The Goldfield news and weekly tribune. [volume] (Goldfield, Nev.) 1911-1947, 1916-03-18
The Specter
Of Goruckpoor
BY NJ. QUAD
BY NJ. QUAD
1916, by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate.

IL
province of Oudh. India. in the year
1867 consisted of 1000 men. and about
half of these were split up into small
detachments and stationed here and
there in the north to keep order among
the hillmen and punish raiding dacoits.
Dacoits are bands of robbers
command of a chief who holds a reli-
gious influence over them. and they
are yet the pests of India along the
foothills of the Himalayas. They are
daring men and hard fighters. and very
few British soldiers who fall into their
hands are spared.
We we're i'm the midst of what seem
ed to be peace when the government
dispatched a large train of treasure
md military supplies from ~Goruckpoor
for Ghoorka. Colonel Kemble. who
had been ordered to take command of
the garrison at the latter place, beins
Just back from a years leave OF ab-
sence In England. was with the train.
and the whole was escorted by .5o
cavalrymen. The route for the train
brought Ii past our station. where II
rested for n day and then moved on
In Il defile fifteen miles to the north
of us il was ambushed by over a thou
sand dacoits and suffered a severe mis-
fortune. There was not only Il heavy
loss i'm killed and wounded, but the
treasure and a portion of the supplies
were captured and run off by the da
colts.
The remnant of the train returned TO
us and went int camp until re-en-
forcements could come up. and the
bullet headed. tyrannical Colonel Ken
bic. whose obstinacy and recklessness
had brought about the disaster. pro
ceeded to make ii red hot for every
body 1t was Il well populated coun
try. with hundreds of loyal natives to
be picked up. but the colonel proceeded
to look upon each and every one as
guilty of having had II hand in the at
tack on the train. More than II score
were shot or hanged offhand, while
many were whipped at the post or or
dered II Of the district. 1t was a
reign Vi teTTOT iol 'hlct Nt'NH' W"
the end was a fitting n
MY own detachment n day brought
I'm a mere boy whom we had found
covering in a thicket The colonel
bulldoZed and browbeat him and final
" ordered his execution on the ground
that he was n spy 1t was only when
he knew that he must die that the
young fellow braced up and showed
his courage. and MS he was bein led
away to execution he said to the colo
mel:
'Sahib Colonel. | am innocent. and
you will he punished for my death
You nay shoot me and bury my body.
but nv spirit will follow Won to the
grave"
Half an hour later he was dead. but
he was the last one to he executed
At midnight that night the colonel
called the sentinel into his tent. and,
with white face and trembling voice
and the perspiration standing ont on
his forehead. he said:
Man. do you see that hoy sitting on
the cheSt?"
Il see nobody. sir" replied the sen
tinel
.'He is there, | tell you! He follow
ed me to mess and back. and he has
been here in plain sight all the even
ing Take him away
But there's nobody here. sir
And there wasn't. The sentinel call
ed in two officers. who looked ana
searched i'm vain and assured Colonel
Kemble that no boy was present. lie
tried to turn it Off with IA laugh. but
in less than twenty four hours every
man in camp knew that the colone'
was haunted hy a Specter. lie maze n
brave effort to bluff it out, but it was
useless. The specter followed at his
heels by day and sat by his bedside nj
night. and in a week the strong. az
greSSivp man was becoming II mental
wreck He turned to us for pity ana
sympathy. but we had little to give.
He had been brutal and without mercy
i'm his vengeance.
The surgeon looked upon the case AT
first as some disorder Of the brain. but
later on acknowledged that 1t was
something beyond his medicine. NO
one else could see the suecter. The
colonel would say that it sat beside
him or stood in the door. but there was
nothin. for the eyes to rest upon lie
would draw his sword and cut and
slash and thrust ut the specter. but he
could not harm it, by the surgeons
advice the colonel returned to Goruck-
poor 1t was reported as II case OF
breaking down over mental anxiety.
but hundreds of people came to know
better. The Specter followed him back
followed him to the house of Il friend.
SAT with him through every night ana
logged at his heels through every hour
of the day lie could no more shake
it off than he could change the color OF
his eyes. He made the gamest sort OF
fight. knowing thai his future career
was ut stake. and at length all men
zane to pity him-pity him and avoid