USA > New Jersey > Morris County > Morristown > Historic Morristown, New Jersey : the story of its first century > Part 29
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"'Friday evening next, at the Academy in this Town, will be presented,
"'A Dramatic Piece, called " 'The "'Morris-Town Ghost; "'Or, The "'Force of Credulity ; " 'To which will be added, "'Chrononhotonthologos.
""Tickets at three shillings each, to be had at Mr. Shute's.
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Doors to be opened at five o'clock, and the entertainment to begin precisely at six.
" 'Elizabeth-Town, October 19, 1791.'"
"This play (which is said to have been written by a son of Rev. James Richards, D. D., a former Morristown pastor) was repeated January 27, 1792, but I find no other play an- nounced at the Academy in looking over the New Jersey Journal for several years. The drama was probably written for the occasion and I find no trace of its having been printed. (The actors were probably all bought up, and destroyed, the present writer may be pardoned for injecting).
From the circumstance of the "dramatic piece" enacted by those "bad boys" at Elizabeth-Town, in the year 1791, the year previous to the publication of the "Morristown Ghost" in the form of a 16mo pamphlet, it is very evident the story of the ghostly depredations of Rogers and his accomplices in Morris- town and vicinity, was "in the air" before it was "in a book;" which is presumptively, at least, in favor of the authenticity of the story as graphically related in the volume, of which every copy, so far as possible, was "bought up and destroyed," after its publication. Byron says:
Words are things; and a small drop of ink, Falling like dew upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think."
This is especially true of written words; and of this truth we have a practical illustration in the following circumstance: David Young, whose name, nearly
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four-score years ago, adorned the title pages of many of the almanacs of the period suggested, "accident- ally," as we are informed, found a copy of the original "Morristown Ghost" at Elizabeth, and, doubtless aware that this was the "only copy" in existence, and devoutly wishing to confer upon his fellowmen the benefits of a new edition, there soon appeared in New Jersey a little book bearing the following title: "The Wonderful History of the Morristown Ghost; thor- oughly and carefully revised. 'By David Young, New- ark. Published by Benjamin Olds, for the author. J. C. Totten, Printer." This was in the year 1826. Whether David Young, mathematician and almanac compiler, made "bar'ls o' money" from his reprint, the writer is unable to say. The reprint produced by the enterprising Morristown publishers, already men- tioned, was, of course, of more recent date.
Notwithstanding the delivery, by the "perennial perambulating (hyperbole continued) typo," to the "Yankee preacher-author" of the "wrong goods," the latter has for some time been in possession of what constitutes "the heart" of the "Morristown Ghost," to wit, the full name of the county seat worth- ies from whose none-too-deep pockets (the Revo- lution had impoverished some, at least, of them) money is alleged to have been extorted by Rans- ford Rogers and his accomplices, and he now pro- ceeds to-publish these names? Not yet; not yet, dear reader. Speaking of the names of the fathers duped by Rogers and his auxilliary ghosts, recalls the
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recent receipt of a letter by the writer from a gentle- man residing many miles from Morristown. After expressing the pleasure with which he had been read- ing the story of Morristown's first century, as pug- lished serially in the Saturday issues of the Newark Evening News, he continues:
"When you come to deal with the 'Morristown Ghost,' a copy of the early account of which (perhaps Young's) I have, please let me know if you learn the names of the persons who were duped. The names, I think, were once published, and afterward the prints suppressed. I am curious to know the names of the victims."
In the present writer's reply to the very interesting letter above mentioned he made an honest confession of having in his possession "the names" of all the fathers duped by the Morristown ghost and his auxil- iaries; but added, that for the sake of the living descendants of those duped fathers, he did not con- sider it kind to publish them in the story of Morris- town's first century.
"Why not?" have several friends in manifest aston- ishment inquired of the writer, when he has expressed his disinclination to do so; "why not; it is matter of history, is it not?"
