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THE TRIBUNE.
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VOL. I.?NO. 12. BEAUFORT, S. C., FEBRUARY 10, 1875. $2.00 PER ANNUM.
Down the Shadowed Lane. 1I
Down tho shadowed lauo she goes,
And lier arum are laden i .
With the woodbine and wild roso,
: ^
Happy httle maiden ! (
Sweetly, sweetly doth she sing
As the lark above her ; (
Surely every hving tiling (
Thou hast Been must love her.
As she strayed and as olio sung,
Happy little maiden,
Shadowy lanes and dells among, j
With wild flowere laden, (
Chanced a bonny youth that way,
For the lanes were Bhady ;
She dropped one wee llower, they say, r
Did thiB little lady. f
Dronned a flower, bo thev sav:
Dropped, and uovor mimed it ;
And the youtli, alack a day,
Ticked it up and kissed it.
Now in sweet lano wanderings,
With love-flowers laden, ^
With her love sho strays and sings, {
Happy httle maiden ! t
]
THE GURNHAM MYSTERY. J
Just within the little town of Gurn- t
liam tliero stood, Home twenty years ago, t
a comfortable, old-fashioned dwelling, I
overshadowed by two huge elms, the 1
property and residence of Ezra Gentry i
and liis wife Harriet.
Two years before the opening of my 1
story, ho had t stonished tne good folks 1
of Gurnhain by briuging home to the *
old homestead a wife, young in compari- ?
Hon witli himself, ami remarkably good- 1
lookinc.
Now, had Mrs. Gentry been as goodtempered
as she was good-looking, there
would have been nothing to complain of.
She was industrious, neat, and attentive
o her husband's comfort; but, alas ! she
had, as Ezra soon discovered to his cost,
that one great defect of woman, a sharp
and never-ending tongue. The least
thing worried her; she had no patience
with her husband's little failings, and in
his especial failure to use the door-mat,
and his liabit of , smoking?which was a
seoond nature to him?afforded a constant
source of irritation and fault-finding.
So poor Ezra, finding little peace
at home, absented himself as much as
possible on the plea of " business," until
at length ho rarely -visited home more
than once a mouth, and then 'but for a
day or two at a time.
This still further aggravated his wife's
temper and tongue; so that now, instead
of a welcome, he was generally received
with bitter reproach, invective, and
threats to leave him altogether, and return
to the relatives with whom she had
formerly lived. All this the husband
bore at first with stoical patience; but
there were times when even his quiet
temper was aroused, and it was known
to the neighbors that more than one
scene of violence had taken place between
the two.
Once, after an unusually long absenoe,
k? # i
V?jk/uum V<1<1JUX J J^/UlU C? ? UMV ill/XUO 11UIU I
Nortlibeacli, tho harbor town, fifteen j
miles distant, at which his schooner 1
sometimes received lior lading. On en- ]
tering Guruham, he met his friend <
James Hulliday, to whom he mentioned 1
that ho should remain until Sunday, this i
being Tuesday. On the Thursday fol- i
lowing, Halliday, having some little i
business affairs to discuss with Captain i
Gentry, about dark stepped over to the ]
homestead for that purpose. <
Harriet Gentry stood at the supper- 1
table, washing knives and forks with i
great energy, while her tongue was evi- 1
dently going at an equal rate, fler husband
sat in an arm-chair beside the fire, <
smoking a pipe; not in his usual placid, i
dreamy manner, but with short irregular I
puffs, both were evidently excited and ]
angry, and as tho visitor stood for a mo- 1
meut without the window, he caught the ]
nnnnil of the woman's voiiifl. ntt/trinor in ,
broken phrases:
"Lazy, good-for-notliing lubber;
Wonder what I could have been thinking
of when I married you, or why I
married you at all ?"
" You married me, may be, for money
and a home," returned Ezra, apparently
aroused by tliis cut.
"And a pretty home it is, where
everything depends upon me to be kept
in order. 'Twould go to rock and ruin
but for me, as you know very well.
