The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1896-06-03
LAID A SOLDIERS GHOST.
A Slender Thread Unraveled the Mystery
of Clanking Chains.

Oh NiAbAink hhih
l was q young and timid girl, but
n few months married, when my
husband, q marine officer, was or
dered to tho marine barracks at Bos-
ton. We had quite pleasant quarters
and good friends around us, who
would often beguile the evening
hour with song and story. l had
been interested in herring of q SOL
dier, arrested for some ~offense, who
had put an end to his life to escape
his merited but dreaded punishment
and whose ghost was said often to
haunt the barracks and rattle a
chain az he passed back and forth
in his rounds.
One gloomy evening toward bed
time my husband had to visit the
sentinels, and /. being left alone,
went to my bureau to prepare for
retiring. Opening tho top drawer,
| took out my brush and comb, put
my hair into plaits for the following
days adornment, humming a gay
air in the lightness of my heart.
when q curious noise-and very near
me-made me start and listen. My
song turned To silence. Not u sound.
Again ! moved and began my
preparations for the night. A rum
bling, rafting sound again met my
ear and made my heart almost
to beat in my terror. for this time
there could be no mistake MS to the
noise and its Yet the in
slant | stood still-perfect silence. |
feared to look around. No one was
within call, and the hour was late.
Sc, trying TO reason away my ter
ror and believe the noise was out
doors, | moved a few steps away.
Louder. moro prolonged, the rat
Ting seemed to follow me as | rush
cd for the door, which, to my joy,
at that moment opened, and ! fell
into my husbands arms, almost
fainting.
Tho chain the soldier drags!"I
cried. II have heard it in this
room"
Nonsense" said my lord and
master. You have become alarmed
at being alone and imagined your
terrors.'
But as l withdrew from his arms
tho same fearful sound, distinct and
within tho room, was heard by. us
both.
sit still, my dear. and let me
fathom this mystery, said my hus-
band. placing mo in an easy chair.
He looked puzzled and no longer
smiled at my fears.
"Do not leave MEL cried and
chung closely to his arm.
Only to search the room and dis
pei your dread" he answered. So,
tenderly displacing my hands, he
walked across to a diyan and exam
ined underneath and behind its
drapery. Nothing there and perfect
quiet. He again crossed the room
to a largo bookcase which stood in
front of n closed door, and as he did
so, clear and continued. the weird,
strange sound disturbed the silence
of the room.
This is strange surely and must
be sifted to tho bottom" continued
my husband. now almost as excited
as | was. But l must free my foot
of this string which has caught my
ankle Gro | look farther" STOPPING
down, no unwound some thread
from about his foot, tho rumblinG
now rising, now ceasing, as ho did
so and seeming to como from the
direction of my bureau. So to it he
hastened. tho thread still in his
hand, and opening the top drawer
discovered-what say you. my read
ers? A spool of thread, the end OF
which hadr caught in.my hand and
unknowingly braided in my hair.
So every motion set the spool rolling
in IN almost empty drawer, and i
Ill ...sAl 49, ,. l~f Aanl