Matter of history it most assuredly is, but this kind of argument is a two-edged sword that cleaves two ways. Because it is history, and not myth or legend, is a most potent reason, as the writer conceives why he should not publish the names of our worthy sires, the
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victims of superstition, and of the misfortunes of war by which some of them were impoverished, and hence made hyper-sensitive to the glitter of gold. How about the superstitions of the twentieth century? Would not our time be more profitably employed in "showing them up?"
Since the amusing experiences of the writer pre- viously mentioned, it has been his rare pleasure to see with his own eyes, and handle with his own hands, a genuine copy of the original edition of "The Morris- town Ghost." A careful comparison of the typogra- phy of this book with that of "The Prompter; or a Commentary on Common Sayings & Subjects," printed at Newark, New Jersey, in the year 1793, by John Woods, proves, to the satisfaction of the writer, that both books were printed at the same office.
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CHAPTER XX.
"Glendower .- I can call spirits from the vasty deep. Hotspur .- Why so can I, or so can any man, But will they come when you do call for them?"
T was once the prevailing belief among the people of Morris Coun- I ty that during the Revolution large sums of money had been buried in the earth by Tories and others, and that these buried treasures were zealously guarded by spirits. A single instance, only, of the "others" will be cited, that of Elihu Bond, the father of Mrs. Martha Doremus Pruden, widow of Cyrus Pruden, recently deceased at Morristown. Mr. Bond, the father of Mrs. Pruden, served as a pri- vate in the New Jersey line in the Revolutionary army. . "During the war he buried a small chest con- taining silverware and money; and when, at the close of the war, he went to recover his buried treasure, he found it undisturbed and intact. This chest, together with the several silver spoons and a few coins that
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were hidden in it, are now in possession of the Wash- ington Association, and on exhibition in Headquarters at Morristown."
The knowledge of the art of dispelling the guardian spirits was considered indispensable to the obtainment of the coveted buried treasures. Schooley's Moun- tain, situated about twenty miles west of Morristown, was supposed to be the locality chiefly selected for the burial of these treasures, which was done, in the case of Tories, partly as a means of protection against confiscation by the State. Not a few of these Tories, after burying their treasures, had left home, and never returned, having either been slain in the service of the King, whose cause they had espoused, or, if they had survived the war, had been compelled to leave the State and seek a new home in some other country.
It was in the summer of the year 1788 that two Mor- ris County men were traveling through New York State, where, at a place known as Smith's Clove, in Orange County, they formed the acquaintance of a Yankee schoolmaster, one Ransford Rogers by name, hailing from the Nutmeg State. Smith's Clove lies back of Haverstraw, between it and Stony Point. For some time these two enterprising men had been in search of a person who could locate and recover the buried treasures at Schooley's Mountain in their native county. The Yankee schoolmaster, by reason, as he claimed, of his thorough knowledge of chemistry ("chymistry" he called it) and other sciences, pos- sessed the power not only to raise the spirits, good and
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evil, but likewise to dispel them. At last these two Morris County worthies had discovered "their man," and he was therefore urged to accompany them to Morristown, where he could give a practical demon- stration of his skill in "chymistry." To say that thesc Jersey travelers had suddenly become wealthy, pros- pectively, would only be to say that they were under the complete sway of the superstition of the times.
Rogers was too shrewd a man to at once accept the invitation to accompany them to their native heath; not unlike the adept at mock modesty of more recent times, he at first declined the proposal, but the promise of a school in the vicinity of the county seat of Morris induced an oral consent which had been mentally pre- existent. About three miles to the westward of Mor- ristown, on the road leading toward Mendham, and on a hill near the modern residence of Samuel F. Pierson, stood, at the close of the Revolution, a schoolhouse. Over this school Rogers was installed as teacher through the influence of his personally and mercen- arily interested admirers, who hoped he would bring them "much gain by soothsaying."
