Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1894-05-24

even before the commandant Of our
military school announced Mr.. Lati-
mer Of MuScOgee," l knew that he was
from 'the Nation" as the Indian Ter
ritory is called in the West.
There was a little trace Of copper
in young Latimer's complexion, but an
indcscribably air of wildness, as palpa-
bic as the game favor of venison, be-
trayed the presence of Indian blood.
There We're other Indians in the school,
Indians merely because they lived I'M
der the tribal relations of the Creeks,
Cherokees or Choctaws, but whites in
all else-boys who were 'eighths,"
quarters" ~"SiXteenthS," "thirty-Sec-
OndS," some of them as fair as Scandi-
r~uvians-hut little Latimer was a
half and if he had not shown his
Indian blood in his complexion he did
III his features and his taciturnity.
Latimer was an object Of great in
tereSt to me. | wondered at his slow,
cultural way of speaking with unmov-
ing lips, and | admired the sturdy yet
u~nObtruSiye manner in which he bore
himself among strangers OF an alien
race. He was an object Of interest to
others, too; the young ladies Of the
village pronounced him too cute for
anything when he appeared in the
school uniform, and even he men
w0uld stop him on the street and chuck
him under the chin, whereat he would
smile sweetly and roll his great hazel
eyes upward and pass silently On. He
spoke but little, he never shouted,
though he often laughed-and a great
pleasure it was to see him with his
cheeks wrinkled with merriment, his
eyes twinkling, his lips almost closed,
while an indiStinct rumbling chuckle
sounded from behind his closed lips.
During the first month Of the term,
the little fellow seemed TO enjoy great
ly his life at the school. He romped
silently with his fellow cadets and
laughed silently at their FRANKS. When
other amusement failed him he donned
his many-buttoncd dress coat and
amused himself with a cheerful rafting
, which he made as he rubbed along the
corrugated iron sheathing of the cor
ridOrs.
OftentimeS, however, I noticed that
Latimer no longer seemed happy. He
ceased his play, he no longer smiled;
and | often observed him casting n
iOus, apprehenSive chances behind him
as he walked about The grounds, writes
Warden A. Curtis. in the Chicago In
ter-Ocean. | noticed that he no longer
studied i'll his room at night, but sat
in the sChOOlroom, where the officer of
the day had charge of the cadets who
could not be trusted TO study in their
rooms. But little Latimer could be
trusted to study in his Dol He sat
In the SchOOl-rOOm from choice.
l noticed, too, on the nights when It
was my duty to inspect the rooms,
that Iatimer always went to bed inn
mediately upon dismissal of evening
study nOur and did not avail himself
of the privilege Of sitting up the half
hour interval between tattoo and lights
out.
, 1t was with some difficulty that I
persuaded Latimer to tell me the cause
Of his perturbation of mind, but at last
! learned hat he was haunted by a
ghost.
Upon his arrival at the school he
had been informed by the boys that in
former years the third floor had been
the scene Of nocturnal disturbances
created by some mysteries, unexplained
agency; but that now, owing to the
presence of three members of the facul-
ty rooming on the floor, the uncanny
spirits were still. Latimer therefore
| had not bothered himself about the
ghosts until n short time before, when,
as he was walking across the parade
| ground, q large piece Of pumpkin had
fallen at his feet, and he could dis
cover no one who could have thrown
| It. for the only cadet i'll sight was look
ing earnestly in an opposite direction.
= Shortly after. as he reSumCd his walk,
a potato and n turnip struck the ground
, near him, and still no II was visible
except the solitary cadet. and he was,
as before, looking earnestly IN an OPP
pOSite direction
However, Latimer would not have
! thought much about these mysterious
visitatiOnS had he nOt been awakened
that night by the sudden appearance of
q round globe Of light at his window
opening upon the fire escape. Before
he could speak the light vanished, but
he was certain that some bright object
passed stealthily through his room. On
several other nights he had heard some
one creeping about his room, but only
once had he g the strange light.
There were ghost lights in THE Ma
ton" too. He and his brother had
seen them floating around over marsh
es, and had shot at them and harmed
| them not. He was afraid of the ghost
light at school, much more than of the
ghost light in the Nation" which only
fiOated in the distance and never came
| near one q.
However, Latimer was not going to
return after Christmas, on account of
his fathers losses through a cattle dis
ease that had swept away his herds,
and he had concluded he could stand
tho prosecutions Of the ghost for the
few weeks that remained.
Now, there had been numerous in
stances of thievery during the term.
Money had disappeared from cadets
rooms, from their closets, bureaus, ever
from their clothes, and all sorts of III
picionS We're rife. Cadets suspected
each other, suspected the negro SER
rants. yet, in spite of all precautions,
money and small articles of value con.
tinued to disappear on every side. and
there was no evidence that would i'm,
/ plicate any cadet or servant.
At length matters became so bad that