Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1914-10-28
TheHaunted
Stranger
BY F. A. mitchell


tain region somewhere between Dem
yer and San Francisco which is CON-
| pletely isolated. II Is not one of those
| rough mining towns that have been
so realistically described by Bret
| Harte and his followers. but 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
Cherryyille. 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 OK team
meanders slowly through the town. or
the sound OF trotting horse breaks
| the stiffness. Nevertheless Cherry
| vile is stable town. There is one
main street half mile long. crossed
at right angles by a number Of less
| important ones.
One day man came into town
whose appearance broke the lethargy
that overhung the place. He was mi
nus an arm, there was a scar on his
| forehead. and a number OF his teeth
were missing. their disappearance be-
ing accounted for by 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 mys-
| terry one Is 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 be had alienated the af.
| fections of a wife from her husband
and that that husband had mauled
| him. But never word of explana-
ton could be elected from Clarke.
Miss Heating had all the curiosity
that is usually attributed by unterri-
| fed bachelors to her sex and resolved
TO find out the mystery enveloping Mr.
| Clarke IL 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 a cross street he would stop. look
to the right and then to the left be
| fore crossing. This he repeated at
| every street. Miss Heating, being
| true Investigator. did not make up hei
| mind definitely as to the cause OF his
| doing this. but she naturally assign
| ed II to the fact that he was on the
watch for an enemy. She made
| 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, reticence was not one OF
Miss Keating's traits. and she talked
about this popularity of Mr.. Clarke's
1 r
on the street he was followed at
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 Heating 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 man knocked out
of him. She smiled on him sympathet-
ically. 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 Cherryviile.
Mr.. Clarke trembled and turned pale.
The honk was repeated nearer and
louder. Mr.. Clarke ran back into the
store Miss Heating followed him and
found him crouching behind a counter.
HAS it gomez" he gasped.
Gone? What gone?"
'The auto"
Miss Heating looked at him wonder.
ingly; then beam of light burst In
upon her do you mean to say that
all this terror has been caused by an
automobileT' she asked.
Mr.. Clarke. stiffened by the contemp-
tuous look she gave him. came out
from hiding and confessed
Il came from large city. where
there are thousands of autos l 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
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