Newspaper Page Text
ADYEXHJRE WITH A UHOST.
From the Hawkinnille Dispatch.
Just after the surrender of Leo's armv
at Appomattox, Va., I \VM returning
homo on foot and alone, along the foot
of the lllue Ividge mountains ofavcsterii
North Carolina. On coming to the
Yadkin river, near its source, one after
noon, I was warned by a man to hasten
through the forest beyond the stream, as
it would be difficult to reach n settle
ment before night. The dusk of eve
ning set in, however, before I cleared the
dark, dreary forest, and while wonder
ing where I would be likely to lodge that
night, a woman in a white dress appear
ed in the road, two hundred yards in ad
vance of me, hurrying along in the di-
rection I was going.
Thinking this a lucky chance for
finding shelter, I hastened to overtake
her; but with all my efforts, I could not
lessen the distance between us. 'She
suddenly turned to the left into the
woods, and slackened her speed suffi
ciently to decrease our distnnee to" sev
enty-five yards or more, and thus en
abled me, though with difficulty, to
keep her in view as she sped through
the woods. The long disused path,
which we now followed, led us into a
clearing of ten acres, in the middle < f
which stood a lone cabin of logs. The
fence around the patch was broken down
in decayed heaps, and no longer served
its purpose.
As I gained the clearing the girl en
tered the cabin, as I could see by the
flutter of her white robe in tbe gloam
ing. Approaching the house, I discern
ed the girl standing in the door looking
at me, absently, with her large, dark
mournful eyes. I accosted her with a
“ good morning,” but she made no reply,
and, to my astonishment, when I looked
up she was gone. True to the army
habit of impudence, I stepped into the
house, but all was dark and lonely, and
the girl was nowhere visible. The door
had fallen from its hinges, upon flic
floor, which was dirt. I discovered by
the light of a match that the room was
furnished with bed, chairs, and a chest
standing against the wall, under the lit
tle window in the back of the "cabiti.
The split bottom of a broken chair was
near the fire place, and this I used as
fuel to make my light.
The girl was nowhere to be found. I
called, butcoujd get no response. Leav
ing baggage iu the house, I went to
the old fence and brought back several
large turns of wood to serve for the night:
but upon making the fire, I discovered
to n\- horror that the fire place had not
been used for months, and though the
bed was neatly spread, the cover was
damp and mouldy. The house had evi
dently beeu long ago abandoned, but
why the furniture was left to rot, too, I
could not imagine. The chest contained
a quantity of woman's apparel, and a
few articles of man’s clothing, and these,
also, were moulding.
I braced the door with the chest of
clothes, which I dragged across the room,
and hung the quilt from the bed before
the window, there being 110 shutter.
Turning my back to the bright fire, now
burning, to enable me to better see my
surroundings, to my great alarm, I saw
the quilt move, and the four fingers of a
woman’s hand slowly gather the edge of
the curtain to one side. 1 here stood the,
girl outside looking at me with those
large mournful eyes. I immediately
said, I hope you will pardon me, madam,
for taking posses-ion—but before my
apology was complete, the curtain drop
ped. I went to the window, peered into
the outside darkness, but she was gone.
Returning to the fire place, I turned,
and to m3' horror saw the curtain drawn
aside and fall to the floor, and the girl
at the window, looking for the world
like a picture in a frame, so well did her
face and the window, with the darkness
as a background, resemble a picture.
The dark, mournful eyes gazed wistfully,
longingly at some object iu the room,
which I could not see or locate. Again
I invited her to come in, and still there
was no reply. Becoming thoroughly
alarmed at these manifestations, I cried,
If thou be mortal, I .welcome thee; If
thou be demon or devil, I defy the bv
the living God to make known thy wish
es and depart. To this came as answer,
a malignant sneering laugh, iu a mans
voice, and tire beautiful face disappeared
from its frame in the window.
