The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1904-07-20

but today 1t attracts more attention
than the most stately mansion that
graces that section of country. 1t is
believed TO be haunted.
! No native of Cumberland County
passes it, night or day, without a shiv-
er, and to the stranger and casual WIS.,
itor IL is pointed out as the rendez-
vous of the spirit of dead man whose
soul finds no rest I'm its present state
of existence. When alive he vowed
that his spirit should visit the earth
and trouble his son after death. He
is now keeping his vow.
| The house was formerly the home of
Thomas Elliott, a typical woodsman,
of medium size, with white hair and
beard. He had n son, a cripple. who
lived with him. One of the sons legs
is almost useless and he is compelled
to walk with crutches. The father
and son often quarreled. One day the
father told the son he would never
forgive him for the imagined wrong he
had done him, and many times before
he died he repeated this vow:
MY son, you have wronged me. If
1t Is possible for the spirit to return
to the earth after death, my spirit will
come to haunt you and to torment
you"
If the stories of brave and honest
men who have spent several nights
| III the home are TO be believed, the
spirit has returned and there have
npnn wnir1 az In, tI- al
which bafiied all attempts of reason
able explanation.
The son is no more able to explain
the antics of the ghost than are his
neighbors. Neither can he escape its
visits. Once he moved to Mattoon,
hoping to avoid the unpleasant visits,
but the supposed ghost followed him.
He moved again, but his change of To-
cation was no bar to his uncanny WIS.,
itor. Finally he gave up and went
back to his old home.
III he Is in any way concerned with
the ghostly apparitions his magic is
so artful that no one has ever been
able to detect it. Parties of men have
frequently spent the night there. but
none have been able TO account for
what he had seen. One night last
summer a party of thirty i've residents
of that section went to spend the night
In the house.
Orville Stevens, who lives near there.
ana two other men spent night in the
haunted house. He relates startling
story Of his experience.
stephens AYERS that he was awak-
ened by a noise like footsteps on froz.
en- ground. Sitting up in bed, he lis.
tened. The noise grew more distinct,
coming nearer and nearer. and appar.
entity some one entered the house.
Trembling with fear, he aroused his
companions.
Two crutches belonging to young El-
lott, which We're lying on the floor.
rose, bumped together a couple of
times, and then slid across the floor
under Stevens bed. One end of the
crutches rested on the floor. while the
other end began to pound upon the
under side of the bed. Next. the stool
on which the lamp was resting turned
over, then right side up again, the
light remaining in its position, appar-
emily bidding defiance to the law of
gravitation. Then chair in the mid
die of the room began to do a clog
dance. Jumping out of bed. one of
the men took hold of the chair. but it
slipped from his grasp and continued
the dance. The man on the floor
turned to Stevens and asked:
what would you do If the chair
should fly at you?"
I'D slam the thing back again,
mighty quick" was the reply.
Ihe remark was no sooner made
than the chair flew through the air
and struck over Stevens bed. He
quickly ducked snder the bed clothing
In hopes of avoiding his would.be assail.
ant Then the bed clothing began to
slip from the bed, going down between
the footboard and the straw tick. The
men held on to the clothes, but they
slipped from their grasp. Stevens
Jumped from bed and looked under it,
hoping to catch a glimpse of the mys-
terious visitor. but nothing but the bed
ciothlhg was IN sight.
After a while they retired again,
and for an hour or more quiet reigned.
Suddenly one of the men gave a yell,
and, Jumping from bed, declared that
something had him by the foot. He
returned to bed only 10 have the per-
formance repeated. This time he de-
cided TO sit up the rest OF the night,
but there were no further manifesta-
tons of the spirit visitor.
Stevens says that these are things
which he saw, and no argument can
convince him that the age OF spooks
has passed. He is firmly convinced
that the ghost of the old man was I'm
the room, and doesn't care to spend
another night there.-New York Tele-
gram.
a BESTED A BEAR.
A narrow Adirondack ledge Is q dan.
gerous place to be at any time, but 1t
a ~ N 1a,,lu In, ell