The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-08-12
DID TEE aHosr BURN uPi
The House re Lived n ma, and the Ghost
Efasn't Besa Sees since.

MoSTIcELLo, N. Y, Aug. 5.-Few '%primeval
regions there are that do not have their familiar
legend Of a peddler having been a guest over
night at some tavern or isolated house, and
never being seen again. But no place ever had
such a sure-pop, mystcriOusly disappearing ped
dler as the old Rogers homestead, midway be-
tween Pleasant Lake and Thompsonville.
Nearly fifty years ago u man named Smith
Rogers built a house in that out.of-the-way
spooky spot, and lived there several years with
his family. Then he traded the property for
something else. and tho house and land became
q regular trading piece In the real estate market.
Thlrty-fve years ago the property fell into pos
session Of a New York land shark, and he sent a
man up to live in the house and look after
things. The name Of this man the local chron-
icie does not give; but It gives the nnme Of the
weary jew pcddler who stopped at the house
une night and asked for u place TO sleep. His
nRme was Moses Lihcrman, and he sold lewelry.
lie obtained shelter from the man who lived in
the house. lie was seen to- go into the. house 10y
II backwoudsman named Masten. Nobody ever
saw him come out again.
Soon after the Disappearance OF the ped;
weird noises were heard in and about the old
house. Heavy footsteps could be distinctly
heard nearly every night, after ~ clock, some
times in the attic, then it, tho cellar, and again
coming up the hin Just beyond the house. ON
dark. dreary nights, as tine wind sighed around
the house and through thc trees, the voice "
the pcddlcr could be heard mutterlng Jewish
IllItHtS ~ RTOtlllIk III hkOuN. NNlhHlphhls Nlc
stopped FORM Of the ptddler, with a face white
and deaf nike, appeared AZ he bedside 81 those
at the old house, striking terror to them.
This went on until no one would i've in the
hOusc-the man who was there when Peddler
Libprnnn went in and didn't come out again
having disappeared soon aftC~rward-hud IL had
not been occupied except by rats and bats and
owls for thirty years and more. But people
passing the lonely, deserted spot at night AL
ways heard the tramping and. language aud
gruans of the unfortunate peddler, and ire
quently saw his spooky face at the ~uaneirss
windows. Some persons who passed there
many times u month, though, never heard or
saw the pcddler's ghost, but others never went
by the place without both sCeiug and hearing it.
The last person who saw Peddler Libcrmun in
the flesh, except the accommodating gentleman
who gave him quarters that fatal night, was the
man Masten. and 1t is a strange coincidence
that the last person who saw the peddlrr as n
ghost was a son Of that Masten. A week ago
last Friday afternoon he came to Thompson
willie In great excitement.
THE jew ghost is on the rampage in the old
Rogers house. he reported. He is cutting up
fearful, and it's enough to scare bears the way
he is going on"
To see and hear n ghost in the daytime was
something 50 very unusual and unconventional
that two ur three persons from JhOmpsOnville
went back with Mustcn to see how n daylight
ghost looked and acted. Before they got to the
that direction. When they came in sight ~ the
house 1t was wrapped In flames, and, dry as finder
as II was, II was soon consumed. The %peddler's
ghost has not been seen or heard since. A week
never passed before when IL was absent. So the
natives declare their belief that the spook was
burned with the old house. and some OF them
say they are not sorry.