The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1914-09-01
TheHaunted
Stranger
By F. a. Mitchell

yer and San Francisco which is com.
pletely isolated. 1t Is not one of those
rough mining towns that have been
30 realistically described by Bret
Harte and his followers, but a quiet,
sober place, with no fighting, no gam
bling, no horse stealing, no lynching.
The only objection to the town-so
said Miss Virginia Keating-was that
nothing ever happened there.
No new invention ever penetrates to
Cherryville. There Is neither gas nor
electricity, the lights used being oil
lamps and candles. The fuel used Is
wood. Of which there is an abundance
In the neighboring forests. No shrek
Of locomotive or honk OF automobile
Is heard. Occasionally an or team
meanders slowly through the town, or
the sound Of a trotting horse breaks
the stiffness. Nevertheless Cherry
vile is sizable town. There is one
main street half mile long, crossed
at right angles by a number of less
important ones.
One day a man came into town
whose appearance broke the lethargy
that oyerhung the place. He was MI
nus an arm, there was a scar on his
forehead. and number of his teeth
were missing, their disappearance be-
ing accounted for by q hole in his
cheek. He gave his name as Erastus
Clarke, but seemed disinclined to fur
nish any further account Of himself.
II any one asked him about the loss
of his arm or other deficiencies he
looked scared and turned away with
out reply.
Where there is no solution of q mys-
tery one Ia very soon invented. There
was but one opinion In Cherryville
about Mr.. Clarke. Some enemy had
mutilated him.. Here the main view
of his case branched. One side felt
sure that he had swindled some one.
the other that he had alienated the af.
fections of a wife from her husband
and that that husband had mauled
him. But never a word of explana'
ton could be elected from Clarke.
Miss Keating had all the curiosity
that Is usually attributed by unterrt'
fed bachelors to her sex and resolved
to find out the mystery enveloping Mr..
Clarke If she had to marry him to
do so.
Miss Heating on walking down the
main street of Cherryville behind Mr.
Clarke noticed that when he came
to cross street he would stop, look
| to the right and then to the left be
fore crossing. This he repeated at
every street. Miss Keating, being a
true investigator, did not make up her
mind definitely as to the cause of his
doing this, but she naturally assign
ed 1t to the fact that he was on the
watch for an enemy. She made a
mental memorandum Of the fact, but,
! realizing that Clarke would not ex-
plain the matter. refrained from ask
ing him to do so until she had pre-
pared the way.
However, redcence was not one OF
Miss Keating's traits, and she talked
about this popularity Of Mr.. Clarke's'
| From that time whenever he was seen
| on the street he was followed at a
distance by curious persons who were
anxious to be on hand to see the fight.
for they were now sure that Clarke
had come to Cherryville to escape an
enemy and was expecting that enemy
to appear at any time to batter him
some more.
Miss Keating made but poor success
In getting up an affair Of the heart be-
tween herself and Mr.. Clarke. The
trouble was that he seemed to have
| had the spirit of a man knocked out
of him. She smiled on him sympathet-
| fcally. but could not for long draw
him away from the dread Of that mys-
terious something for which he seemed
to be looking.
One day she met Mr.. Clarke in a
store, and they walked out on to the
street together. Suddenly from the
other end of the town there came the
honk of an automobile, the first that
had ever been heard in Cherryville.
Mr.. Clarke trembled and turned pale.
The honk was repeated nearer and
louder. Mr.. Clarke ran back into the
store. Miss Keating followed him and
found him crouching behind counter.
HAS it goneT he gasped.
"Gone? What gomez"
"The auto"
Miss Keahng looked at him wonder
ingly; then a beam Of light burst In
upon her. do you mean to say that
| all this terror has been caused by an
automobile?" she asked.
Mr.. Clarke, stiffened by the contemp'
tuous look she gave him, came out
from hiding and confessed.
81 came from large city, where
there are thousands of autos. never
rode in one myself, SO was not injur-
ed that way. My only hope was not to
get killed while crossing street. Once
was knocked down. My arm was
crushed, and 1t was amputated. A
second time / received this scar on
my forehead A third got this hole
in my cheek and lost all the teeth on
that side of my face A fourth gave
me three broken ribs. A fifth