The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-03-07
LOST WAS FOUND
EXCITEMENT AT THE COURT HOUSE
OVER STRANGE NOISES.

OVER STRANGE NOISES.
Unlocked for Few Minutes, But After
wards Fasten the Same, When Strange
and Mysterious Noises are Heard Which
Lead Them to Believe That Plant
boards Ghost had Appeared-A Legal
Examination is Made With All Solem-
nity-Farmer DooIittIe Comes Forth.
Ever since February q, there has
been superstition reigning throughout
the court house, and the slightest IN
usual noise was sufficient 10 cause the
cold chills TO race up and down the
spinal column Of any Of the occupant.
Dug Caldwell. Bishop Webb, Deacon
Wilson and Elder Harmon all declared
that they did not believe in ghosts, but
yet they could each recall several mys-
terious instances IN their career which
bordered on the superstition, and after
the finding of the following letter they
had no particular hankering after the
spirits of the deceased. The letter read:
Wichita, KS, Feb. 20, 1896.
ITO my Friends.
Dear Friends: 1 trust some Of you
will send this piece Of paper home 10
my dear mother and my dear broken
hearted sister at Peabody, Kansas. 1
VIII tell you my story: [ have no hope
Of happiness in the future. Ny doom
Is sealed. l am haunted by crime
done by me twenty-one years ago I
am now going to Kill myself, as this is
good place 10 do it at. Tell my
mother to bury me in a plain box,
haul me 10 the poorest grave in the
cemetery in a dray, don't have any
funeral and don't have no preacher
around me as I hate the snakes with
ell my heart. Well, good bye. You VIII
lind my body in the northeast corner Of
the attic in the floor.
Love 10 mother and sister.
WILL PLANTBEAD.
"P. S.-Tell mother not to weep, as
was Of no more service TO the world
A search was made. but the body
gould not be located, and since that
time the scratching Of a match, cat, dog
Dr any unusual sound sent a cold chill
IF terror TO the hearts Of the occupants
Of the building.
Time did not wear away any Of this
feeling of dread from the occupants |
and the dread was spread throughout |
every department, and while the men !
all declared that they were not afraid !
yet il has been impossible since that |
date 10 get a single officer to enter the |
building after nightfall without light. |
The big vaults and closets were kept I
tightly locked except in the middle of /
the day
Just before dinner yesterday the
county commissioners had reason to ex-
anime the interior of one OF the closets,
and on leaving the place left the door
unlocked. Something was said about
Plantbead, when Rev. Harmon recol-
lected that he had left the closet I'M
looked, and at once proceeded to lock
the same and had only returned to the
office when the commissioners were
Startled by hearing Dug Caldwell cry
out:
My God, I hear PIantbead, Get my
crutches, gun and come quick"
All rushed to the assistance of the
poor man, who was as white as a sheet,
while seven kinds of ink was found run
ming over his map that ne had been
Whats the matter, Dug?" said a
fiozen voices, while every one of them
was trying TO ruin his clean shirt which
he had put on for the purpose Of attend
his belligernt rights had been recog-
hized, by pouring water and everything
damp upon his whiten face.
stop your d-n foOlishness, and lis
ten" said the city assessor, pointing in
the direction of the closet, which had
Just been locked by the Rev. Harmon.
They listened, and all turned pale.
From the inside of the closet al a dis
fanoe of nine feet from the floor, they
distinctly heard the scratching of some
thing which resembled finger nails. and
before they could fly to the sheriff's
office and send the cry of alarm along
the hall, they heard in a low sepulchre
voice resembling a woman with bad
"a Sc Of mysteries, the words:
Let me out! 1 am in a hurry! I am ]
hungry
That's Plantbead, bet boss" said
Rufe Cone
HE has been winding around the gas
pipes for two weeks said Murray My
PTS.