Milford chronicle., 1903-01-16
Some Trouble to Convince folks
Thaf He Wasn't a Ghost.

That He Wasn't n Ghost.
Colonel Prentiss Ingraham, novelist
former Confederate officer, hero OF sew
eral wars and an adventurous spirit
generally had the floor, says the W ash-
ington star.
"Yes." he said in response to an inqui-
ry, Il was buried just back OF httle
church in Marietta. Ca"
"Alive?' asked a horriiied listener
"They didn't think l was at the
time" laughed the colonel. "But let me
cxplain. | was soldering then for the
lost cause. and in the course Of my du-
ties | slipped away one night quite uh,
bclaownst, as it were, TO do some secre,
service work. The next morning a sheI'
FROM a Federal cannon came over our
way and exploded right in front OF q
man on my horse, with the result tIal
thcrc were only scraps of him lelt. Nat
urallv enough. my friends thought II
was NE. as the horse was still reeoghlza'
ble. and they had a funeral at wien l
was q lending character, but did net even
do thiaking part. My sisters were no
tifcl of my death, and just back of the
little church was a grave with a mead
stone bearing an inscription. including
my name and a date or two, which was u
GOOD deal more than most soldiers got
at tbat time. OF course, l didn't know
ANYTHING about all this, and when my
work was finished, which was in about
ten days. | returned to camp. go'
there about dusk and headed for tehI
where We did our eating, such as 1t was
and the first man / met was jake oul
colcred boy. who was going into the tent
with two bushcl basin of soup occupy
ing both his hands. ~
"sHello. Jake says 1, never thinking
about ANYTHING but the soups savory
smell.
"Rut lake didn't say word. He jus
inst stared at me for an instant, turned
@ravish white and dived headforemos
into the tent. hurting the soup basin be
fore him and scattering its contents Over
n half dozen officers sitting around a IA
Bile. was close on his heels. and as thel
looked ND in surprise at the sudden snow
er of soup and the uuceremonious ehd!
Of Jake they saw me, and, with smoth
cred sort Of yell. they began tumblns
over each other, upset the table ana th'
tent, and for the next ten minutes ther'
was the blamedest miXup You ever saw
I couldn't understand what it all meant
but had sense enough to know tha
somebody would be hurt in the wreck ur
less help came pretty soon, and took
hand at getting matters into shape 81
doing this / had a chance to catch hold
an officer or two who couldn't get away
and when they found l wasn't ghos
they grow calmer and began to explain
That was easy enough, you know WheI
things were quieter and we had pulled
Jake from the bottom and restored him t.
consciousness, for the darsy had collaps
ed entirely. You know, darkies have NJ
use for ghosts.
"They told me the story Of the man be
ing killed on my horse, and, thinking l
was me. they had buried me and had
real funeral sermon by a preacher whit
lived in Marietta Next day they showed
me my grave. and it made me feel littl
bit queer to look at it, but l wasn't sOrT!
1 was able 10 do SO. l wrote to my SIS
ters explaining that the report Of m!
death was a mistake, and they wrote mt
that they had gone into mourning for me
but ! needn't worry on that account, a
the black dresses could be trimmed Il
colors and still he useful. You see, the,
we're disposed to have fun with me whel
they found l was all right. What news
papers were in existence had nice notice
of me, and tie pleasant things said abou
me in letters of coincidence to the famil.
really made nc quite satisfied that some
thing had happened to call forth such ez
pressions."