Supposing that
Sheriff Case and Billy M’Pherson,
Who are always around especially at that time of the night, were playing a joke upon him, Jeff. went up the step and through the door leading from the boiler room into the hall. He says that he fairly felt the awful silence around him, while in the farther end of the hall, directly under the east entrance of the building, he saw distinctly the dim outlines of a coffin, and lying upon the top of it an outstretched human skeleton. The thin transparent skull seemed to be lit up by an inward light, and while the coffin was motionless the limbs of the skeleton seemed to be trembling and shaking. But it is just possible that this was apparent rather than real, and that it was the limbs of Jeff. himself that were shaking, for by this time he began to feel intensely warm, notwithstanding the fire had gone down, and great drops of sweat stood upon his forehead and his hair, if it had been hair instead of wool, would no doubt have stood on end. Jeff. thinks he stood there fixed and unmovable about an hour and a half, in fact until
the coffin, the skeleton,
and the lights had faded away. He supposed the performance had now ended for the night, but just as he was about to return to the boiler room he saw a tall, thin figure dressed in white, slowly descending the stairs from the main floor above. He was not in a state of mind to examine the figure critically. He only knew that it passed under the arches of the tower and disappeared in the dark room in the northeast corner of the building. No sooner had the phantom disappeared than a gentle, cool breeze seemed to blow through the halls, and he heard the whispered words–but seeming loud enough to be heard through the whole building–”I shall come again!” Upon hearing this announcement Jeff. crept with a heavy heart back to the boiler room, fastened the door, and was glad to escape in the morning without further experiences of a supernatural kind. He immediately communicated the above facts to tow or three persons who advised him to keep quiet and say nothing about the matter until the supervisors meet, next week, when the whole truth will be made known and sustained by affidavit.
The supernatural phenomena coming to the ears of Superintendent McPherson and the court house contractors, they professed to disbelieve the story, and insist that the whole is a rascally joke upon the superstitious janitor. But as they have tried to keep Jeff. quiet until after the building is accepted by the county, it is evident that they regard the matter in a more serious light than a joke. It may result in the building being rejected by the county, for the people may not want to pay $60,000 for a haunted court house.