Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-10-13

I'm TAYLOR and I were represent
ID ing Chicago houses in the west,
leach, however, carrying different lines
of goods. Jim was well fixed and owned
a good farm adjoining Cheyenne, a To-
Icality conveniently situated for him as
regarded his field of work, but after the
Heath of his father, who in fit of de-
spondency caused by continued i'll
health had committed suicide, he left
the farm and moved to Chicago.
81 don't know what to do with the
old place." he said one day. we sat
in hotel rotunda enjoying an after
dinner chat and some good cigars.
John Brownson, whose land adjoins
lit, wants to buy it, but he is not will
ing to pay even half its actual value.
He has been persistent in his efforts to
get me to sell, but 1 hate to give the
place away, which would be virtually
dc.ng, if I let him have it at the figure
he offers. Brownson has the name of
being rather a schemer, and 1 think
he wants TO take the two pieces of
ground and lay off new addition to
Cheyenne, by dividing the land into
town lots"
IF I were you, I should go and live
on it. or rent it" suggested.
1.-The fact isl he replied, ''I could
not get my wife to live in the house,
even though 1 hired a man and woman
to stay with her, and it is impossible
to get anyone else to live there, or rent
it, at any price"
why, what's the matter with it?"
asked.
Jim shifted himself around uneasily
| in his chair, and looking somewhat
sheepish, answered:
''They say the house is haunted"
threw myself back in my chair and
laughed aloud. fairly shouting, the idea
seemed to me so preposterous-ah haunt
ed house in a Wyoming town, at the
dawn of the. twentieth century.
"Why, Jim, you certainly don't be
lieve such rot as that" I exclaimed,
when L recovered myself.
81 don't know" he replied, shaking
his head, obviously, strange things
have been seen and heard there, ac-
cording to the testimony of persons
whose truthfulness has never been
questioned. / believe there is an ele-
ment of superstition in all human ma
ture, which only requires certain en-
vironments and conditions to bring it
out. While / don't really believe in
ghosts, yet I would not stay alone in
the old house all night for any amount
of money"
81 assure you, Jim,', i broke in, ''that
superstition is simply relic of bar
barism, and no one but a very ignorant
chump would confess to belief in
ghosts nowadays. 1 am glad to be able
to assert that there is not n grain of
superstition in my composition, and to
prove it to you, III agree to sleep in
your house instead of the hotel the next
time make Cheyenne"
Jim eagerly took me up on my propo-
sition, and pledged cigars in profusion
if / succeeded in making good my prom
Uses. ]. enthused over the prospect of
demonstrating the absurdity of the rN-
mors in circulation, not only pledged
myself to stay in the house alone, but
to sleep in the very room that had been
Jim's fathers, and which had not been
disturbed since his tragic death.
When Inext arrived in Cheyenne gave
Jane, the chambermaid of the hotel,
1ollar and asked her to go over to the
Taylor place and get the front room
Upstairs ready for me to sleep in that
hight
claw sakes! You don't ever mean to
,leep there alone" exclaimed Jane.
They do say that ole man Taylor's
es' trampin' round de house de whole
light long"
do you believe that, Jane?" Iasked,
.criously.
WALL" she answered. timorously, "a
neap o folks has seen i'm, an dat dere
gerry front room was his'n. I'm most
ifeerd to go dere alone by myself IN
lie day time"
'Weu, Jane" said, ''you can take
rot of your friends over there with you,
when you go, for company. I promised
Jim Taylor I'd sleep there; and, be-
sides, would not be afraid of old man
Taylor if he were alive, and I'm sure
I have no cause to fear him now that
he's dead
The Taylor house, two-story wsite
cottage, stood off by itself just at the
edge of the town limits. On one side
was an uneven looking hedge fence,
forming the boundary line between the
Taylor and the Brownson lands. A few
tall WILLIAM trees grew so close to the
house that their branches touched and
scraped upon the roof as they swayed
back ans forth by the breeze from
the prairie.
It was about ten o'clock when I
opened the front door and found my
way through the hall by the aid of a
lighted match. There were no curtains
on the windows, and as 1 assembled the
stairs I could see through, into the
empty rooms, where the moonlight
formed fantastic figures on the bare
floors as it fiickered in through the
branches of the trees outside.
AS stepped on the uncarpeted stairs
they cssaked, and gave out hollow
sound which echoed throughout the