Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1950-10-26

This week we were all prepared
to stroll around Rockville with
Miss Mona Thompson when our
Baltimore friend, Miss Lucy Leigh
Bowie, sent US two real Halloween
stories she has been promising for
long time = here they are:
Ghost of the Mysterious Stranger
"This story was told by Hon.
Allen Bowie Davis of Greenwood
to his great nephew, the late John
Leeds Bowie" writes Miss Lucy.
"At the time of the Revolu-
tionary War there was an Cor
binary" (tavern) in the neigh
borhood where the little village of
Unity now stands. This was very
primitive place in small clear
ing in the forest, with little or no
sleeping Accommodations. It's chief
patronage came from the sale of
liquor to the settlers of the less
substantial sort who were scat
tered hereabouts, and indentured
servants or the like.
zone snowy winter night the
door opened and a man entered the
tavern dressed in a uniform the
like of which no one there had
ever seen before. He had no great
coat, was covered with snow and
exhausted. The landlord could not
understand word he said nor
could he understand the landlord.
He made signs that he wanted a
drink, then pulled stool up to
the fire and made signs he wanted
food and further signs that he
would spend the night before the
fire.
"a colored servant went to put
the strangers horse away, and
found there was no horse. The man
must have come on foot-but where
from? Where was he going? Who
was he? With these questions un-
answered they left the mysterious
stranger to sleep before the fire on
buffalo robe. The next morning
they found him hanging from the
rafters, cold and stiff.
"The word got around like magic
everyone from far and near came
to see who it could be--but no one
had ever seen him before. He had
no papers and no money. So, as
there was no clue to his identity,
they buried him in the woods
and avoided the spot thereafter.
Twenty years went by and
nothing much had changed at the
Ordinary except that the landlord
and his colored man had grown
older. 1t was another snowy win
ter night the door opened and
again an exhausted man in an UNI
familiar uniform covered with
snow entered. Again landlord and
stranger could not understand each
other = again the stranger made
signs he wanted drink pulled
a stool to the fire and signified
that he wanted food and indicated
that he would pass the night before
the fire. When they went out to
care for the horse there was no
horse. The landlord and his colored
man left the stranger asleep and
found him hanging from the rafters
cold and dead the next morning.
Like the first stranger he had no
papers and no money.
"Once again the neighbors Aocked
to see if anyone knew. the dead
man, but there was no trace Of who
he was, where he came from or
where he was going. The older
people, who had seen the first
stranger twenty years before, said
they looked exactly alike, 80 they
decided to bury him in the same
spot. When they opened the grave
of the first stranger no bones were
found. II was then considered
proven that both were the same
man doomed TO come back every
twenty years until someone could
understand what he said and car
- :. 100000. 4 ~ ..I. Tfl,te