There's to-day's work of yours, for instance;
the garden gate left open, and
the pigs ruined a whole patch of cabbages.
Dear knows the trouble I have
whenever you come home I"
"And the Lord knows what trouble I
have I" returnod Ezra. " It is the first
time in my recollection that the peace
of this roof has boon destroyed by a
woman's ill tongue and ill temper. I
wish to heaven that my good old mother
were alive again I"
" Thnr? if i? !?alwavs thrnwinc vonr
dead matlior into ray teeth, as if I be <
lieved all you say about her. I've no i
doubt she was a stingy, stuck up, hypo- 1
critical"? 1
" Woman 1" thundered Captain Gen- i
try, rising, and laving down his pipe,
"I've borne enough from you already. <
You may abuse me as muoh as you will; <
jut just buy another word against my
ilessed motner, and I'll "?
"You'll what?" retorted Harriet, layng
down her towel, and advancing tovard
him with inflamed faco and arms
ikimbo. " D'ye think I'm afraid of you,
rou poor pretence of a man, that yoti
tare to threaten me ? What is it you'll
lo, I should like to know ?"
" I'll teach you, once for all, who is
uaster here. I'll put a stop to all this,
)nce and forever ! I'll rid myself of
Here the words were lost to the lisioner
outside the window, as Ezra crossid
to the furthest side of the room, and
ook dotal a clothes-lino which hung
ooped over a wooden peg in the wall.
Chen ho turned toward his wife, but in
10 doing appeared to catch sight of the
incurtained window, and came directly
oward it.
Halliday, unwilling to be caught in the
ict of eavesdropping, hastily slipped
iside ; but he saw the solid wooden
ihutters drawn in, and heard again the
roice of Harriet Gentry in a high key,
hen a half-stifled scream, and the sound
>f a struggle, and a chsiir knocked over,
le retreated, thinking over the scene,
ind feeling rather glad that Gentry had
it last taken so decided a position?"a
ihiug," he said to his wife, m describing
he scene, "which, if he'd been a man
iroper spirit, he'd have done long ago.
But she'll be more quiet after this, take
ny word for it."
Very quiet, indeed, appeared the
lomesteod on the following day, as Haliday
and his wife glanced curiously
icross the road, watching in vain for the
ippearance of either Mrs. Gentry or her
lusbond.
That evening, a neighbor of the name
>f Grimes stepped overto " have a chat"
with the captain. Gentry himself aniwered
his knock, and with a very sober
ind Cast-down countenance, led the way
\o the kitchen.
In answer to Grimes's natural inquiry
'or his wife, he answered briefly that
14 Harriet had gone on a visit to her reations."
Grimes saw that something was wrong,
md, as the captain seemed depressed,
ihortoned his visit. The following
norning the house was discovered to be
flosed, the gate nailed up, and the premises
entirely deserted.
Very soon, however, the matter asrumed
an aspect which was the furthest
possible removed from the ludicrous,
ind aroused not only Gurnham, but the
whole country, into a thrill of horror and
ndignation.
Late one summer morning, Michael
Bweeney, having gone out to look for his
pigs, and having searched in vain about
;heir usual haunts, was returning home,
ind "for shortness," instead of pursuing
die circuitous road, took a direct cut
icross the marshy waste known as Tylei's
LTaCK.
It wa? wet, slimy, and overgrown with
rushes, bushes, and briers. As Michael
arudged along, ho hod occasionally to
ook carefully to his footsteps to avoid a
mee-deep plunge into the mire. His attention
was arrested by something white
ust at his feet, and at the same moment,
iv a sudden, gleam or flash beside it.