It was early in the month of August, in the year 1788, that the Yankee pedagogue assumed the grave responsibilities of his suburban appointment. In their undue haste to receive a demonstration of Rogers's occult skill, the treasure-seekers eagerly importuned him to give an exhibition of his art. Realizing that Jerseymen were not, after all, such stupid specimens of humanity as he had at first imagined, the imperative
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need of an accomplice in the practise of his black art dawned upon the mind of Rogers, and, late in the month of August, therefore, he made a hurried trip to New England to select from among his fellow- "chymists" an assistant in his mystic work. He seems to have experienced no difficulty in finding a "kindred spirit," for early in the month of September, Rogers returned to Morristown with an accomplice, with whom he must have been thoroughly satisfied, since the man's name was Goodenough.
Evidently impressed with the desirability of expedi- tion of movement, a secret meeting was held soon 1 after Rogers's return to Morristown, with his im- ported accomplice, at which some eight or ten selected participants were present, and as an indispensable pre- liminary to active operations, these persons were sol- emnly assured by the imported pedagogue, of the presence at Schooley's Mountain of the commonly reported buried treasures. The prevailing belief that this treasure was vigilantly guarded by spirits, and that these must be raised and carefully consulted be- fore it could be utilized by the living, was shrewdly emphasized by Rogers at this initial meeting of the elect. The Yankee schoolmaster gave another rare exhibition of his proverbial modesty by the assurance on his part, at the meeting above mentioned, of his ability to entice the spirits from their resting places, situated somewhere in the earth's bowels, and of his thorough acquaintance with the language of these denizens of darkness, which constituted a sympathetic
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mutual bond which would insure the impartation from the spirits, to him, of the last remnant of occult knowl- edge required for the discovery and actual possession in hand of the treasures interred by Tories and semi- Tories in the days of the Revolution. No finer illus- tration of the shrewdness of Rogers was exhibited than his solemn admonition to the elect, administered at the close of their initial meeting, held apparently at the residence of Mr. - - situated at a secluded spot on the Mendham road, known as "Solitude." This admonition was to refrain from all immorality, on the ground that indulgence therein would offend the denizens of darkness and prevent the yielding up by them of the buried treasures.
The original number of the elect did not long con- tinue, since the dazzle of prospective gold and the irre- sistible impulse to communicate to others the "hope of gain" soon increased the coterie of gold seekers to forty. Rogers's pretended meetings with the guar- dian spirits became frequent. As a means of bolster- ing up the credulity of the elect, he utilized his knowl- . edge of "chymistry" by compounding various chemi- cal ingredients, which, thrown into the air, exploded, causing a variety of appearances mysterious and ex- traordinary, to the active superstition of the people involved. These appearances and other phenomena attending Rogers's chemical experiments were sup- posed by his victims to be of a supernatural origin and character. The skill of the Yankee schoolmaster was still further displayed, and the credulity of the
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elect (elect in the sense of having been carefully se- lected by Rogers as easy victims), still further stimu- lated by occasional and dreadful subterranean explo- sions caused by "timed" explosives placed in the earth, and which, occurring according to careful plan- ning in the night, were a source of great terror to the elect people. Such was the terror occasioned by these phenomena that it was with great reluctance the vic- tims ventured out after dark. But another effect of the "chymical" experiments alluded to was the grow- ing impatience of the elect to take active measures toward the discovery of the buried treasures.
So importunate did they become that a general meeting was called, and notwithstanding the severe storm prevailing not a single treasure seeker was ab- sent. Some, it is said, rode a distance of twelve miles to be present at this spirit conventicle. Between the call for the general meeting, and its occurrence, Rog- ers had thoroughly instructed his accomplice; everything was "cut and dried." To the assembled and wonder-stricken coterie the spirit appeared, and informed them that on a certain night in the near future they must again meet in a field situated half a mile from human habitation, where they would be re- quired to form certain specified angles and circles, to get outside of which would result in their immediate extirpation.
