Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1914-06-03
'TheEvening Story
"A Medieval
Ghost Story
BY FLA. mitchell


family. which. II not true. at least ac-
cords well with medieval times. This
mani think he was Cosmo de- Medici,
first Duke Of Tuscany-was as near
satanic as it is possible for man to
be. One Of his sons while hunting In
a quarrel wounded his brother, and
Cosmo killed the offending boy with
his own sword. The q ke's daughter
fell In love. and her father, who claim
ed the right to dispose Of her hand,
slew her also. His wife did not long
survive these tragedies, and Cosmo
gave himself up to so fendish a career
for the rest Of his natural life that he
shocked even his contemporaries. The
above statements are historical. The
story is as follows:
There stood in the environs of Flor
ence during the seventeenth century.
near the spot where Duke Cosmo kill
ed his son. villa which in his time
had been a hunting lodge. 1t is we'll
known that the dukes conscience tor
tured him. and 1t Is supposed that his
profligate life after his wife's death
was to drown its voice. The hunting
lodge. where 1t was supposed he was
staying when he killed his son, after
his demise was for many years unoc-
cuped. The story goes that In the
dukes will that clause which referred
to the lodge read, 1.-THE lodge where l
sojourned when l found it necessary
IN maintain INV outhor;tv n. hooa -
the house Of De- Medici by Furnishing
my son bequeath to the devil"
No one could be found who was will
ing to buy the place under such title.
and for years after its owner passed
away so great was the horror OF his
memory that no one would rent 1t. At
last, however, an Italian gentleman,
Signor Cavalli, bought 1t for a song and
converted it into a villa. He was n
young man Just married to a young
and beautiful wife.
One evening shortly before dinner
it was during the cleaning. before
candles were lighted-Signor Cavalli
was in the library trying to read in the
dusk. Slgnora was In her room, d.
rectly above, making her toilet Sud-
denly the husband heard a thump d.
rectly over his head as of body fall
ing on the floor. He ran upstairs, and
there lay his wife inanimate before her
| dresser. He took her up. carried her
to a lounge, placed her on 1t and sprin-
killed. water ON her face. Thus revived,
she looked at him with an expression
OF horror.
What Is 1t, carissimaT he asked.
She closed her lids as IL to shut out
/ some horrid picture, then opened them
and said:
The duke!"
What dukeT'
'Cosmo. Cosmo and the devil-one
or both. The features were those |
| have seen in portraits of the first Duke
of Tuscany. but they were also those
of the devil. They looked at me from
the mirror"
Some one must have come upon
you to frighten you"
THAT awful face did not belong to
any human being. 1t was dead Co.'S
mo turned Lueifer."
! The wife chung to her husband dur
ing the rest Of the evening and passed
the night with him in a chamber at the
other end of the villa. The next morn.
Ing she begged him to take her away
from the place, and he was obliged to
do so. though he returned the same aft
ernoon. He chung to the idea that
some one had purposely frightened his
wife and for motive. He knew that
certain persons. Duke Cosmos heirs,
were interested In getting possession
of the property, and he believed they
were taking advantage Of the clause II
the will respecting 1t to brighten away
any one who should buy 1t, hoping ia
secure 1t for nominal price.
Cavalh slept on the night Of his re-
turn in the room where his wife had
been SO terribly frightened II any
one could scare him out of the house
he had bought he was welcome to do
81 He was indignant at the outrage
Hat had been prachced upon him and
placed under his Pillow rapier and q
pistol with which to take care of any
one attempting to disturb him. He
went to sleep with his hand on the
pistol.
Nothing unusual occurred during the
night, he slept in the room several
nights and before going to sleep for
the last Of them resolved that ON the
morrow he would go to Florence and
endeavor to persuade his wife to re-
turn with him. He was awakened at
midnight by seeing u light shining
through the bed curtains. Pulling
them aside, he saw two young persons
a boy and girl. each holding a candle,
walking slowly across the room. In
the boys side was gaping wound; In
! the girls breast wns another.
/ Strangely enough Cavalli did not feel
frightened. though be was appalled,.
But In another moment another figure
appeared behind the two. which froze
the very marrow in his bones. A man
whom he recognized as the same one