Se stopped, and bending, looked down
juriously. What was his surprise to see
that it was a brilliant jewel, evidently set
m gold. In trembling fear and eageriess
he ventured to put forth his hand
uid touch the mysterious treasure. He
lext essayed to take it up, when, to his
borror, he lifted with it from the dark
waters of the marsh a hand?a small and
white woman's hand. And at the same
InBtiint he saw, by the rising moonbeams,
the cold, dead face of a woman I
With a cry, the affrighted Michael
Iropped his new-found treasure, and in
? few desperate leaps had cleared the
treacherous marsh. Never pausing until
tie reached his own oottage, he there, in
broken gasps, poured out to the ears of
bis wifv), and a chance visitor, his mar
melons story. Thence it soon got wind;
md in an hour thereafter some dozen
men were on their way to the haunted
rpot?some believing, some doubting,
others ridiculing the story.
The cause of the believers was, howaver,
triumphant, when, upon reaching
the spot, under the guidance of Micliael,
tiis courage fortified by numerous glasses
of his national beverage, they discovered,
truly, the same dead, unnaturally
white and sodden woman's face glaring
ghastly up in the moonlight.
They drew her out of the dank weeds
md dark waters. Halliday, who, living
nearest the spot, had joined the group
on their expedition, drew near, and with
the others gazed upon the face.
<? Tt ttri?i? i?> 1 j
XV ID UU111DV UDUllJT j lie Hill(1.
An inquest was next morning held
upon the body, and the idontity established
by the testimony of more than
fifty persons who had known Mrs. Gentry
while living.
The body of the unfortunate woman
was horribly bruised; vet death had evidently
been produced by strangulation,'a
pieoe of rope about three yards in length
being found tightly drawn around the
aeek. And this rope, when examined
and compared, corresponded exactly
with the clothes-line which James Halliday
testified to having seen in the hands
of Esra Gentry, as he advanoed threat
eningly towards his wife on the night
' we have mentioned.
Doctor Martin, the chief physician of
Guruham, testified thut on the might of i;
j Thursday, the 15th day of June (the
day on which Halliday paid his visit to
Gentry's house), he was returning at a ;
late hour from visiting a patient in tlio ]
I country, when, on the road near Tyler's <
Track, he saw a woman walking rapidly,
a carpet-bag in her hand, and that slio i
' stopped and inquired of him whether 1
she could reach Land's tavern, two miles J 1
from town, in time for the stage-coach 1
to North beach. He replied in the , i
j affirmative, and passed on, when, at a
turn of the road a little further on, he i
came suddenly upon a man, in whom, the 1
j moon being clenr, he recognized Captain 1
Ezra Gentry. The latter was also walk- <
ing fast, following the woman, and, as i
he passed, he looked down, as if un- i
willing to be recognized.
Doctor Martin could swear to the '
man's having been Ezra Gentry. About 11
the woman he could not bo certain, not | 1
seeiug her face distinctly; yet her figure,
I step and voice, as described by him, cor
responded with those of Gentry's wife. ?
. On the strength of all this testimony, J
the opinion of the townspeople was *
quickly formed. Harriet Gentry had 1
lieen murdered by her husband, Ezra 1
Gentry; and upon this conclusion a war
rant was issued, and two officers dis- i 1
patched to Northbeach in time to arrest j
the suspected murderer, just as he was \ I
about getting his vessel under weigh. :
Captain Gentry turned pale when the |
officer laid his hand upon his shoulder, i !
and informed him that he was arrested '
on the charge of having murdered his ?
wife. "Harriet
ain't dead ?" he gasped, in- J
distinctly.
" She is dead," said the officer. " She
was found dead and buried, in the marsh |
on Tyler's Track, with a rope around !
her neck."
"Gracious heavens!" gasped Ezra, 1
sinking nervelessly into a chair; it was
about there I parted from her. Who '
could have done it? Poor Harriet 1"?
and a moisture rushed to his eye.