I replaced the curtain, and after wait
ing two hours or more, during which
time nil was quiet, except an occasional
whispering, which I imagined I could
hear on the outside, 1 made my fire and
spread my blanket before it, and pre
pared to go to sleep, if permitted. I
dozed off after a while, as I was very
tired, but don't know how long I slept,
when I aw akened bv a freezing sen
VOL. II—NO. 40.
sation all over my body. This surprised
me as the tire was burning briskly, but
the mystery was removed us soon as 1
saw the girl standing in the room, lean
ing on the bosom of a young man, whose
arms encircled her. She was crying and
ie trying to comfort her. He was about
to leave her, as was evident.
While this scene was enacting, there
came the long, weird howl of a dog in
the direction of the woods. There
seemed to be no real sounds, j-et by
some means the interpretation was re
vealed to me, as she sprang from him.
“ Fly, darling, fly,” she cried, “ for
God's sake save j'ourself, lie is coming.”
He bent down, embraced and kissed
her and sprang out of the door. Almost
instantly a tall, middle-aged man. in the
garb of a hunter, stepped in and said :
“ Ah! Mary, too late; his doom and
yours is sealed. Woe be to him upon
whom the dog fastens his fangs.” Just
at this moment a long, dreadful cry of
pain and terror, accompanied by the
sharp, quick bark of a dog, came from
the woods. “ This, Mary, is what 3-011
have brought upon poor George. The
dog avenges me. You have destroyed
him and dishonored me,” said the hun
ter. “ Oh! why not have taken my
warning, when I told 3-011 the conse
quence of encouraging him to prolong
his stay with us. I love you, my poor,
lonely desolate wife, too much to pro
long the miser3' and shame attending
ing 3'our continued existence. Die
with me m3 - darling, as 1 shall die, and
let 11s escape the horrible consequences
of your indiscretion.”
The girl stood silent, pale, and re
signed, gazing with her large, lustrous
eye3 pityingly on him who addressed
her, but not a word did she utter. Lean
ing the gun against the wall, he loving
ly placed his arms around her. Draw
ing her head back upon bis shoulder,
he showered tears and kisses upon her
lips and cheek. Still silently shegazed
upon him, but with no look of love re
sponsive to his own. No tears flowed
from their beautiful fountains. Sud
denly there gleamed the bright sheen
of a large, long knife, and as he pas
sionately kissed her, so he passionately
plunged the glittering blade to the hill
into her bosom, and as he drew the
cruel steel away, there followed a dark,
crimson flood from the wound which
was made.
A convulsive shiver thrilled her
frame, a sudden giving way of the
knees and all was over, lie gently
placed her upon the bed and knelt be
side her. Though dead, those beauti
ful eyes, still wide open, gazed steadily
upon him. Taking a pick and spade
from the wall, which I hadn't before
seen, he dug a grave in the room, di
rectly in front of the door, to the depth
of two feet. Returning again to the
bed, lie kissed again and again those
wide open eyes, knelt and prayed God
to remove that look of reproach from
them ; as he had loved, so might she be
true ; as he had been merciful, so might
mercy be extended him, and especially
her, for and by whom he prayed.
Wrapping the body in a sheet, he
gently placed it in the grave and cov
ered it with a blanket, to hide the beau
tiful, mournful eyes from his sight, for
they were still bending their reproach
ful gaze upon him. Weeping, lie knelt
and again prayed God for his lost, his
beautiful, his loved one, and his now
desolate home, and pouring a last liba
tion of tears upon the now shrouded
form, he filled the grave with earth,
took up his rifle and departed. In a
few moments I heard the sharp ring of
the rifle and all was over.
Daj r was now fully dawned, and has
tily catching up my baggage I left the
house. In leaving, I noticed the door
lying upon the ground, the chest re
moved back to its place under the win
dow, in fact all my arrangements had
been undone except the curtain before
the window —that remaining as I had
placed it. It was blood-stained. Lift
ing up the door, I discovered a real
grave concealed under it. As I passed
out of the clearing there was lying the
skeleton of a human near the old fence
which had furnished me fuel for the
night. Four or five miles of rapid
walking brought me to a settlement,
where I stopped for breakfast. Upon
i telling *lk la.dr where I topped the
Ig. ’
previous night, she said the place was
so infested with “ spirits,” that not a
man in tile country would venture near
it in the daytime, much less at night;
there was not 11101103- enough in the
State to tempt one of her neighbors to
go near it, hardly at any time.