At about half-past 10 o'clock on the night ap- pointed, the elect gathered and marched round and round in solemn procession. A terrible subterranean
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explosion occurring in the near vicinity so thoroughly "jarred" them that their teeth must have chattered. Impressed by the supernatural character of these phe- nomena-"noises," the writer presumes the victims called them-the elect were suitably predisposed to catch the faintest whisper of the guardian spirits; hence, when with hideous groans they made their ap- pearance to Rogers, and he, in the presence of the subdued throng, conversed with them, the elect were fully prepared to accept with avidity their communica- tions, which were, that in order to obtain the buried treasures, each of them (there may have been half a hundred of the elect by this time) must deliver £12 (about $30) to them (the spirits), as an acknowledg- ment. At the same time the spirits manifested their extreme fondness for Rogers by enjoining the elect to fail not to acknowledge him as their mundane leader in future operations. It is said the spirits on the occa- sion mentioned wore machines over their mouths to prevent their voices "giving them away."
November, in the year 1788, was the time of the manifestations thus related. At several subsequent meetings the manifestations of ghostly presence con- sisted of hidous groans, mysterious rappings, sugges- tive and tantalizing jingling of gold and silver coin; and, by way of encouragement in their unworldly en- terprise, the elect were exhorted by the spirits to "Press forward!" There is one feature of the ghostly transactions under review which cannot fail to particu- larly impress the reader, which is this: The guardian
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spirits were willing-so willing, indeed, that it was a part of their considerate requisition-to receive gold and silver coin rather than the "loan paper" then cur- rent in New Jersey, in the way of acknowledgment by the elect.
The spirits were willing to be burdened with metallic money, and to permit the elect to enjoy the convenience of a form of money of lighter weight and more evanescent character also. And another inter- esting feature of the ghost story is the fact that the elect were not at all reluctant to retain for their own use the "loan paper" money, and deliver over to the spirits the hard coin as "an acknowledgment," what- ever that meant in the nomenclature of the spirit land. The reader is cautioned, however, not to regard this transaction, so far as the elect were concerned, as purely unselfish; for local tradition informs us that they expected speedy reimbursement in coin from the well-stocked underground bank. It is said that by the month of March of the following year (1789), the spirits had received from the elect the full amount of the required acknowledgment, and all in coin, be it remembered. How their shroud pockets must have sagged! By this time the spirits had assumed such familiar relations with their cash contributors, that some of the more responsible of them were not a few times aroused from their midnight slumbers in order to have imparted to them by their spirit friends the better course of procedure in obtaining the earth-em- boweled treasures.
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At several private meetings, at which the manifesta- tions were various, the elect were informed by the dis- interested spirits that in the month of May following, they would receive returns for their hard cash, and then did the words of the immortal Bard of Avon come true in the case of each of this batch of happy prom- isees :
. "I am giddy; expectation whirls me 'round. The imaginary relish is so sweet That it enchants my sense."
The month of May was not long in arriving, and upon its arrival the entire company of the elect were assembled in an open field, where the prescribed circle was formed, and the appearance of the spirits awaited in breathless suspense. When they did appear it was to assume a position at a prudent distance from the circle; and then followed a scene that beggars descrip- tion. Symptoms of intense irascibility, attended by the most horrible groans, were exhibited by the spirits, and in their effort to give expression to their irascibility they twisted themselves into postures of the most ghastly sort, which, amid the encompassing darkness, were hideous in the extreme. If the af- frighted spectators had been able to summon up the power of speech each would have cried out:
I feel my sinews slacken'd with the fright And a cold sweet thrills down all o'er my limbs, As if I were dissolving into water.
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In speechless horror, however, the elect listened to the severe upbraidings of the spirits, for the alleged irregularity of their procedure, for their faithlessness, and for their incapacity to "keep a secret," and, worst of all, the spirits indignantly declared that, owing to their inconsistent deportment, the elect would be de- barred from receiving, for the present, the coveted treasures. So enraged did the spirits become, and so overwhelmed by fright were their victims, that the thought of money vanished entirely from their minds, and in their extremity they looked to Rogers for pro- tection. But it was horror added to horror for the elect to discover, that the imported schoolmaster was, apparently, as much frightened as they. Indeed, his efforts to appease the enraged spirits seemed at first almost futile. He did, however, succeed, after re- course to a variety of incantations, in dispelling the ghostly visitants, and once more tranquillity reigned within the circle.
