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and welcome back to Nighty Night. Bedtime stories

0:40

to keep you awake. I'm your

0:42

host, Rabia Chaudhry. In this

0:44

week's story, by one of my favorite

0:46

authors, Ambrose Bierce, we are led on

0:49

a slow, suspenseful climb to terror. We're

0:51

at the summit, we are met with not one, but

0:54

two fantastic plot twists. A

1:00

Holy Terror by Ambrose Bierce. Part

1:08

1 There

1:15

was an entire lack of interest in the

1:17

latest arrival at Hurdy Gurdy. He

1:20

was not even christened with the picturesquely

1:22

descriptive nickname, which is so frequently a

1:24

mining camp's word of welcome to the

1:26

newcomer. In almost

1:28

any other camp thereabout, this circumstance

1:31

would of itself have secured him

1:33

some such appellation as the white-headed

1:35

conundrum or no-sarvey, an

1:38

expression naively supposed to suggest to

1:40

quick intelligences the Spanish who knows.

1:44

He came without provoking a ripple

1:46

of concern upon the social surface

1:48

of Hurdy Gurdy, a place

1:50

which, to the general Californian contempt of

1:52

men's personal history, super added a local

1:54

indifference of its own. The

1:57

time was long past when it was of any importance to the people

1:59

of the United States. who came there, or

2:01

if anybody came. No one

2:04

was living at hurdy-gurdy. Two

2:07

years before, the camp had boasted a

2:09

stirring population of two or three thousand

2:11

males and not fewer than a dozen

2:14

females. A majority of

2:16

the former had done a few weeks'

2:18

earnest work in demonstrating, to the disgust

2:20

of the latter, the singularly mendacious character

2:22

of the person whose ingenious tales of

2:24

rich gold deposits had lured them tither.

2:26

Work, by the way,

2:28

in which there was as little mental

2:31

satisfaction as pecuniary profit, for

2:33

a bullet from the pistol of a

2:35

public-spirited citizen had put that

2:37

imaginative gentleman beyond the reach of a

2:39

spursian on the third day of the camp's existence.

2:43

Still his fiction had a certain foundation, in

2:45

fact, and many had lingered

2:47

a considerable time in and about hurdy-gurdy,

2:50

as though now all had been long gone.

2:54

But they had left ample evidence of their sojourn,

2:56

from the point where Injun Creek falls into

2:58

the Rio San Juan Smith, up

3:01

along both banks of the former into the

3:03

cannon whence it emerges, extended a

3:05

double row of four lone shanties that

3:07

seemed about to fall upon one another's

3:09

neck to bewail their desolation, while

3:13

about an equal number appeared to have straggled up

3:15

the slope on either hand and perched

3:17

themselves upon commanding eminences, whence

3:20

they craned forward to get a good view of

3:22

the affecting scene. Most

3:24

of these habitations were emaciated as

3:26

if by famine to the condition

3:28

of mere skeletons, about which

3:30

clung unlovely tatters of what might

3:32

have been skin, but was really

3:35

canvas. The little

3:37

valley itself, torn and gashed by

3:39

pick and shovel, was unhandsome, with

3:42

long bending lines of decaying flume

3:44

resting here and there upon the

3:46

summits of sharp ridges, and stilting

3:48

awkwardly upon the intervals upon unsoon

3:51

poles. The

3:53

whole place presented that raw and forbidding aspect

3:55

of arrested development, which is a new country

3:58

substitute for the solemn grace of rule. ruin

4:00

wrought by time. Wherever

4:02

there remained a patch of the original

4:04

soil, a rank overgrowth of weeds and

4:06

brambles had spread upon the scene, and

4:09

from its dank unwholesome shades the

4:11

visitor, curious in such matters, might

4:14

have obtained numberless souvenirs of the camp's

4:16

former glory. Celloless

4:18

boots mantled with green mould and

4:20

plethora of rotting leaves, an

4:23

occasional old felt hat, the sultry

4:25

remnants of a flannel shirt, sardine

4:28

boxes inhumanely mutilated, and

4:30

a surprising profusion of black bottles

4:32

distributed with a truly Catholic impartiality

4:36

everywhere. The

4:46

man who had now rediscovered Hurdigurdi

4:48

was evidently not curious as to

4:50

its archaeology, nor as

4:52

he looked about him upon the dismal evidences

4:55

of wasted work and broken hopes, their

4:57

dispiriting significance accentuated by the ironical

4:59

pomp of a cheap gilding by

5:02

the rising sun, did he

5:04

supplement his sigh of weariness by

5:06

one of sensibility. He

5:08

simply removed from the back of his

5:10

retired burrow, a miner's outfit, a trifle

5:13

larger than the animal itself, picketed that

5:15

creature, and, selecting a hatchet from his

5:17

kit, moved off at once across

5:19

the dry bed of Injun Creek to

5:21

the top of a low, gravelly hill beyond.