Her account was, that this girl. Mary,
was born and raised near Newborn, N.
0., three hundred miles east, arid was
bethrothed to 3’Oung George who had
engaged as a marine .on board the Com
federate l’rivateer; and while upon a
cruise, which lasted much longer than
either expected, Mary, to whom the old
man had proposed, while visiting her
family, to whom he was related, through
her step-mother, was prevailed upon by
this step-mother to believe that George
had desert el her or was dead, and in
duced i>3’ harsh treatment of the step
mother qtnd entreaties of the old hun
ter, she at last consented to accept him,
to ggt away from this step-mother. lie
carried hor olf to the lonely mountain
forest, there to spend the most j'o3'ous
days of her youth, away from friends
and associates in this lonely, dismal
cabin of the woods.
Not a soul was there with whom to
indulge the sweet communion of con
versation and thought, except this old
grand-pa, whom she did not see for
da3 r s at a time, while engaged in his
hunting expeditions. As might have
been expected, when the long-lost and
hardy youth upon whom she lmd at first
bestowed her affections, crossed the
threshold of her woodland home during
one of those numerous occasions of
dreadful loneliness in which the old
hunter so frequently left her, her heart
leaped out towards him, the old flame
burned anew. Here was company for
her, agreeable company, such company
as all have sighed for who have passed
that epoch in life which is now describ
ed. Was it wonderful that the old
dreary woods became melodious with
song-birds, and beautiful ? Is it strange
that the tear fountains became dry ?
That the roses bloomed upon her cheeks
again, and the heart blithe and gay in
the thrice welcome guest of new-found
happiness ? Her destiny was fixed
and George could not undo it, and as
the hour of his departure drey- near,
poor Mary found her allegiance, witli
its concomitant life of solitude, slacken
its hold, and the not reluctant George
wa?t‘induced to procrastinate his de
parture one and one more day, with the
above result. Nichoc.
llawkinsvillc, May 28, 1878.
Address of Sister Skinner.
The following are the opening sen- j
tences of an address by Mrs. Skinrter : !
“ Miss President, fellow women and
male trash generally : I am here to-day
for the purpose of discussing woman’s
rights, recussing her wrongs, and cuss
ing the men. I believe sexes were ere
ated perfectly equal, with the women a
little more equal than the men. I also '
believe that the world to-day would have ;
been happier if men had never existed.!
Asa success man is a failure, and I
bless mv stars that my mother was a
woman and not a man, and regret that
my father was not a woman also. [Ap
plause.] I not only maintain these I
principles, but maintain a shiftless hus
band besides. They sa3 r a man was 1
created first. Well, suppose he was.
Aint first experiments always failures ?
If I was a betting man, I would bet
$3.50 they are. The only decent thing
about him was a rib, and that went to
make something better. [Applause.]
And then they throw into our faces
about taking an apple. I’ll bet five
dollars Adam boosted her up the tree
and only gave her the core. And what
did he do when he was found out ?
True to his masculine instincts, he
sneaked behind Eve’s Grecian bend
and said, ‘ ’Twan’t me, ’twas her ;’ and
the poor woman has had to father every
thing and mother it too. What we
want is the ballot, and the ballot we
are bound to have, if we have to let
i down our back hair and swim in a sea
of gore.”
Woman consumes thirty-six buttons
on her single pair of kid gloves, where
as man buttons his suspenders with a
single-nail. And yet folks will ask,
“ Button, button- who's got the but
ton
HARTWELL, GA„ WEDNESDAY, JLNK 19, 18,8.
MIX ARP.
WHAT IIK Til IA KN OT HIM>I.\G Till:
Minns.
An lu<l<>|M>nd'nt I.lrk- Hon They Gel
I>io|>l>r<l G<‘ii. Ulnrk’N Ad vie*—
Nlnndliiii Forever.
Cor. Atlanta Constitution.
