Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1914-09-03
A Medieval
Ghost Story
By F. A. mitchell

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 q 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 dukes 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 ticndish Il career
for the rest of his natural life that he
shocked ever 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, a villa which in his time
. had been a hunting lodge. 1t is we'll
. known that the dukes conscience tor
tured him, and it is supposed that his
: profligate life after his wife's death
was to drown its voice. The hunting
lodge. where it was supposed he was
staying when he killed his son, after
his demise was for many years unoc-
cupied. The story goes that in the
dukes will that clause which referred
to the lodge read, The lodge where l
%sojourned when I found it necessary
to maintain my authority as head of
the house of De- Medici by Furnishing
my son l bequeath to the devil"
No n could be found who was will
ing to buy the place under such a title,
and for years after its owner passed
away so great was the horror of his
memory that no one would rent it. At
last, however, an italian gentleman,
Signor Cavalli. bought it for a song and
converted 1t into a villa. He was a
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. Signora was in her room, di-
rectly above, making her toilet. Sud
denly the husband heard a thump di-
rectly over his head as Of q 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 it and sprin-
kled water on her face. Thus revived,
she looked at him with an expression
of horror.
what is it, carissima?" he asked.
She closed her lids as if to shut out
some horrid picture, then opened them
and said:
THE duke"
What duke?"
"Cosmo. Cosmo and the devil-one
or both. The features we're those l
have seen in portraits of the first Duke
of Tuscany. but they We're also those
of the devil. They looked at me from
the mirror
Some II must have come upon
you to brighten YOU"
That awful face did not belong to
any human being. 1t was dead Cos
mo turned Lucifer."
The wife clung to her husband dur
ing the rest of the evening and passed
the night with him in a chamber ut 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 a motive. He knew that
certain persons, Duke Cosmos heirs,
We're interested in getting possession
OF the property, and he believed they
We're taking advantage of the clause in
any one who should buy it. hoping to
secure it for a nominal price.
Cavalli slept on the night of his re-
turn in the room where his wife had
been so terribly frightened. If any
one could scare him out of the house
he had bought he was welcome to do
so. He was indignant ut the outrage
that had been practiced upon him and
placed under his pillow a rapier and a
pistol with which to take care Of any
one attempting to disturb him. He
went to sleep with his hand on the
t pistol.
!, Nothing unusual occurred during the
l night. He slept in the room several
nights and before going to sleep fo1
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 al
midnight by seeing Il light shining
! through the bed curtains. Pulling
them aside, he say two young persons
a boy and q girl, each holding a candle
!, walking Slowly across the room. II
the boys side was a gaping wound; il
!, the girls breast was another.
Strangely enough Cavalli did not fee
frightened, though he was appalled,
But in another moment another figure
q appeared behind the two, which froz,
the very marrow in his bones. A maj
, whom he recognized as the same on,
his wife had described as having see1
q In her mirror walked behind the tvt
VOunN DprSOnS. This Iittla prOcoee;o,