5:25

Looking across a prostrate fence of brush

5:27

and boards he picked up one of the latter, split

5:30

it into five parts, and sharpened them at one

5:32

end. He then began a kind

5:34

of search, occasionally stooping to

5:37

examine something with close attention. At

5:39

last his patient's scrutiny appeared to be

5:42

rewarded with success, for he suddenly

5:44

erected his figure to its full height, made

5:46

a gesture of satisfaction, and pronounced

5:48

the word Scari. He

5:52

then, at once, strode away with long

5:54

equal steps which he counted. Then he

5:56

stopped and drove one of his stakes into the earth.

5:59

Then he left. looked carefully about him, measured

6:02

off a number of paces over a

6:04

singularly uneven ground, and hammered

6:06

in another. Pacing off

6:08

twice the distance at a right angle

6:10

to his former course, he drove down

6:12

a third, and, repeating the process, sank

6:15

home the fourth, and then a fifth.

6:18

This he split at the top and in the

6:20

cleft inserted an old letter envelope covered

6:22

with an intricate system of pencil tracks.

6:26

In short, he staked off a hill claim

6:28

in strict accordance with the local mining laws

6:30

of Hurdegurdy and put up the customary notice.

6:35

It is necessary to explain that one of

6:38

the adjuncts to Hurdegurdy, one

6:40

to which that metropolis became afterwards

6:42

itself an adjunct, was

6:44

a cemetery. In

6:47

the first week of the camp's existence, this

6:49

had been thoughtfully laid out by a committee

6:51

of citizens. The day

6:53

after had been signalized by a debate between two

6:55

members of the committee, with reference

6:58

to a more eligible site, and

7:00

on the third day the necropolis was inaugurated

7:02

by a double funeral. As

7:05

the camp had waned, the cemetery

7:08

had waxed, and long before the

7:10

ultimate inhabitant, victorious alike over the

7:12

insidious malaria and the forthright revolver,

7:16

had turned the tail of his packass upon

7:18

Injun Creek, the outlying settlement had

7:20

become a populous, if not popular,

7:22

suburbs. And

7:24

now, when the town was fallen into

7:26

the seer and yellow leaf of an

7:28

unlovely senility, the graveyard, though

7:31

somewhat marred by time and circumstance,

7:33

and not altogether exempt from innovations

7:35

in grammar and experiments in orthography,

7:37

to say nothing of the devastating

7:39

coyote, answered the humble

7:41

needs of its denizens with a reasonable

7:44

completeness. It

7:46

comprised a generous two acres of ground,

7:48

which was commendable thrift, but needless care

7:50

had been selected for its mineral unworth,

7:53

contained two or three skeleton trees, one

7:55

of which had a stout lateral branch

7:58

from which a weather-waisted rope was found. still

8:00

significantly dangled, half

8:02

a hundred gravelly mounds, a score of

8:05

rude headboards displaying the literary

8:07

peculiarities above mentioned, and a

8:09

struggling colony of prickly pairs.

8:12

Altogether, God's location, as with

8:15

characteristic reverence it had been called, could

8:18

justly boast of an indubitably

8:20

superior quality of desolation. It

8:24

was in the most thickly settled part of

8:26

this interesting domain that Mr. Jefferson

8:28

Doman staked off his claim. If,

8:31

in the prosecution of his design, he should deem

8:34

it expedient to remove any of the dead, they

8:36

would have the right to be suitably re-interred.

8:47

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9:53

Mr. Jefferson Doman was from Elizabethtown, New Jersey,

9:55

where six years before he had left his

9:57

heart in the keeping of a Gold. old-haired,

10:00

demure-mannered young woman named

10:02

Mary Matthews, as collateral

10:04

security for his return to claim her hand.

