The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1894-08-15

re HOwED THROUGH THE GHOST.
some property and money. A guardian
had been appointed, and Lizzie, being am
bilious to add to her little store, set about
to work in hotel hard by the rivers edge.
1t was one afternoon about 20 years
ago that Lizzie Clark, who had been
washing dishes in the kitchen, stepped
out into the yard Of the hotel. She was
seen to leave the kitchen by several people
working around the house, who paid no
attention to the girl. But that was the
last ever seen of Lizzie Clark Those who
saw her step out into the yard heard no
scream, no stifled moan, no struggling
But there are people yet living who be
lieve that the girl was suddenly seized,
strangled, concealed in the house until
dark and then cast into the dark river.
1t is said that the murderers did not
leave the locality for some time thereafter,
and yet, again, others say the girl was
never murdered, but drowned herself, and
that her ghost is not one of murdered
PERSONS, but one of a suicide. All one
can gain from the different stories and
theories is that the girl was dealt with
foully in some manner, and that her ghost
still haunts the locality. OF course every
effort was made to ferret out the mystery
Detectives hunted high and low, money
was spent to no purpose, and finally the
guardian of the girls estate turned her
money and property over to the county
authorities, in whose hands it remains to
this day because there is no kith and kin
to claim it.
The girls ghost was first seen in De-
cember, 1887, when party of duck hunt
ers were returning to Dallas City from
the islands. An excursion steamer had
become disabled late in the season and
was lying on the bank of the island across
the bay. She was in rather bad fix. 1t
was expected to leave her there during tho
winter AS the hunters neared the craft
form in white was seen to run out upon
the upper deck 1t was young girls
figure, and she was evidently being pur-
sued for from across the water came
screams and then the following words:
LET me alone, let me alone, or / win
drown myselfn With that the spec
ter flung itself into the river There was
! q splash, and the cold waters closed over
the white body. Several times during that
winter the ghost of Lizzie Clark was seen
at night and at early candle light around
the disabled steamer When the steamer
was taken away the next spring, work
men and steambOatmen heard pit1ful
screams from the willows on shore as the
boat moved away. The spirit did not
leave the island, and it is believed now
that she was buried on the island after
| the murder.
Of late years, however, the girls ghost
has been seen in a skiff at night, and it
was only few evenings ago that one OF
the St. Louis and ST. Paul fast steamers
ran into the spectral thing. The pilot did
| not see the ghostly craft until too late.
| He says he saw boat of white that looked
more like floating fleece than anything
| else.
In the boat was young girl in white
raiment, but there were blood clots on the
| white dress. "She was rowing swiftly.
| When the PROV of the steamer struck this
frail craft it cut through it like mist.
! The ghostly occupant only laughed a sort
of uncanny laugh, d half scream, and when
we had passed l saw the spectral craft
dancing on the waves behind. l doubt il
! an ordinary skiff could have lived in the
waves of our steamer, right under the pad,
dies" Thus spake the pilot, and he is a
man of few words and sterling integrity.
'Have you seen Lizzie Clark's boat?'
is now the question that goes from one
mouth to another during the summer sea
son. In winter hunters have come into
| Dallas shaking with fright and calling for
dram to brace their nerves, saying that
while coming down from the islands above
on the ice they had met Lizzie Clark walk
ing toward them. She always wears that
white dress, and the blood stains Oh the
neck are plain. The girls eyes are staring
wide open, as if she were being suffocated.
Her spirit has been known to step out from
behind clump Of dead trees at the head
| of the island and face passersby She will
| give them a terrible look and then scream
piteously. In an instant more the spirit
disappears.
Those who have seen the girl in her
| spectral skiff say that she seems to be
rowing as if some murderer was after her.
She bends to the oars vigorously, and if a
boat appears in sight she makes for it di-
rectly, as if seeking protection. One man
says he rowed right through this spectral
boat and its occupant and says he felt a
sensation like passing through a heavy
mist No effort is made to hunt down"
this ghost.
People feel that this girl was murdered,
| and some think she cannot rest because
! the murderers have never been brought to
justice.
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