The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1901-07-23
THEGHOSTIN THEINN
HE WAS THE MEANS OF AvENGINo
HIS OWN ASSASSINATION.


Persistent Spirit That Was Bound
to Have Justice Done.
In "The Story of My Life" by Mr..
Augustus J. G. Hare, are told some thrill
ing ghost stories.
One of the most remarkable of the
stories is that which Lord Ravensworth
made Mr.. Hare write down. 1t was orig
inally related by Comte de Fersen, the
devoted adherent of Marie Antoinette,
who, when the royal family escaped to
Varennes, drove the carriage. After
Marie Antoinette's execution he went to
Italy. and one afternoon in November he
drove up to what was then, and is still,
the most desolate, weird, CHASTITY inn In
Italy-the wind stricken, storm beaten,
lava seated inn of Radicofani. AS he
was unable to secure post horses Comte
de Fersen was obliged to stay all night.
When he went to bed, he took two pre-
cautions.
He drew little round table that was
there to the head of the bed and put two
loaded pistols upon 1t, and, according to
the custom of that time, he made the
courier sleep across the door on the out
side. He went to bed and he fell asleep,
anu III the EuluUl6 VI Lie LA9AS tA4C SSA4A~~
awoke with the Undesirable sensation
that people have that be was not alone
in the room, and he raised himself against
the pillow and looked out.
From a small latticed window high In
the opposite whitewashed wall the moon
light was pouring into the room and max
ing white silvery pool in the middle OF
the rough boarded oak floor. In the mid
die of this pool Of light, dressed In
white cap and jacket and trousers, such
as masons wear, stood the figure Of man
looking at him. Comte de Fersen stretch
ed out his hand over the side Of the bed
to take one Of his pistols, and the man
said: Don't fire. You could do no harm
to me- you could do great deal of harm
to yourself. l am come TO tell you some
thing"
Comte de Fersen looked at him; be did
not come any nearer; he remained just
where be was, standing in the pool OF
white moonlight, half way between the
bed and the wall and he said: Say On.
Tell me what you have come for"
And the figure said: 81 am dead, and
my body is underneath your bed. l was
a mason Of Radicofani, and as mason
wore the white dress in which you now
see me. Ny wife wished to marry some
body else; she wished to marry the land
lord Of this hotel, and they beguiled me
into the inn, and they made me drunk,
and they murdered me, and my body is
buried beneath where your bed now
stands. | died with the word 'vendette'
upon my lips, and the longing, the thirst
that l have for revenge will not let me
rest. And ! never shall rest, never can
have any rest, till have had my revenge.
Now, / know that you are going to Rome;
when you get to Rome, go to the cardinal
commissary Of police and tell him what
you have seen, and he will send men
down here to examine the place, and my
body will be found, and shall have my
revenge"
And the Comte de Fersen said, II will. I"
But the spirit laughed and said; "You
don't suppose that l am going to believe
that? You don't imagine that you are
the only person have come to like this
I have come to dozens, and they have all
said, i will,' and aftsrward what they
have seen has seemed like hallucination,
q dream, a ohimera, and, before they
have reached Rome, the impression has
vanished altogether and nothing has been
done. Give me your hand"
The Comte de Fersen was little stag
gered at this. However, he was brave
man, and he stretched out his hand and
he felt something or other happen to one
of his fingers, and he looked, and there
was no finger, only the moonlight stream
ing In through the little latticed window.
In the morning when he got up and
had begun to wash his hands, he found
on one of his fingers very curious, old
iron ring, which was certainly not there
before.
Comte de Fersen went to Rome, and
when he arrived there he went to the
Swedish minister, who then was certain
Count Lowenjelm, who was very much
impressed with the story. But person
who was much more impressed was the
minister's younger brother, for he had a
valuable collection of peasants jewelry,
and when he saw the ring he said, '"That
is very remarkable ring, for 1t is kind
of ring only made and worn in one place,
and that place is in the mountains near
Radicofani."
The two Counts Lowenjelm went with
Comte de Fersen to the cardinal COM
missary of police. The cardinal was very
much struck, and he said: ut is a very
btOlys anu \ I'LL AA4eC 4A
clined to believe that it means some
thing But, as you know, am in great
position of trust under the government,
and / cannot send a body of military
down to Radicofani upon the faith of
what may prove to have been dream.
At any rate, l could not do 1t unless
Comte de Fersen proved his sense of the
importance of such an action by being
d., II C01q -
Not only was Comte de Fersen willing
to return, but the Count Karl Lowentelm
went with him. The landlord and land
lady were excessively agitated when they
saw them return with the soldiers. who
came from. Rome. They moved the bed
and found that the flags beneath had been
recently upturned. They took up the
flags, and there, not sufficiently corrupt
ed to be unrecognizable, was the body Of
the mason, dressed in the white cap and
jacket and trousers as he had appeared
to the Comte de Fersen.
Then the landlord and landlady, in true
Italian fashion, felt that Providence was
against them, and they confessed every
thing. They were taken to Rome, where
they were tried and condemned to death,
and they were beheaded at the Bocca del
Ia Verita. The Count Karl Lowenjelm
was present at the execution of that man
and woman, and he was the person who
told Lord Ravensworth, who told me. In
1879 repeated the story to the crown
prince of Sweden and Norway, who took
the trouble to verify the facts and dates
as to the Lowenjelms, ETC., and found ev-
eTything coincide.