10:09

"'I just know you'll never get back alive. You

10:11

never do succeed in anything,' was the

10:13

remark which illustrated Miss Matthews' notion

10:15

of what constituted success and,

10:18

inferentially, her view of the nature

10:20

of encouragement. She added,

10:22

"'If you don't, I'll go to California, too. I

10:24

can put the coins in little bags as you dig

10:26

them out.'" This

10:29

characteristically feminine theory of oriferous deposits

10:31

did not commend itself to

10:33

the masculine intelligence. It

10:35

was Mr. Doman's belief that gold was found

10:37

in a liquid state. He

10:40

deprecated her intent with considerable

10:42

enthusiasm, suppressed her sobs with a

10:44

light hand upon her mouth, laughed

10:46

in her eyes as he kissed away her

10:48

tears, and with a cheerful tata went

10:51

to California to labor for her through the

10:53

long, loveless years with a strong

10:55

heart, an alert hope and steadfast

10:57

fidelity that never for a moment

11:00

forgot what it was about. In

11:03

the meantime, Miss Matthews had granted a monopoly

11:05

of her humble talent for sacking up

11:07

coins to Mr. Joe Seaman of New York,

11:10

Gambler, by whom it was better

11:12

anticipated than her commanding genius for

11:14

unsacking and bestowing them upon his

11:16

local rivals. Of

11:18

this latter aptitude, indeed, he

11:21

manifested his disapproval by an act which

11:23

secured him the position of clerk of

11:25

the laundry in the state prison, and

11:28

for her the subricat of

11:30

split-faced mall. At

11:32

about this time she wrote to Mr. Doman

11:34

a touching letter of renunciation, enclosing

11:36

her photograph to prove that she no

11:38

longer had a right to indulge the

11:40

dream of becoming Mrs. Doman, and

11:43

recounting so graphically her fall from a

11:45

horse that the staid plug upon which

11:47

Mr. Doman had ridden into Red Dog

11:49

to get the letter made

11:51

vicarious atonement under the spur all the

11:53

way back to camp. The

11:56

letter failed in a signal way to accomplish

11:58

its object. fidelity which

12:00

had been to Mr. Doman a matter of love

12:02

and duty, was thenceforth a

12:05

matter of honor also. And

12:07

the photograph, showing the once pretty face sadly

12:10

disfigured by the slash of a knife, was

12:13

duly instated in his affections, and

12:16

its more comely predecessor treated with

12:18

neglect. On being informed

12:20

of this, Miss Matthews, it is only fair to

12:22

say, appeared less surprised than

12:24

from the apparently low estimate of Mr.

12:26

Doman's generosity, which the tone of her

12:29

former letter attested one would naturally have

12:31

expected her to be. Soon after,

12:34

however, her letters grew infrequent

12:37

and then ceased altogether. But

12:41

Mr. Doman had another correspondent, Mr.

12:44

Barney Brie, of Hurdigurty, formerly

12:46

of Red Dog. This

12:49

gentleman, although a notable figure among

12:52

miners, was not a miner.

12:54

His knowledge of mining consisted mainly in

12:57

a marvelling command of its slang, to

12:59

which he made copious contributions, enriching

13:02

its vocabulary with a welt of

13:04

uncommon phrases more remarkable for their

13:06

aptness than their refinement, and

13:09

which impressed the unlearned tenderfoot

13:11

with a lively sense of the

13:13

profundity of their inventor's acquirements. When

13:16

not entertaining a circle of admiring auditors

13:19

from San Francisco or the East,

13:21

he could commonly be found pursuing

13:23

the comparatively obscure industry of

13:26

sweeping out the various dancehouses

13:28

and purifying the cuspidors. Barney

13:31

had apparently but two passions in life,

13:34

love of Jefferson Doman, who

13:36

had once been of some service to him, and

13:38

love of whiskey, which certainly had

13:40

not. He had been

13:42

among the first in the rush to Hurdigurty,

13:44

but had not prospered, and had

13:47

sunk by degrees to the position of gravedigger.

13:50

This was not a vocation, but Barney

13:52

in a desultory way turned his trembling hand

13:55

to it whatever some local misunderstanding at the

13:57

card table, and his own partial

13:59

recovery. from a prolonged debauch

14:01

occurred coincidentally in point of time.

14:07

One day Mr. Doman received at Red

14:09

Dog a letter with the simple postmark,

14:11

Herdy Kal, and

14:13

being occupied with another matter, carelessly thrust it

14:16

into a chink of his cabin for future

14:18

perusal. Some

14:21

two years later it was accidentally dislodged,

14:23

and he read it. It

14:25

ran as follows. Herdy,

14:29

June 6th. Friend Jeff,

14:31

I've hit her hard in the boneyard. She's

14:34

blind and lousy, I'm on the divvy. And

14:37

my mum's my lay till you toot. Yours,

14:40

Barney. P.S. I've

14:43

played her with Scarry. With

14:47

some knowledge of the General Mining Camp

14:49

Argo and of Mr. Bree's private system

14:51

for the communication of ideas, Mr.