Mn. Edititr : Tbe harvest is over.
Great, expectations have not been real
ized. Farmin’ is a good deal like fishin’.
Evdry time you start out you can just
4CO yourself catchin’ ’em; hut alter
try in’ every hole in the creek you go
home sorrowfully, with a fisherman’s
*
luck. lint, we are not complainin’ by
no means, for we’ve got wheat enuf for
biskit every da3' and light-bread on
Sunday, and a few bushels to spare for I
them angels that's to cum along un
awares sum of these days. Wc finish
ed enttin’ the oat crop thismornin’, and
what with them and the clover alread3*
housed, the cattle are safe for another
3-ear. I imagine they look sas3- and
thankful; but as for me, Mr. Editur, I
am a used up individual. Durin’ har
vest I have had to be a binder, and if
yon don’t know what that is. ask Har
ris. The ends of these fingers which
are now inscribin' this epistel are in a
bad fix. Skarifide and stuck up with
hull nettles and briars, they are as sore
as a school-boy’s bile. There was sum
variation to my business, such as catch
in’ young rabbits, and (hidin' partridge
nests, and pickin’ dewberries; but the
romance wore off the first day, and by
the end of the next 1113- wife says I was
as humble a man as any woman could
desire. Its amity purty thing to write
about and make up oads and pomes.
The golden grain, the manl3' reapers,
the struttin’ shftaVos, the song of the
harvesters, and purty Miss Ruth co
quettin' around the fields of old man
Hoaz, and “ how jokin’ did they drive
their team afioM,” is all so Rwect and
nice to a man up a tree with an timbrel,
I but if them poets had to tic wheat a
| day in a Jqne sun, their sentimentality
would henceforth seek another subjek.
I tried swingin’ the-cradle awhile, but
somehow or somehow else, I couldn't
exactly get the lick. It wasent the
kind of a cradle I've been used to, and
I’m too old a dog t,o learn new tricks
now. The swing of the reaper's cradle
is a very peculiar motion—very regular '
in its irregularity, and goes for the
weeds and bushes and briars and the |
wheat—all the same. Somehow or!
other it reminds me of an independent j
Candidate a side wipin’ around to get |
otfis in a twistifide wa3*. Well, 1 like
independence, and that's Wll3' I like 1
farmin’—nobody to look to for a livin’ j
but Providence. I like to see a man
independent in opinion and in action, j
too, and if he snekseeds, it shows that
there is gum in him—but it won’t do to
run that skedule too long or too fur in
politics or religion. Bonapart and
Beecher tride it, and if they couldn't
keep it up. nobody can’t. Everybody
lias got to fall into line some time. For
awhile all sorts of people will pat an
independent on the hack and say ‘‘go
it my larkcy,; bully for 3'ou,” but be
fore long they’ll begin to think over!
what a good, fat thing he's got, and
then human nature, which you know is
as mean as the devil, will crop out, and
the next time they'll drop him so easy
he won’t know it. On the whole, the
aspirin’ man had better go along
smoothly with bis party or his church
or his copartners, as the case may be.
General Black .says lie to me, says he.
“ Bill, as 3'ou are goin’ to farmin’ let
me give 3-ou a piece of advice: Don’t 1
go off on new lines, but 4-atch 3-011 r na
bors and do purty much as they do.”
Well, he didn’t mean that if the nabors
went bar footed in the summer time
and slept, in a shirt and washed their
feet in a skillet, and their darters work
ed in the field and dipped snuff, we
must do so too—by no means. But he
meant to say that the kind of farmin’
that is sustained by the majority of
farmers was mit3 r apt to be the best.
Jesso with gittin’ offis —the best way
is the old way. It may be, however,
that Providence does raise up a man as
an instrument to reform socict3', but
the instrument is very likely to think
he is doin’ it all on his own hook, and
he’ll keep on reformin’ till the millen
ium ijf the people will let him. I think
it would be well enodgli for him to re
port progre - sometime, and maybe the
-WHOLE NO. K).
| good Lord would kit his servant depart
in peace. Bnt yon let a feller gif a
taste of Washington And it does look
impossible to even get him aw.-y from
there. “ I will stand j\>r re-election."
