Crawford And The Devils!

Some years ago, on two different occaions, The Democrat published an acount of singular an mysterious ciroumtanoes occurring in the dead of night at lie oourt house - once white Jeff Davis was janitor and again when Tunis Horn was janitor,- and now it seems that tie present janitor, Mr. Crawford, has ïad experiences almost, or quite as t rango as his predeoessors. Each of líese persons, for some reason, have a ti'ange dread of the subj et and refuse o talk about it, or if pressed will deny it, nd the present one, espeoially, will put ou off witu a shake of the head and a unous twinkle of the eye. Secretive as is Mr. Crawford, all Lis family and rienda are not so, however, and The Demoorat has been able to get hold of ome of the facts, which we deern it our uty to lay before the PEOPLE OF THE OODNTÏ. We know it is the fashion these days ;o treat with ridicule or make light of ie idea of ghosts and haunted houses, ut science, with all its assured wisdom, will hardly dispel from the human mind eliefs and oonacious experiences which ; has possessed from the earliest ages nd in all nations, from the days when ie Witoh of Sndor brought up the odily presenoe of the dead prophet irough the floor, to the present day, when thousands of the most respectablu nd intelligent paople in the land will estify to haviag seen the materiahzed SPIRITS OF THEIR DEAD FRIENDS. Several timee during the winter strange ïoises have been hbard by the janitor in ie court house, usually from one to iree o'olock in the morning. Somemes he would hear indistinct and mufed Toices, as if half a dozen men were mgaged in angry debate and like old adíes at a quilting, all talking at onoe; nd sometimes he would hear noises hke heels slowly rolling back and forth on ie brick pavement of the basement ïalls. Once or twice the donrs of thn ooms nbove have opened and olosed gain with a bang, without any sufficiou t ause. öome two weeks ago the janitor was onfident he heard, during the night, ome one walking through the basement, ideed, he could hear distinctly the slow ind measured steps of some one on the riek parement, and detected A FAINT LIGHT ïrough the glass in the upper panels of ie door of his sleeping room. Without iwakening his wife or child, Mr. Craword quietly slipped out of bed and, gong to the south door of his apartments, pposite the boiler room, softly opened i and looked into the hall. At first he leard no sound except the moaning f the wind as it swept through the aked branches of the elm trees on the torthwest side of the oourt house square. Jut as he hstenod he thought HE HEARD WHISPBBINGS n the pioneer room and indioations of a aint hght therein. With a good deal of repidation he stepped softly toward the ioneer room. As he approacbed the oor he became consoious of some unusual presence. He tried to turn back, ut oould not. Some unsecn force eemed to push him along. His hair, so o speak, stood on end. He began to eel weak in the kneee and, although it was a frosty night, and he was but parïally dressed, the oold sweat rolled off rom his faoe as if he was at work in a iay fleld. As he approached nearer and earer to the door, he began to breathe tiorter and shorter. He feit a lerrible, SMOTHERING SENSATION, recisely as one feels just before suoumbing to the influence of chloroform r ether. With this terrible feeling, he eemed to be forced, without any exerise of his owu will, before the pioneer oom door. Janitor Crawford nover, to lis dying day, will forget the scène there resented. The room seemed to be londed with a dim, pale and sickly light nd everything in the room appeared erfectly distinct - the show cases and heir content, the weaver's shuttle and eel, the thousand-and one souvenirs of be past gathered by Mr. Davis, and esecially the ancient cart wheels leaning gainst the wall. In the center of the oom, HS if eugaged in secret consulta ion, sat THRKE OLD MBN. ,'hey looked thin and unsubstantial; ;here was no blood in their faces and iheir eyes were glassy and oold; one of ;hem he distinctly recognized as old Mr. 'ettibone, formerly oouuty survevor, who died some years ago. The other wo he could not identify, although the countenanee of one of them had a smguar resemblanoe to the pioture of Juage iingsley in the probate office. Suddenly here seemed to be a puff of air in the asement and the tbree old men turned heir cold, glassy eyes upon the janitor, as he stood at the door before them, and pointed with their liONO, SKINNY FIN0EB8 o the fioor at their feet. The janitor ooked and beheld, there at the feet of the old men, a human skeleton, and he oould distinotly hear. between the cold ind naked riba, the quiok beating of a iving heart! At this gbastly spectacle :he janitor, naturally enough, feil to the loor in a swoon. When he carne to ïimself the door of the pioneer room was closed and the halls of the basement were dark and cold and still The janitor crept back to his room. Before getting into bed he looked at his watoh. It was half-past two in the morning - the precise hour when, four year ago, janitor Horton saw the PHANTO1I CHECKEB FLATERS at the farther end of the hall, under the east end of the court house, and the precise hour when, seveu years ago, janitor JolT Davis Biiw a human skeleton grínning upon a disseoting table at the same place. It is of no use to attempt to pass off as flctitious these oft-recurring phenomena. Faots are facts. For some reason or other the ghosts of the couri house will not down. The public may remain incredulous, and jamtors, for fear of alarming their families, may re fuse to talk, or deny it altogether, ba the time is coming when these mysterious apparitions will be admitted and ex plained upon philosophio or scientifio principies.