14:53

Doman had no difficulty in understanding

14:55

by this uncommon epistle that

14:58

Barney, while performing his duty

15:00

as gravedigger, had uncovered a

15:02

quartz ledge with no outcroppings.

15:05

That it was visibly rich in free gold. That

15:08

moved by considerations of friendship, he

15:11

was willing to accept Mr. Doman as a

15:13

partner, and awaiting that

15:15

gentlemen's declaration of his will in the matter

15:18

would discreetly keep the discovery a secret.

15:22

From the postscript it was plainly inferable

15:24

that in order to conceal the treasure, he

15:27

had buried above it the mortal part of

15:30

a person named Scarry. From

15:34

subsequent events, as related to Mr. Doman, at

15:36

Red Dog, it would appear that before taking

15:38

this precaution, Mr. Bree

15:41

must have had the thrift to remove a

15:43

modest competency of the gold. At

15:45

any rate, it was at about that time

15:47

he entered upon that memorable series of potations

15:50

and treatings which is still one of the

15:52

cherished traditions of the San Juan Smith County,

15:55

and is spoken of with respect as far away

15:57

as Ghost Rock and Lone Hand. At

16:00

its conclusion, some former citizens of Hurdie

16:03

Gurdie, for whom he had performed the

16:05

last kindly office at the cemetery, made

16:08

room for him among them, and he

16:10

rested well. PART

16:15

FOUR Having

16:19

finished staking off his claim, Mr. Doman walked back

16:21

to the center of it and stood again at

16:24

the spot where his search among the

16:26

graves had expired in the exclamation

16:28

Scari. He bent again

16:30

over the headboard that bore that name and,

16:32

as if to reinforce the senses of sight

16:34

and hearing, ran his forefinger

16:37

along the rudely carved letters. Re-erecting

16:40

himself he appended orally to the

16:42

simple inscription, the shockingly

16:44

forthright epitaph, She

16:46

was a holy terror. Had

16:50

Mr. Doman been required to make these words

16:52

good with proof, as, considering

16:54

their somewhat censorious character, he

16:57

doubtless should have been. He would

16:59

have found himself embarrassed by the absence

17:01

of reputable witnesses, and hearsay evidence

17:04

would have been the best he could command. At

17:07

the time when Scari had been prevalent in the

17:09

mining camps there-about, when, as the

17:11

editor of the Hurdie Herald would have phrased it, she

17:14

was, quote, in the plenitude of her

17:16

power, Mr. Doman's fortunes had

17:18

been at a low ebb, and

17:20

he had led the vagantly laborious life

17:22

of a prospector. His

17:25

time had been mostly spent in the mountains,

17:28

now with one companion,

17:30

now with another. It

17:32

was from the admiring recitals of these casual

17:35

partners fresh from the various camps that

17:37

his judgment of Scari had been made up.

17:40

He himself had never had the doubtful

17:42

advantage of her acquaintance, and

17:45

the precarious distinction of her favor. And

17:48

when finally, on the termination of her perverse

17:50

career at Hurdie Gurdie, he had read in

17:52

a chance copy of the Herald her

17:55

long column obituary, written

17:57

by the local humorist of that lively sheet

17:59

in the the highest style of his

18:01

art. Doman

18:04

had paid to her memory and

18:06

to her historiographers' genius the tribute

18:08

of a smile and shiverlessly

18:10

forgotten her. Standing

18:14

now at the grave site of this mountain, he

18:16

recalled the leading events of her turbulent career

18:19

as he had heard them celebrated at

18:21

several campfires and, perhaps

18:23

with an unconscious attempt at

18:25

self-destification, repeated that she was

18:27

a holy terror and sank

18:29

his pick into her grave up to the handle.

18:32

At that

18:34

moment a raven, which had silently settled upon

18:36

a branch of the blasted tree above his

18:38

head, solemnly snapped its

18:40

beak and uttered its mind about

18:43

the matter with an approving croak. Pursuing

18:47

his discovery of free gold with great

18:50

zeal, which he probably credited to

18:52

his conscience as a gravedigger, Mr.