Of course he will, but it does seem to
me that if l lmd held a rotaten ottioe
right straight along for forty years 1
would hunt the shade of Liberty Hall
and quit. Why, sur, there’s forty men
in that district been patiently waitin'
twenty years for his chance, and he’s
now proposin’ to outlive ’em all and
himself too. Spose he does want to
die in harness, what’s that to Berry
Houck ? There’s sum other gentlemen
worthy and well qualified who would
take the gear kindly, and work in ’em.
too. But if I had a horse that wore
out his b(cachin’ a boldin’ back up bill,
and hadent pulled nary pound in sev
enteen 3’ears, he wonldent die in nn
harness, sliore. He moat hunt another
’ • '->0 • j
wagin. I’ve no idee of todying a man
who todys everybody and everything 1
don't like, from Gen. Grant'down to a
patent medicine, and there's a heap of
folks my way of thinkin’. Every hi me
I think about it I hour myself exclaim
ing, “ Time's out—Next.” Yours,
Bill Anr.
P. S.—l want to know how to git
shet of moles. The castor bean grows
all around here and don't seem to do
an3' good. Can’t you put somethin’ in
your farmin’ column about it ? B. A.
N. B.—Ax Harris whether snakes
lays eggs or lias their young'tins jesso.
B. A.
The Alarmists.
Old Capital.
A good man3’ years ago an ambitious
3-oung member of the Georgia Legisla
ture made a most savage and telling
speed) against a pot local measure in
trbduced 113- a tall, warty old fellow
from one of the Cherokee’s. .The op
ponents sat at neighboring desks, and
when the young man had finished and
sat down Hushed with his effort, the old
mountaineer limbered up, looked down
at bis opponent, pointed his long index
finger close to his face, and shouted,
‘‘ Booh?” It was quite enough, it won,
and the measure was agreed to.
Now, when the Democracy threaten
to expose the ungodly frauds by which
Mr. 11 ayes was made President, Mr.
Alexander Stephens points to revolu
tion, Mexieanizatiqij. and Grant, and
cries “ wolf.” Possibly Mr. Stephens
mistakes the present temper of the
public mind ; certainty he has mistaken
it if he thinks it means anything more
than to have the quickened consciences
of Anderson <i al depose .-ill about how
we were swindled out of the votes of
three States in tixe last Presidential
campaign. If this can be done, peaoe
ably, and it is being done, why should
Mr. Stephens, as a democrat object ?
Why his Culminations through the
press ? Why his great and sudden
love for Hayes, Sherman and Cos., when
the people, yes, tbe people, are the
plaintiffs? The Eighth Georgia has
been very considerate for Mr. Stephens.
It has allowed itself to be ridden I>3' a
physical corpse to gratify the wish that
“ lie might die in harness.” , It has
kept him in Washington, a* catnipy,
garrulous old man simply for the senti
ment in it. It has crucified itself to
believe it had the substance of repre
sentation instead of the shadow. Let
him retire. We sa3" it with respect—
iiis sun is gone down. He should now
stand aside, content to rest on the hon
ors and emoluments garnered during
forty 3 - ears in the public service,, arid
allow a younger and fresher mind to
lie substituted.
As an example of silliness the grand
jury of Houston county have, in their
general presentments, petitioned the
Governor to pardon Kate Sothern. —
Old' Capital.
A Chattanooga inventor will startle,
in a few weeks, the common carriers of
the county, by his economical steam
road-wagon, the model of which is now
about completed. Mr. Pickens has de
voted years to the development of his
idea, and is now assured that his in
vention will be a great success. Those
who have examined the drawings and
model say there is a fortune in the
patent.
AX EXTRAORDINARY CASE.
, f ——. Tt'T.
VoiMlooiam In Moulli Inrnllna.
