Stones thrown by spirits.
Andrew Streit, says the Cincinnati Gazette, is the name of a moderately well-to-do farmer who resides near Cumminsville, on the western side of that limpid stream, Mill Creek, and who is now, in company with the rest of his household, consisting of a wife, mother-in-law, servant girl, and Irish hired man, in a troubled state of mind, resulting from a recent affair in which he was a participant.
Several weeks ago the aforesaid servant was found, about six o’clock in the morning, lying upon her face in the kitchen of Mr Streit’s dwelling-house, with her hands and feet tightly bound, and a gag placed in her mouth that effectually prevented her from making any outcry. On being released from this predicament, she, in answer to the various questions propounded to her, sated that she was about kindling the fire to take her breakfast, when a man suddenly seized, tied, and gagged her.
This strange occurrence was food for conversation in the quiet farmhouse for the rest of the day, but another still more startling circumstance took place that puzzled the brains of the honest inmates exceedingly. They were seated quietly conversing about the affair of the morning, when a volley of stones came rattling about the place. A rush out of the house was the immediate consequence of this onslaught, but when they stood in the open air no person was to be seen, and the question of who threw the stones was a mystery. This attack was repeated several times during the day, and the most attentive watching could not discover the perpetrators. The farmer was terribly frightened at this state of affairs, and started post-haste for the city, where he entered complaint at the Oliver Street Station House against the unknown disturbers of his peace.
Officer Schmidt was thereupon commissioned to make a search around the premises on the following day, but his investigation developed nothing, while the bombardment of missiles still continued at intervals. On the third day following the inauguration of these unwelcome ceremonies, Lieut. Lew Wilson, of Oliver Street Station, determined to take the matter into his own hands, and therefore started for the scene of action with a force of six men to assist him.
Arriving on the ground, he disposed his men to the best advantage, and after securing for himself a commanding position upon a hill overlooking the field, set the officers to scouring the immediate neighbourhood, while he, with bated breath and eager glance, awaited developments. As the men were exploring a deep ravine and the lieutenant was watching the game to be unearthed, suddenly, to the inexpressible astonishment of the guardians of the law then and there assembled, “thud! thud!” came a couple of stones against the house. Others followed, rattling against the weather boarding, smashing windows, and one striking the leg of a baby the lady of the house was holding in her arms inside the dwelling.
Consternation was depicted on the faces of the inmates of the besieged residence at this assault, and the lieutenant, though at a loss to comprehend where the missiles came from, ordered his men, with the energy of a military hero, to continue the hunt, and bring him, dead or alive, the reckless person who thus assailed a dwelling under his protection. The men, nothin loth, and with a fervent desire to unravel the mystery, beat the bushes in every direction, assisted by the Irish labouring man, who, with a musket on his shoulder, did guard duty around the premises. All to no purpose, however, and they were finally compelled to acknowledge their search a bootless one, and return to the city.
The next day the servant girl, with the Irishman as a guard, was sent home to her parents in Cumminsville, and when the native of the Emerald Isle returned from the journey, his eyes were like miniature saucers, and big, cold drops of perspiration stood upon his brow. The cause was soon told. He had nearly completed his journey in company with the girl, when a sudden discharge of stones rattled about the ears of the couple, and frightened them nearly to death, as they were in an open country which afforded no opportunity for an ambush.
Since the girl left Mr Streit’s house no stones have been thrown, but the family, as might have been expected, are at sea regarding the affair, and are strongly inclined to the belief that the place is haunted.
On the Sunday following the incidents we have narrated, the girl was coming out of a church in Cumminsville, when she espied, a short distance from her, the identical man who had tied her so securely. A two-edged knife, she said, was in one of his hands, and the other was clenched and held in a threatening manner towards her. She was terribly frightened at the appearance and actions of the man, but before she could give an alarm he had disappeared. There are now one farmer, three women, one Irishman, and eight policemen ransacking their brains to find a solution of the deep mystery in which this affair is shrouded.
The Medium and Daybreak, 18th November 1870.