18:55

Barney Brie had made an unusually

18:57

deep sepulcher, and it was near

18:59

sunset before Mr. Doman, laboring with

19:01

a leisurely deliberation of one who has a

19:03

dead shore thing, and no fear

19:06

of an adverse claimant's enforcement of a

19:08

prior rite, reached the

19:10

coffin and uncovered it. When

19:13

he had done so he was confronted by a

19:16

difficulty for which he had made no provision. The

19:19

coffin, a mere flat

19:21

shell of not very well preserved redwood

19:23

boards apparently, had no handle,

19:26

and it filled the entire bottom of the

19:28

excavation. The best he

19:30

could do without violating the decent sanctities

19:32

of the situation was to make the

19:35

excavation sufficiently longer to enable him to

19:37

stand at the head of the casket

19:39

and, getting his powerful hands underneath,

19:41

erect it upon its narrower end.

19:44

And this he proceeded to do. The

19:48

approach of Knight quickened his efforts. He

19:51

had no thought of abandoning his task at

19:53

this stage to resume it on the

19:55

morrow under more advantageous conditions. The

19:58

feverish stimulation of the Incubidity and

20:01

assassination of terror held him to his

20:03

dismal work with an iron authority.

20:06

He no longer idled, but wrought with

20:08

a terrible zeal. His

20:11

head uncovered, his outer garments discarded, his

20:13

shirt opened the neck and thrown back

20:15

from his breast, down which

20:18

ran sinuous rills of perspiration,

20:20

this hardy and impenitent gold-getter and

20:23

grave robber toiled with a giant

20:25

energy that almost dignified the character

20:27

of this horrible purpose. And

20:30

when the sun fringes had burned themselves out along

20:32

the crest line of the western hills, and

20:35

the full moon had climbed out of the shadows that

20:37

lay along the purple plain, he

20:40

had erected the coffin upon its foot, where

20:42

it stood propped against the end of the open

20:44

grave. Then

20:49

standing up to his neck in the earth

20:51

at the opposite extreme of the excavation, as

20:53

he looked upon the coffin upon which

20:56

the moonlight now fell with full illumination,

20:59

he was thrilled with the sudden terror to

21:01

observe upon it the

21:04

startling apparition of a dark human

21:07

head, the shadow of his

21:09

own. For

21:11

a moment the simple and natural circumstance

21:14

unnerved him, the noise of

21:16

his labored breathing frightened him and he tried to

21:18

steal it, but his bursting

21:20

lungs would not be denied. Then

21:23

laughing half audibly and wholly without spirit,

21:25

he began making movements of his head

21:27

from side to side in order to

21:29

compel the apparition to repeat them. He

21:32

found a comforting reassurance in asserting his

21:34

command over his own shadow. He

21:37

was temporizing, making with unconscious

21:40

prudence a dilatory opposition

21:42

to an impending catastrophe. He

21:45

felt that invisible forces of evil were

21:48

closing in upon him and he parlayed

21:50

for time with the inevitable. He

21:54

now observed in succession several

21:56

unusual circumstances, the

21:58

surface of the coffin upon on which his eyes

22:00

were fastened was not flat. It

22:04

presented two distinct ridges, one

22:06

longitudinal and the other transverse. Where

22:09

these intersected at the widest part, there

22:12

was a corroded metallic plate that reflected

22:14

the moonlight with a dismal luster. Along

22:18

the outer edges of the coffin at long

22:20

intervals were rust-eaten heads of

22:22

nails. This frail product

22:24

of the carpenter's art had been put

22:27

into the grave the wrong side up.

22:31

Perhaps it was one of the humors of the camp, a

22:34

practical manifestation of the facetious spirit

22:36

that had found literary expression in

22:38

the topsy-turvy obituary notice from the

22:41

pen of Hurdi Gurdi's great humorous.