Grrcnvitlt (S’. C.) .Vcir.i. *
Two eases of assault ami battery ami
one for riot came up before Trial Jus
tice Hopkins, of this city ou Wednesday
last, in the investigation of which fact* l
of a most extravagant character were
developed. The cases were represent
ed by cx-Judge Cooke, on the part of
th’o prosecution,and by \Vnj. W* Vance
for the. defence. The main facts whjch
the frial'brought outwore as follows:.
One Dr. Pinckney Wnllis, colored, ori
ginally of Now berry, now a medical
tramp, made his appearance some time
ago in the neighborhood of Chick's
Springs, advertising himself as a conju
rer. His fume soon spread amongst the
colored people of that vicinity ; undone
Steve lirown, (colored,) who had some
aflbetion of the heel; applied to I)r. Wal
lis for relief. The Doctor after making
a diagonosis of the case, declared that
his patient’s stomach was infested with
frogs, which had deposited eggs in his
heels, und that these frogs had been
placed there by a charm, worked by
Frank Glymph, Gratz Smith, Lewis
Smith and John Smith, father and sons.
The doctor undertook to relieve his pa
tient for the consideration of seven dol
lars and fifty cent®, and after adminis
tering his medicine —-consisting of wild
1 herbs, and other ingredients known only
' to this doctor, and which ha declined tv
disclose to the Court, the f>Ag eggs were*
extracted and the patient was relieved.
The most wonderful part of this per
formance, as proved, was that as each
egg came out the frog croaked iu tbo
patient’s belly. The result proved en
tirely satisfactory to the patient, and ho
resumed his daily work in the field.
The success of Dr. Wallis in this enso
established his reputation in that see-,
tion. Ilis next patient was Marion
Owens, (white,) n young man, appa
rently of intelligence and steady habits
—rather a good looking mdn. Owens
was suffering, as he stated on the trial,
with “fluctuation ” of the stomach, and
was strongly impressed with the belief
that he also had been conjured by the
parties, who had put a ehflrhi on Stcvo
BroWn. He therefore applied to Dr.
; Wallis, who after a careful examination
j told Owens that lie had been
and tit at was in liu stomach a
| a pilot snake and a frog and that this
; “ fluctuation ” was caused by tbe snake
j chasing the frog through the labyrinth
of his abdominal regions, and that he
would “ git 'em out,” or exorcise these
disagreeable tenants for the sum of sev
en dollars and fifty cents. Owens not
being iu funds, and desiring immediate
relief, offered the Doctor bis pistol, val
ued at five dollars, and his due bill for
(lie balance, which offer was accepted,
and the Doctor went to work with his
arts of conjuration- At the end of two
days, a lizzard was extracted from the
patient’s arm near bis shoulders, and a
quantity ot frog eggs from his heels;
but the frog could not be got out. The
conclusion of the Doctor was that it had
been swallowed by the snake, which was
still in his stomach, and he put the pa
tient under further treatment to get the
snake out. These cases produced quite
an excitement in the noighliorhood
amongst the colored population, and a
division of opinion amongst them as to
the merits of Dr. Wallis, Gratz Smith
and his sons became enraged at being
charged w ith conjuring Stove lirow n and
Marion Owens, and with a party of
friends w ent to the house of Brown and
committed upon him and bis wife the
alleged assault and battery, and created
the riot charged in the w arrant. Hence
the indictment and preliminary hearing
before Justice Ilopkins.
On the day of the trial Owens was
present, and being satisfied that he hgd
not been relieved of the “ fluctuation ”
of the bowels by Dr. Wallis, met the
latter and demanded a return of his pis
tol, which he delivered to him. Owens
is now convinced that he was tricked by
the Doctor. Tbe parties, defendants,
were bound over to appear at the next
term of the court and answer the charges
made against them-/ At the termina
tion of the hearing 011 c of the defen
dants, Frank Glymph, procured a peace
warrant to be issued against Dr. Wallis,
who has fled for purfij unknown.
The above case has excited much
comment in this community, and is cer
tainly a singular development of the
superstitious clement of human nature,
which is to be found amongst every peo
ple, but which, one would have sup
posed, would never be manifested in this
enlightened age and country, a3 it has
been in the above mentioned case.
A Columbus rooster hatched out a
brood of Thickens alone.