.
BY the time the shakedOwn was COM
pleted | had finished my supper and an
nounced my desire to retire immediately
The landlord was by this time too far gone
~ AIlAA&IA uiiA 0bhAHAAAAB anu a. tt4E AAAlhT
lady weighed not less than 800 pounds
avoirdupois l excused her from attendance
and acted as my own usher. She furnished
me with the remains of tallow dip and
giving me few general directions con-
corning the location of the room, babe me
good night.
/ fortunately stumbled into the right
place, for a hasty glance revealed the
shalxedown; but | had only just time,
however, to bolt the door when the light
went out, and it remained for the moon,
which shone brightly into the window, to
light me to bed, and to reveal the loea-
ton of the bed on which the stranger
slept,
1 am not naturally nervous, but con-
TESS thatt would much rather have known
who my roommate was, and the thought
of what he might be kept me awake for
some time. To add to my nervousness,
the wind had risen, and it whistled
through the cracks and around the gables
OF the old mansion with a weird and
mournful cadence that was anything but
soothing to my tired and already ever
wrought nerves.
As lay there the sounds momentarily
increased in hideOusness. / thought of
all the stories had heard of the cursed
old rookery, and as l did so the sounds
appeared to my over wrought imagination
more and more like the shrieks of the
damned, or the wall of lost soul.
finally became so nervous that | resolved
60 arise and go below
But as | rose in my bed for that purpose
l found myself subjected to a new source
of annoyance, The knocking wind, which
had appeared to me more than once to
syllable human sounds, came at length
upon my ear, distinctly charged with
tones which could not be mistaken. 1t
was the hard, suppressed breathing of
I listened gfil and H.
stronger and more fully upon my ear. 1t
was like the thick respirations of an
ap0plectie. Whence it proceeded | knew
not; but that it was near me ! was GER
tain. A suspicion of robbery-possible
assassination-hashe upon me. but was
instantly discarded as foreign to the
people among whom | was travelling.
The moonlight now fell upon the cur
tanned bed opposite to me, and | saw the
tattered drapery move, as if the frame
upon which it was suspended were agi-
tated. / watched, confess, with more
peculiar feelings of interest. ] was not
alarmed, but an unaccountable anxiety
erept over me.
At length the curtain parted, and
naked human leg was protruded through
its folds; the foot came with dumb,
dead-like sound to the ioor resting there,
1t seemed to me- at least half minute
before the body TO which it belonged was
disclosed TO my view,
Slowly, then, pailid and unearthly
looking figure emerged from the couch,
and stood with its stark lineaments clearly
drawn against the dingy curtains behind
it, 1t appeared to be balancing itself for
moment, and then began to move along
from the bed. But there was something
horribly unnatural in its motions Its
feet came to the floor with a dull, heavy
sound, as If there was no vitality in them.
Its arms hung, apparently paralyzed, by
its sides, and the only nerve set rigidly in
the frame appeared above its brow. The
eyes were dilated and fixed, with an ex-
preston of CHASTITY horror, and the petri-
fled lips moved not as the hideous moaning,
which came from the bottom of the chest,
escaped them.
1t began to move across the floor in the
direction of my bed, its knees at every
step being drawn up with sudden jerk
TO the body, and its feet coming TO the
ground as If they We're moved by some
mechanical impulse and were wholly
wanting in the elasticity of living mem
bers
1t approached my bed and mingled hor-
ror and curiosity kept me still 1t came
and stood beside it, and childlike / chung
TO my couch, moving only to the farther
side. Slowly, and with the same I'M
natural footballs, it pursued me thither,