Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1899-10-28

ghosts and everything else of the sort
and walk over toward the supposed
corpse, whcI there was sound OF
wheels outside. and | could hear horse
and vehicle driven UP and halted in front
of the house.
"Thc corpse hastily motioncd me to
lie down again. and lodging beneath his
sheet as he was at first, Il profound 81
lcncc rcigncd in the room. Everything
was us dim and mysterious as it was he
fore the disturbance.
"Thrre was more movement in the next
room, however. and | heard the woman
open the door carefully and let in Il
man. whose voice | could hear now and
then rs the two talked in low tones over
something which appeared to pleas"
them Il good deal, as they laughed quite
heartily at times. Once | thought |
saw the sheet OH the table shake, but !
wasn't quite certain.
at was then about o o'clock, and |
fancicd some ncighhor had come in to sit
up with the dead. Presently the woman
opened the door of our room very gently,
tiptucd over 70 the table, looked around
to see that everything was all right, stop
ped Il moment as if to listen to my
heavy breathing. indicating that | was
SDUlll asleep, It's sic SllpppSt' Il'll
she slipped out again, softly closing the
door after her.
"Instantly the corpse sat up listening,
and | could see that it was well built
man. not mach cmaciatcd for dead
man, | thought, and on the whole not
bad looking or uuinlcligcnt appearing
fellow. | listened. too, and could hear
the couple in the next room talking as
hnfnrn hut tinlllN a fpu minutes
they went into the far room from the
other side of the main apartment, in the
center of the house, where we could not
even hear their voices.
"Thcn the man on the table turned his
attention to ne, having thrown aside tn"
sheet and sat up. He was attired in his
best clothes for the funeral, but was i'll
his stocking feet. He asked me to get
his boots ont of the corner. which did.
lie then went on to tell me, hurriedly
and scarcely above Il whisper. that he
had heard me come in and knew | was a
stranger and he wanted me to stand by
him in case he needed assistance.
lie said that the woman was his wife,
and that the man with her was II neigh.
Dor. who wanted to marry her, and that
they had connivcG together to poison
him.
'''Thc poison had worked all right up to
a certain point. but in the ~ hours he
had been laying ont it had lost its grip
some way. and he wasn't as dead as they
thought he was. lie wasn't feeling
especially strong and healthy just then,
he said. but thought h" was able to have
Il little settlement with the guilty couple
that would afford him considerable graft
fiation, if his plans worked out without
Il hitch.
"Aftrr having explained this much to
me- he asked me to wait until he cam"
back or called for me- and, taking an AK
that stood in the corner by the fireplace,
he went out of the room. What happen
ed during the next ten minutes | do not
know, but ut the end of that time the
man came back without the aX and, tell
ing me that everything was all right,
asked me to join him in the main room
while he got something to eat and cSpe-
cially something to drink.
''IIc asked me to drink with him. which
did. and also asked ne to hold open his
carpctbag while he filled it with such
articles as he might need for Il journey.
He suggested ut the same time that il
might perhaps be just as well if | didn't
ask any questions. which hint | carefully
followed. The strain was beginning to
tell on me, and | was getting anxious to
be somewhere else, | didn't really care
where.
''In few minutes my friend was ready
for his next move, and, inviting me to fol-
low him, we went out to the vehicle we
had heard driven up an hour or so before,
and. getting in. he drove us away as fast
as the dni hmCSS and condition of the road
would admit. He said nothing for two
hours. when he stopped suddenly and told
NE we were to part company there.
lie said it was the forks of the road,
and off to the left | would find Il store
and half way house, where l could find
IL bed TIL morning. As for himself, he
would go in another direction, and, with
many thanks and a cordial good night, he
rapidly disappeared in the darkness.
Il found the inn all right and got bed.
but didn't sleep much. | was too busy
thinking When morning came, | said
nothing to my host, for | had made up
my mind that whatever my companion
of the night before had done he had had
good reason for doing, and | would not
be instrumental in having him suffer more
than he had already suffered.
81 asked a few casual questions at the
breakfast table. hut the man and his wife
both appeared to lie afraid of counterfeit
crS or mnonShinrrs and would scarcely
say word.
"A year and half afterward-l had
reached Ohio thcn-thc newspapers, nnt
as cntcrprSing as they are now nor by
any means as numerous, contained the
story of the finding of a couple of skcle
tons in Il lonely house in Il remote section
of western Pennsylvania and near them
an AK with rusty blood stains upon it.
81 have often wondered why that MAJ
did not set the house on fire when lac
left it, and | can account for his not O..
ing 50 only upon the ground that he did
not wish to make me n witness to a..y
criminal act on his part.
"a thousand times since ! have w.
dercd whatever became of that man.
he ever went back to the scene of
crime and whore he located after lcavi.,
that lonely house in the woods. "-Phila-
dclphia Press.
CO His Visit short.
The Duk" of Wellington once wrote I.
i.