The Dillon herald. [volume] (Dillon, S.C.) 1894-????, 1911-09-14
TALES OF VISITS FROM THE
SPIRIT LAND.

Living - some w NOnuer1ul Hap
penings Told of In an Interesting
Way.
At a house party in the South
the talk fell upon the supernatural,
and there were cited a number of
instances showing either vividness
OF imigination or something harder
To explain, but not less interesting
because not understood.
A man in the party according to
an exchange, said: Il am telling
you this just as it was told to me
by my father.
Both my father and my uncle
John were planters before the war
They owned thousands of acres
which they planted in cotton and
rice and lived several miles apart
ON separate plantations. Their
fatEer lad been dead for several
years at the time of my story. He
had always been fairly idolized by
his sons, for while a stern man he
was loving father.
My uncle owned a number of ne
groes, one of whom, Black Dan, he
mad special fancy for and kept as
valet, or body servant. as they
were called then in the South No
one could understand my uncle's
tancy for the negro, for he was a
surly fellow.
"One night Uncle John was sit
ting in front of the fire in his
study reading. do not know
what the book was, but l will men
ton, however, that it has no direct
nection with the story, that he
was an agnostic and was looked
upon by the family as little better
than an atheist = a stern. embit-
tered. irreligious man, intensely ma
terialistic, believing little of either
God or the Devil, and given to
reading authors Of his own scoffing
tendencies.
Suddenly a shadow seemed to |
fall across his book. and he glanced |
up. Standing on the opposite side !
OF the fireplace and looking grave
iy at him was my grandfather, who |
had been in his grave for years
My uncle jumped up. dropping the
book, and the figure disappeared.
Thinking that he must have
been dreaming, and tried to resume
MS reading, but sense Of uneasi-
ness possessed him, and he felt
impelled to rush out into the dark!
ness of the night. My uncle had
much sorrow, and he began to won
der II his trouble had affected his
mind. He endeavored to fix his
attention on his book, when sud
denly the shadow fell again, and he
looked up to see his father stand
ing facing him with a heavy frown |
darkening his face.
My uncle sprang up and held |
out his hands, and the apparation |
disappeared, leaving behind a sense |
OF impending disaster. My uncle |
tried again to settle to his reading,
refusing to give way to impress
ions OF danger with which he seem
ed possessed, and had almost con-
vmced himself that the presence
mad been a dream when the ap-
partition suddenly appeared again
MY uncle sprang up and my grand
iather spoke, frowning and pointing
to the door. My uncle thought he
eaught the words, John go, go.' an
then the ghostly visitant for the
third time disappeared.
My uncle rushed from the house
and Following an impulse, saddled
his horse and rode to my fathers,
three miles away. l was a small |
child, but l can well remember
hearing the clatter of the horses |
hoofs as he dashed up to the |
door. He told of his ghostly visi-
,tant, and said he wished to spend |
the night with us.
My mother and father thought }
him i'll, but forebore to argue with
him. He spent the night with us
and the next morning my father
rode back with him to his
plantation. When they entered my
uncle's room they cried out in
amazement. Two heavy loads of
buckshot had been fired into the
bed the night before from the op-
en- window. Had my grandfather
appeared to his son to save him
from death the night before?
Years after Black Dan was hang
ed for crimes committed against
the white race. My uncle endeav-
ored to save the negro's life, but
his efforts in his>behalf were in
vain. During the last conversa-
ton my uncle had with him the
former slave told him that it was
he who had fired the buckshot in
to his bed, thinking he was
asleep in it@as usual at that time of |,
wherein tSs NSRs present e day siI tIi9AfiR9Au. 9AfiR
is handicapped in it's progress tco
the higher planes. y
1t happens the press dispatches
recently carried two stories, ONE
from the West and one from the
East, which should cause the be-
lievers in right living to weep. In
st. Paul a man and woman danced,
seven hours and then the mand
dropped dead from sleep and ex$;-
haustion. In Baltimore an unforH
tunate fellow boasted that he couldaa
drink more whiskey than anybody
else. He tried It, and drank moreI
than anybody he could find. He
dropped dead at the conclusion of
the foolhardy victory. :
Are not these two incidents ex-s
amples of a real savagery? In the
one case the element of an cleo
trio lighted fury predominated, rea-'
sonless and silly. In the other, :.