The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1912-07-18
Ghost Stories
That Are True

ance, once well-to-do, who had ruin.
ed himself by drink. Dr. Entwhistle,
glancing at him as they met, noticed
that his clothing was torn, his face
bruised, and that there was a cut un-
der one eye. He noticed, too, that
the other kept looking steadily at him
with "woe-begone, God-forsaken ex.
PRESTON" Had he not been in such
hurry he would have stopped and
spoken to him, but as It was he pass
ed him with a nod.
AT the station DR.. Entwhistle met
his brotherin-law, and said, while the
train was drawing in:
"Oh, by the way, just saw Charlie
NJ, and he was a sight. lie must have
been on terrible tear"
Both men, as 1t happened, had bust
ness at the Grand Pacific hotel and
went directly there from the train.
They were met by a mutual friend
who had copy of the Chicago Trib-
une in his hand.
Hello" he greeted them. "Did you
know that Charlie M. is dead? Here is
a notice in the paper, stating that his
body is at the morgue. He was killed
in saloon fight. The paper hasn't got
the name quite right, but from
the description It's Charlie sure
enough"
"But he can't be dead" said DR..
Entwhistle aghast, "for 1t was only
few minutes ago that | met him on
the street in Englewood"
Nevertheless, II turned out that
Charlie M. was dead, and that his body
had been taken to the morgue sew
thought he saw him in the Chicago
suburb.
OF a somewhat different order, but
even more remarkable Is an expert
ence reported by an Engllshwoman
whose name, for reasons that will be-
come obvious, II would be improper to
give. With her husband she had re-
Gently moved into a fine old mansion
surrounded by a charming park, with
broad stretch OF lawn between the
trees and the house. The place had
for many years been the home Of a
family Of ancient lineage
One night, shortly after II o'clock,
when Mrs. NJ. had gone up to her bed
room, she thought she heard a moan.
ing sound, and someone sobbing as
though In great distress.
Tiptoeing over to a window on the
staircase landing she raised the
blind and cautiously peered out
Below, on the lawn, in the pale glow
of the moon, she saw an amazing
scene. A midle aged man, stern OF
face and wearing a generals uniform,
was standing menacingly over a young
girl who, with hands clasped in
anguish was on her knees before him.
At the sight of his hard, unrelenting
expression, Mrs MS one thought was
not of fear for herself. but of pity
for the unfortunate girl.
without a moments hesitation II
she says, 81 ran down the staircase
to the door opening upon the lawn to
beg her to come in and tell me her
sorrow"
When she reached the door the fig.
ures OF the soldier and the girl were
still plainly visible on the lawn, and
In precisely the same attitude. But
at the sound of her voice they disap.
peared. - 80. r. i. s,.iani
Months afterwards, when calling
with her husband at neighboring
house, she noticed on the wall the por.
trait of distinguished looking man in
a military uniform. At once she rec.
ognized It.
That" she told her husband In an
undertone, "is a picture of the officer
| saw on the lawn"
Aloud she asked:
Whose portrait is that?"
why" replied her host, at Is O
portrait of my uncle, Gen. Sir X. Y.
He was born and died In the house
that you now occupy. But why do you
ask?"
When she had told the story, her
host explained:
What you say is most singular. For
1t is an unhappy fact that Sir X. US
youngest daughter, beautiful girl,
brought disgrace upon the family, and
was disowned and driven from home
by her father and died broken
hearted"
Here, then, are two typical "ghost
stories" They challenge belief, and
most assuredly l would not have re-
lated them had they not been we'll
authenticated. 1t does not follow, how.
ever, that because authenticity has
been established 1t is necessary to
assume that they imply actual vista.
tions from the dead. On the contrary
the modern theory of ghosts that In
variably, when they are real ghosts
and not spurious product of credulity
and deception. they are distinctly sub.
jective in character, and exist only by
virtue Of conditions permitting their
creation In the minds of the person
or persons seeing them. In other
wo'ds, a real ghost is never an objeC-
tive phenomenon like a tree or a
house. Less learnedly, 1t is always a