"You are suspected," said the officer; 1
and proceeded to mention to him the 1
| suspicious circumstances of the case as 1
| regarded himself.
j The captain listened in silence, a thick '
! perspiration breaking out upon his fore- '
j head, which he mechanically wiped away
| with a cotton liandkerchief. i
When the man had concluded, he re- 1
j marked quietly: "I see. It does look
against me, no doubt; but as I live, I'm an 1
innocent man, and know no more about
this affair than you do. All that Halli- i
day says he saw between me and Harriet
is true; but I merely tied her with the
clothesline to the bed-post, to show I
was the strongest, and when she com;
menced again abusing me and my
mother, I tied a handkerchief over her
mouth. But I felt tlidt I was acting like
a brute to treat a woman in that way; so :
i I soon unloosed her, when she directly ;
/v\mmnrinn<l noolr n*\ 1?a?? I i ? * n
| wiuimvuwu |/icvaiii^ Up liUl U1 UpO, 111 11 I
! towering rage?as, p'raps, poor woman, ! i
I she'd cause to be?declaring she'd go 1
I back to her Uncle Neal's, and never see i
j me again. Well, I hardly believed she was '
j in earnest, knowing that, generally, her 1
j bark was worse than her bite; so I sat 1
j smoking, and let her Rtart off with her 1
| carpet-bag; but when she had been gono
I about fifteen minutes, I started in her
wake, and overhavded her in Tyler's '
Track, just after I passed the doctor on '
the road. I did feel ashamed to look j
the doctor in the faco; for I fancied he'd
met Harriet, and that she'd naturally explained
how she came to be out all alone
at that time of night. When I came
alongside of her I spoke as mildly as I
could; said I was sorry I'd treated her
so, and asked lie'r to go back with me,
when we'd both try to behave better.
But she wouldn't answer mo?wouldn't
listen to me; and so I was forced to return
alone. I felt so badly about it, nnd
so ashamed of myself, that I left Gurnham
tho next day without seeing any
one."
This was the explanation given the
officer by Captain Gentry; and this was
also, nearly word for word, his testimony j
in court, wnen orougnt up lor trial.
It was two days previous to that appointed
for the final hearing of the case,
when a now horror arose in the town of
Gurnham. The house of Ezra Gentry
was haunted?haunted by the ghost of
the murdered woman!
There could bo no doubt of tho fact.
James Halliday, standing in the dusk at
tho door of his house, had seen a pale,
uncertain shadow of a woman pass from
the house to the well and back again.
She hail her throat wrapped around with
a white band or cloth; and though he
was too distant to see her face, yet the
figure and walk were those of Harriet
Gentry.
Such wero the rumors afloat in Gumham
; and so respectable were the charac- j
ters of the witnesses, that even the least
superstitious wero forced to admit that j
there must be " something " in it.
To explain the mystery, and set the |
matter at'rest, it was proposed to go in a !
body to the house on the following night
(the night before the trial), and fully investigate
the whole promises; but only
two young men volunteered, and even 1
these declared that they would not go '
unless reinforced by others. And so the t
plan was postponed. c
The next day was the day ef the t
trial. The court house was crowded, the f
judge, the jury, the counsel, and the c
prisoner all in their places. The pris- (
oner looked pale, but quiet and resigned. 1
tY breathless interest pervaded the as- 8
sembly during the proceedings, until at 8
length the judge commenced delivering a
his address to the jury. Scarcely had 1
lie spoken a dozen words when he was 1
interrupted by a commotion without. t
There was a rush, a confusion of cries I
and exclamations ; and the next moment c
there stalked into the court room, and t
up towards the judge's seat, the ghost 1
of the Geutry house, the form of the t
murdered Harriet Gentry herself?tho i
identical form, with the identical face f
which nearly the whole concourse had ]
scon lying Rtark and cold in death, and <
then lowered into tho grave, and covered i
over with earth. >
The excitement may bo imagined. ^
A.11 rose to their feet; many shrank back, i
ind some lied. The ghost staggered 1
forward to the box in which sat tho pris- s
oner, laid its thin hand gently on his 1
shoulder, and turning its sunKen eyes i
upon the judge, said, in a hollow voice, 1
" Ho is innocent! It was not I who 1
was murdered." e
" Who are you ?" inquired the judge, t
ip-avely ; for even he had been startled f
ioy this unexpected apparition. f
" I am Harriet Gentry?his wife ! I i
left him, in a pet of ill-temper, to go to I
\ friend at a distance. I returned three I
.lays ago, wet with the rain, tired and f
ill. I haven't been able to leave the i
liouse since ; and all whom I spoke to as a
they passed the house, fled from me. I t
thought it was on acoount of my having j
left home as I did, until to-day a good c
woman came in and told me everything, i
[ couldn't rest then. I got out of bed t
rod dressed, and came here." s
She spoke these words with difficulty, s
3cc:isionally pressing her hand to her
throat, as though it pained her, and 1
was more than once interrupted by a fit s
if coughing, such as one may have who 1
is suffering from a violent cold and sore c
throat. * r
To describe the excitement produced J
by this scene would defy description. It *
was soon made evident that the woman ?
