The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-02-23
GHOST REVEALS GOLD
A SENSATION m 1ARKn1sDuR0,
WEST VIRGINIA.
Story Told By Reputable Citissn
Of That Town and Many Of
His Fellow Citixsns
Believe Him.
Brooklyn Eagle.

ParkersburS, w. Va, 10 torn with dis
sonsions just now over the actions or
the alleged actions of q gold seeking
ghost which has taken living man into
partnership. The whole town IL divided
acrimonious alterations over the story
told by j. w. Bell, GENERAL manager OF
the Thanhauser Clothing Company the
human partner In the 0pook Prospectus
that Mr.. Bell U a truthful man and that
he has actually In his possession sam
pies of gold pointed out to him by his
spiritual partner. and therefore should
be implicitly believed. Another party
Sentiment diploma.ical "" hoids that il
NAV be true and then again It may not,
but. on the whole. that It doesn't know.
while few Independent spirits stoutly
declare that they don't care whether It
the best thing to do IL to repeat faith
fully the tale told by Mr.. Bell. with the
understanding that the reader need not
believe 1t unless he really wants to 40
II 10 due Mr.. Bell. the hero. to say
that he Is not superstitious; neither Is
he q believer In Spiritualism. He Is an
upright business man. known to many
Of the citizens as square dealing. frank,
rather modest young man OF excellent
The affair began last Sunday night,
when Mr.. Bell was sound asleep. Some
time during the night Mr.. Bell. In his
dreams. was visited by Il man OF As
spook. or whatever it was. had = nag.
gard appearance. It's face was white and
thin. and 1t seemed to he In deep dis
tress. The spook approached Bells bed
side and d. spoke to him. telling him that
peddler. and that while travelling near
what Is now the Town Of Parkersburg,
bers. who killed him after robbing him
The ROBBERY saia 0i the so spirit. ritz lid the
gold in a-rayine some miles away. where
II still remained. as the robbers had all
been killed by the Indians-many-~ of
whom stiil remained at that time along
robbers divided it. The .peddler asked
Mr.. Bell to ACCOMPANY him to the spot
where the gold was buried.
Mr.. Bell consenting. they started. They
ington Creek, just above town on the Lit
tie Kanawha River. where they founi
little fiatboat near the mouth OF the
creek Entering the boat. they crossed
the Little Kanawha and landing. struck
across the country, travelling about seven
After entering the ravIne Bell was led
to a spot and commanded to dig, which
he did, finding a treasure only little
below the surface.
After finding the treasure the ghostly
visitor disappeared. When Mr.. Bell
awoke on the next morning he was so
deeply impressed with his dream that
against his own will and fully conscious
Of his Sc, seeming folly hs started I'd. out to
eled In his dream. Arriving at the bank
of the creek. he was about to turn back.
dissusted with his s,perstitions, when
he looked down the bank and saw a
had seen in his dream, tied to the bank,
just as he had seen 1t in his vision. This
discovery somewhat overcome Mr.. Bell
disbelief. and he entered the boat and
padded across the river. entering the
the country. ne passed through fields and
tracts of woods along a dim pathway
which. like the fields and woods, seemed
strangely familiar, although Bell had
never gone that way before.
He travelled between seven and eight
| miles. every foot Of ground seeming IA
miliar. until he entered a deep ravint
in a heavy tract Of woods. A few min.
utes later he came to the spot which
had been pointed out to him by his ghost.
iy visitant. and there on top Of the
ground and partly covered by the sol
and leaves he discovered several gold
coins and number Of yellowish look
ing stone. Quickly picking up all Of the
the spot, turning every few steps tc
see II he was followed by his ghostly
visitor.
When he reached his home Bell was II
sucn a state of nervous excitement thai
he was compelled to lie down. He was
mystified and somewhat uneasy over his
strange experience and in order to gair
some relief he told the story to two OF
three of his most intimate friends, who
were at first incredulous and Inclined
to laugh at the story believing 1t tc
nave been an hallucination of an over.
tired brain. but Bells earnestness AND
a sight Of the old coins and the Jumps
of ore at last convinced them that there
was at least some truth in the story.
The coins are very old ones. with let
ters and figures nearly illegible from ex.
posture and corrosion. but enough Ger
be seen to show that they are of Spanish
make. Whether the nuggets are really
gold or not Is not known but they have
that appearance. Mr.. Bell will send then
to Washington for analysis.
Mr.. Bell Is now firmly convinced thai
his ghostly visitor was not dream
illusion. and when the weather opens
so that he can do so he will go agair
to the ravine and dig up the rest of the
hidden treasure. which he fully believes
he will find not great distance below
the surface Of the ground, but he will
not tell any one where the place Is. He
believes that the nuggets are gold and
that the uncanny visitor meant
that there was a mine of that sort there
when he told him about the Jumps Of
gold.