The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-11-24
CALEB MIX SEES
~ A LIVING GHOST
Which Recalls a Poker Game on
the Mississippi Forty
Years Ago.

he made the statement 40 sobCrly, in such
matter or fact fashion. thai his hearers
Wris more than a little surprised.
They waited some moments 10 Sre II he
would qualify or explain what he had said.
but he kept silence; apparently he was
buried in TeminisccnCe. Al length one
Of the crowd said:
Tell VIZ shout it. Calc. 'Tain't ma com
won thing fr q ghost To he saw these times.
Likely i'm he interestin'."
oh. I dent know" said the old man
Its iuterestin' enough. but ghosts is some
common on these here boats A. that.
20 course, I dom mean dead ghosteses
A man don't have to be dead an come hack
I'm the grave for to be a ghost, Hs en- be
Twin an come bark FIN a time long ago
- dead an forgot.
An similar he don't have 10 be dead in
oVder fer 80 bc buried. He en- lie Twin
an hurry hisselS 40 long = when nc walks
he's . sure enough ghost.
y reckon II must be thata,vay with old
Cunnel Darius Aisybury. Near = I en-
tell, it's more n forty year since I seen him
last, an he were n man o more n forty
then. hut I knowed him the minute he come
aboard the boat thise veniu'
" o course, he's a heap older n he was
i!,er We don't hone Of us get M younger
~ The course % forty year. But he's Just
- straight. an he's dressed Just like ne
alsavs was in those days.
Pears like they did dress Consid'ahle
U',uuliaT them times. But a Southern
gentleman + knowed how 20 dress them
dayS il we'll dressed now, even If he does
htck ~ the same fashions.
~" amt gray headed, not a bit. His
hairs "a good hit whittier n the cotton in a
boil. an his eyes flashes just like they
cid, on'y there's a sort o. film over EN-.
Ike q birds what's hurt.
An his voice. You've heer'd men talk
what 'peared to ring like a bell when they'd
speak. Well. his voice rings. You'd think
he vas on'y just 30 now.
} Somehow IT, looks TO me like maybe
that's What he il. Elm as he's been buried
these forty year p'r'aps he amt groWed any
older, on'y FIR his hair gettin' white. Maybe
ghosts don't grow old"
say. Gale" said the man who had spoken
before. what sort of a dream is this? Give
us the key or else turn over an dream
different. What do you keep a-callin' the
Cunnel a ghost for?"
, We'll. ] seen him die forty year ago
said the bartender. That is, he didn't
turn black an get stiff an be planted in "a
coffin. but his whole life went out like You
stick a pine torch in The water.
They took him home and they've had
go watch him like a little baby ever since.
30 / reckon he must "a come out this time
'thouCen anybody seein' him.
Fur az l now he hahn been seen no
Where's since that time I'm tellin' about
holm near the ~gangplank he says very
c~eremonious. like he alays was: Good
evenin' sab; Have you seen my little boy
on the boat?'
M
Min Of him an onderstandin' the thing
quick. So | says Yes. sab. Yo' son sure
is on board. I'll send him to yo' room
soon's I en- find him. An / called a Niger
60 take the Cunnel TO a stateroom an then
] hunt up tn old man IN tells him"
Looks like We mought come to that
story in time" muttered the inuuisitive man,
but luckily Mix did not hear him.
This here old Cunnel Maybury," he con-
einued. owns a plantation not fur I'm Baton
Rouge. what his father an his grandfather
afOre him done owned when they was Twin.
They was richer than kings them days, an
] reckon there was enough left after the
war fr to support him comfortable, even
" things did go bang with them. same as
they did with a good many Others.
Well. pears this Cunnel Darius was
hyiu' alone in his big house ON the plan
tstion. when he married a young lady in
New Orleans. but she didn't live ou'y about
\ year. an after that Cunnel Darius lived
alone again. on'y for a baby boy, Z come
when his mother went away.
They tell : he want near the same FIN
she time Mis- Maybury died. bein' IA he was
"ousij'able fond of her and couldn't never
ssem TO find nobody to take her place.
Ted been a hell roarin' swift sort o. spot
afV' ha WAS married. but I'm that day on !
~" never let or a card mr. a boss race mr. 4
q G"'khght.
An he never drinke1 nothin'. on'y wine
wi,h his dinner. like a gentleman does.
Nh's he did was 20 play with his little baby |
an dream dreams.
m on when the baby growed bigger
flc CTnnel. he 'peaTed to get more an
more wrapped up into him, an ned play
mNTllcs an fy kites an spin tops with him
continual. till the neighbOrs all reckoned
Lei gons foolish.
Il amt sayin' but what he did get dottv
= ne ar less - fur = he was concerned
los oNn self, bein' rs n grown man had
WIsiU for to find somepin else TO do, hut
H. Ta'nI none foolish = fur's young Ed'ard
H7glMIry was concerned.
When the boy got old enough there
vas teachers hired I'm New Orleans an
To- N"'tliern parts Z come an live on the
N'avl"ITv place fr years, feachin' him
al = II gentleman had OF ght for 70 learn
ont IN hooks.
Ru' he on'y had them teachers for 20
teach the boy things Outen books. Nothin'
else. The boys real eddiCation lie tended
- lisseIf.
There want nobody else let teach him
how "a ride, an shoot, an swim, an fence.
mn ~wrastIe. an fight. an dance, an play
Joker. an all SIGH, oD'y the Cunnel's own
ssIf. An bein' as he'd been a hot spot
IN knOwed.
Just nachuIIy, Ed'ard Maybury growed
UP tol'ahle nigh similar to th' old man,
an when he como 10 be a man he were
~ handsome an "a well eddicated as the
EiUnnel hisself. High sperrited, too, he
vas. an a reel Southern gentleman an a
trus spot by the time he was old enough
70 20 ont an soc the world.
, Then the Cunnel. he done what he'd
never done afore, since Mis- Maybury
died. He went with the buy everywhere
he wanted TO go.
He give him a free foot an never inter-
Sered will him, no matter what he wanted
10 do. hut 'peared like he couldn't bear
~ let the boy get away from him. II the
hoy made friends, all right. The Cunnel
X stand back an say nothin', but he want
never far away. nor he ran never out
o. call. till that night when ne died"
say. Gale, YOU make me creepy when
you keep talkin' about a man dyin', an
him on the boat alive now " said the mar
who had interrupted before.
You'd al been creepy. all right" re-
torted the old man. If you'd "a saw what
aaw forty wear ago. There's been a heap