was no ghost, but in reality the living *
and breathing Harriet Gentry. Yet, in *
this case, who was the murdered woman ? *
Hnd a ghost itself appeared in court, it J
could not have occasioned more astonish- J
ment and bewilderment than was pre- *
1.1 _ 1L5- _ 1
suinvu iii mis simple question. me
perfect resemblance of tliifl corpse, in J
form and feature, to Harriet Gentry had '
been in itself sufficient to justify overy
person who knew her in swearing that it 1
was here; and the identity had been T
corroborated by the shawl m which the 8
body had been found wrapped ; and the A
rope about its neck, corresponding so |
exactly with the clothes-lino in Gentry's *
house, and the knife on the floor, show- 8
ing in what manner the rope had been 1
cut. Yet here was Harriet alive ; while 1
a score of persons liad seen the body of j 4
the murdered woman buried in the old ; 1
churchyard, where tlio grave still was ; j
as arrrnnged on the day of her burial, i *
and presenting no appearance of having 1
been since disturbed. 4
Captain Gentry was, of course, at once 1
set at liberty, and accompanied liis wife f
home, where he remained, amusing and 1
attending her with assiduous care. Har- *
riet was for some weeks very ill; and, as
she slowly mended, people were sur- J
prised to find how changed in disposi- J
tion she appeared?how patient and *
quiet, and how uuwontedly gentle to- 4
wards her husband. But the truth was, 1
that she had received a great shock in the 4
circumstances above related; and, re- ?
fleeting how nearly she had been the 1
cause of the death of her husband, who, *
but for her timely appearance, must as- '
suredly have been hanged for a crime he
hud not committed, her heart was soft- 1
ened towards him. She had, beneath all 1
her irritability, a real regard for her hus- 1
band; and, being in the main a well- 1
meaning woman, it had needed only this
to open her eyes to her own faults, and J
work a reformation in both temper and '
tongue. And, from this time forth, *
Captain Ezra found himsolf a much 1
happier man than ho had ever before 1
been.
Just ten voars after the events here
related, Fatter Brian, a priest, in Wheeling,
was summoned at midnight to visit
a man who, the physician said, had not
many hours to live. He called himself ]
Gustavo Weimar; and the following was 1
the confession which, on his deathbed,
he made to the good priest: >
About twelve years previous, he said,
he had met in London a young woman i
who wont by the name of Matilda Roche, i
whom ho had marriod. The union was t
not a happy one. Matilda was pretty
and vain, and her husband jealous. (
Repeatedly ho had remonstrated with e
her upon her light conduct and neglect i j
of home duties, until at length she j 1
threatened to leave him entirely, and re- !
turn to Londou. She was of a respecta- j t
ble family, she said, and being an or- j 1
phan, had, together with a sister named j
Harriet, been brought up by a certain
' Uncle Neal," from -whom Bhe had run
iway at fourteen, and, to prevent pursuit
>r inquiry, had caused a report of her
leath to be circulated among her former
riends. This had succeeded, and none
>f them huh pec ted that she was still %
dive. Yet, since her marriage with
Weimar, she had become exceedingly
mxious to once more see her relatives,
ind especially her sister, whom she said
vas married, and living in Gum ham.