The elect soon dispersed, and, strange to say, their credulity still survived, and their confidence in the Yankee schoolmaster was in no measure abated. They still looked forward expectantly to the posses- sion of the long coveted treasures, lying somewhere in old mother earth. :
Rogers might have been perennially and pleasantly remembered by his friends, the elect, as an expert "chymist," fully qualified to raise even the devil him- self, had he been satisfied to drop the matter where it was. But a wise man has said: "We may recover out
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of the darkness of ignorance, but never out of that of presumption." Rogers had become presumptuous. He soon removed to Morristown village, having given up his school on the Mendham road; he evidently "didn't have to" teach any more.
Two other Yankees who had recently removed to the county seat of Morris, and who had heard of Rog- ers's "chymical" operations, expressed a feverish de- sire to become members of the expectant circle of treasure seekers. To this proposition Rogers de- murred; but he was at length persuaded by them to engage in a second enterprise of a similar character. The nucleus of this second venture, consisting of five pieces of new and raw material, soon held their initial meeting. In addition to the groans and noises hitherto composing the spirit manifestations to the elect, each member of the new circle, including the three Yan- kees, took from a prepared pile a piece of paper, wrap- ped it around his wrist, and thrust the hand out of the door into the darkness, and patiently waited for the spirits to write upon the paper. Withdrawing the hands and the papers and huddling the latter to- gether, they were anxiously examined, when lo! upon one of them, there were found written the mention of a time and place for meeting the spirits and receiving from them instructions concerning the discovery and obtainment of the buried treasures. The writer trusts that no reader will for a moment suppose the spirit message above mentioned was written by either of the Yankee schoolmasters , for that would be to attribute
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to them cuteness of the highest order; cuteness bor- dering on genius.
The spirit-suggested meeting was held at the house of Ransford Rogers, in the village of Morristown. He was evidently growing very religious, for at this meet- ing the exercises were opened with prayer. A sheet of paper was then taken by each member of the new enterprise, whereupon they all proceeded in orderly fashion to a nearby field, where a circle was drawn. With one arm elevated they all fell "with awful rever- ence prone," engaging, with closed eyes, in prayer, and in supplication that the spirit would be pleased to enter the circle and on the paper write his message from . On returning to Rogers's house the papers were shuffled together, and lo! on one the spirit-message was written, in penmanship so elegant that it became a marvel to the amazed coterie.
"The membership of this company must be increas- ed to eleven. Each of the augmented membership must pay to the spirit (as an acknowledgment,' the writer imagines), twelve pounds in gold (specie payment still required)." Such may have been, in substance, the spirit message aforesaid. Rogers evidently "knew" his men. They were identified with the village church, and were presumably, at least, of a pious turn of mind. Hence, the Yankee from Smith's Clove, Orange County, New York, resolved that the gold-seeking en- terprise should be conducted on strictly Christian principles, and having so resolved, he (as the "Morris- town Ghost") inaugurated a systematic visitation of
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church members, representing himself as "the spirit of a just man," made perfect, and piously exhorted them to enter the charmed circle. Result? He persuaded thirty-seven persons, mostly members of Parson Johne's church, to cast their lot in with the gold- seekers. It was not long before some of the more sus- ceptible of these new members began to receive noc- turnal visits, and were exhorted by the spirits to "pray without ceasing," "look to God," and in other ways conduct themselves as good men should.
To inflame their credulity to white heat various tricks were now and then performed by the spirit (the "Morristown Ghost," is meant) for the benefit of the treasure-seekers. `As a token of spirit approbation each member was presented by Rogers with a parcel, which they were informed by the "chymical" expert contained the burned and powdered bones of the spir- it's bodies. This gift had been preceded, however, by the payment (as "a retainer," perhaps) of a portion of the required twelve pounds gold. The powdered bones were to be carefully guarded, but the parcel was not to be opened. The next requirement to be mentiond may not have been particularly difficult, nor onerous, for the treasure-seekers to comply with; it was none else than to drink freely of "Apple jack;" as a result of which compliance, future meetings became somewhat convivial, as well as religious, and on their return home, it was not always easy for the treasure-seekers to find the door latch. But then they were church
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