Weimar refused to allow her to leave ,
lome; and she was equally determined
o do so. Many bitter scenes took place
>etween them, and at length the wife
lisappeared, taking with her a sum of
hirty pounds from her husband's desk.
This conduct so exasperated Weimar
hat he set out in pursuit of her, and
vent directly to Gurnham, whither he
tut comment sne nau nrsi proceeded.
3e easily traced her thither, and went at
nice to the house of Ezra Gentry, to
vkich a stranger directed him. This
vas past nine o'clock in the evening. As
tVeimar knocked at the front door, it v'
vas opened by his wife. Upon seeijig
iim, she looked more indignant than
ilarmed, and, at first, refused to allow
iim to enter; but he pushed his way
last her. In the discussion that ensued,
le learned that she had arrived but one
lour before him, had found the house
ilint up and deserted, but the back ddbr
in locked; and, concluding that the
amily would return that night or the
'ollowing day, had entered, and, over:ome
with fatigue, had directly gone to
>ed, when she was aroused by her husband's
knock. She reproached him for
ollowing her, bade him leave the house,
vherq, she said, he had no right to be,
ind refused to give up the money. He
hereupon commenced searching her
lerson, which she resisted, and a scene
if struggling and violence succeeded,
n which the woman had nearly gotten
he mastery, when Weimar, catching
ight of the clothes-line hanging near, ' *
leized upon it.
" At first," he said, " I thought merey
to frighten her by threatening to
tranglo her with it ; but no sooner had
' got the rope round her neck than a
lemon seemed to possess me. I could
10 more have let loose my strain upon x
hat rope than a starving man oould
lave refrained from swallowing the meat
let Ibcforo him. I killed her; taking a ,
rind of fiendish joy in witnessing her
leatk-ngonies, and yet all the time knowng
that I loved her, and would fur a
uenme rue tne aeea. ana bo it was ;
'or, from that day to this, I have never
mow peace of mind or of conscience."
The deed committed, the next care
vas to conceal the body. His wife had
irought with her merely a valise ; and
his and its contents he carefully burned
n the fireplace of the bedroom. There
vas no time, lie thought, to dig a grave ;
ind he was not sufficiently acquainted
vitli the premises and the neighborhood
o choose a safe place of concealment
or the body. Yet he had observed, on
lis way to Gurnham, a lonely fend marshy
vaste about half a mile from the house,
vliere, it occurred to him, he might consent
the body, for at least such time as
vould allow of his getting far away from
,liat part of the country. And as neither
lis wife nor himself were known there?
lor, indeed, having both arrived after
lark, had been seen sufficiently to be
ecognized again?there was apparently
10 danger of the body, if found, being
dentified, or of suspicion being directly
o himself.
The concealment of the body of the
nurdered woman effected, the murderer
lad lost no time in making his escape rom
the nlace?stealthilv crossincr the
sountry by night, and striking for the
learest railroad. At his own home, no
longer menaced him. Bis acquaintances
dl knowing the circumstances of his
wife's departure, it was easy to satisfy
heir inquiries by saying that he had not
seen able to discover her.
And thus he had lived for ten years,
insuspected, and regarded as a good
nan and neighbor?he whose hands
were dyed with the blood of his own
wife.
At the request of tho dying man, the
?ood griost forwarded tliis statement to
\Irs. Gentry. And thus was at length
explained the mystery of the strange
iffair which had so long puzzled and bewildered
the good people of Gurham.
A King in Brooklyn.
John King, when called before Justioe
Delmar, to answer the oomplaint preferred
against him, said to the officer : _
" Now tell the trnth, and that is all I
want vou to do."
" lou were drnnk, and you know you
rere, and you know, and so do all the
leighbors know, that you are a subject
o the"?
" Stop," said King, interrupting the
)fficer, " you see that you confute yourlelf,
and the judge there can see that
pou do, for how, let me ask you. can a
ling l?e a subject, eh ?"
" Give the officer Ave days to answer
hat, John," said the justice, 44 and in
:hr meantime you go to Raymond street
1