22:44

Perhaps it had some occult

22:46

personal signification impenetrable to understandings

22:49

uninstructed in local traditions. A

22:52

more charitable hypothesis is that it was

22:54

owing to a misadventure on the part

22:57

of Mr. Barney Brie, who, making

22:59

the interment unassisted, either

23:01

by choice for the conservation of his golden

23:03

secret or through public apathy,

23:06

had committed a blunder which he was

23:08

afterward unable or unconcerned to

23:11

rectify. However

23:13

it had come about, poor Skari

23:15

had been indubitably been put into the

23:17

earth face downward. When

23:21

terror and absurdity make alliance,

23:23

the effect is frightful. This

23:26

strong-hearted and daring man, this

23:28

hardy night-worker among the dead, this

23:31

defiant antagonist of darkness and

23:33

desolation, succumbed to a

23:36

ridiculous surprise. He

23:38

was smitten with a thrilling chill, shivered

23:41

and shook his massive shoulders as if to

23:43

throw off an icy hand. He

23:45

no longer breathed, and the blood in his

23:48

veins, unable to abate its

23:50

impetus, surged hotly beneath

23:52

his cold skin. Unleavened

23:55

with oxygen, it melted to his head

23:57

and congested his brain, his physical

23:59

body. physical functions had gone over to the enemy,

24:02

his very heart was arrayed against

24:04

him. He did not move, he

24:07

could not have cried out. He needed

24:09

but a coffin to be dead, as

24:11

dead as the death that

24:13

confronted him with only the length of an

24:16

open grave and the thickness of a rotting

24:18

plank between. Then,

24:22

one by one, his senses returned.

24:25

The tide of terror that had overwhelmed his

24:27

faculties began to recede. But

24:30

with the return of his senses, he

24:32

became singularly unconscious of the object

24:34

of his fear. He

24:37

saw the moonlight gilding the coffin, but

24:40

no longer the coffin that it gilded. Raising

24:43

his eyes and turning his head,

24:45

he noted, curiously and with surprise,

24:48

the black branches of the dead tree, and

24:51

tried to estimate the length of the weather-worn

24:53

rope that dangled from its ghostly hand.

24:57

The monotonous barking of distant coyotes affected

24:59

him as something he had heard years

25:01

ago in a dream. An

25:03

owl flapped awkwardly above him on

25:06

noiseless wings, and he

25:08

tried to forecast the direction of

25:10

its flight when it should encounter

25:12

the cliff that reared its illuminated

25:14

front a mile away. He was

25:17

intensely observant, his

25:19

senses were all alert, but

25:21

he saw not the coffin. As

25:25

one can gaze at the sun until it looks

25:27

black and then vanishes, so his

25:29

mind, having exhausted its capacities

25:31

of dread, was no

25:33

longer conscious of the separate existence

25:35

of anything dreadful. The

25:38

assassin was cloaking the sword. It

25:42

was during this lull in the battle that he

25:44

became sensible of a faint, thickening

25:47

odor. At first

25:49

he thought it was that of a rattlesnake and

25:51

involuntarily tried to look about his feet. They

25:55

were nearly invisible in the gloom of the

25:57

grave. A horse

25:59

gurgled. The struggling sound, like a death rattle

26:01

in a human throat, seemed to

26:03

come out of the sky. And

26:07

a moment later, a great black angular

26:09

shadow, like the same sound

26:11

made visible, dropped curving

26:13

from the topmost branch of the spectral

26:15

tree, fluttered for an

26:17

instant before his face, and

26:19

sailed fiercely away into the mist along the creek.

26:23

It was the raven. The

26:27

incident recalled to him a sense of the situation,

26:30

and again his eyes sought the upright coffin, now

26:33

illuminated by the moon for half its length.

26:37

He saw the gleam of the metallic plate, and

26:39

tried without moving to decipher the inscription.

26:43

Then he felt the speculating upon what was behind

26:45

it. His creative

26:47

imagination presented him a vivid picture.

26:50

The planks no longer seemed an obstacle to his

26:52

vision, but

26:55

he saw the livid corpse of the dead

26:57

woman, standing in grave

26:59

clothes and staring vacantly at him

27:02

with the lidless, shrunken eyes. The

27:06

lower jaw was fallen, the upper

27:09

lip drawn away from the uncovered teeth. He

27:12

could make out a mottled pattern on the hollow

27:14

cheeks, the maculations of

27:16

decay. By

27:18

some mysterious process, his mind reverted for

27:20

the first time that day to

27:23

the photograph of Mary Matthews. He

27:26

contrasted its blonde beauty with the

27:28

forbidding aspect of this dead face,

27:31

the most beloved object that he

27:33

knew, with the most hideous that he

27:35

could conceive. The

27:38

assassin now advanced, and

27:40

displaying the blade, laid it

27:42

against the victim's throat. That

27:45

is to say, the man became at first dimly,

27:47

then definitely aware of an

27:50

impressive coincidence, a

27:52

relation, a parallel between the face on the

27:54

card and the name on the headboard. The

27:57

one was disfigured. The

28:00

thought took hold of him and shook him. It

28:03

transformed the face that his imagination had

28:05

created behind the coffin lid. The contrast

28:07

became a resemblance. The

28:11

resemblance grew to identity. Remembering

28:14

the many descriptions of Scarrie's personal appearance

28:16

that he had heard from the gossips of his campfire, he tried with

28:18

imperfect success to recall the exact nature of

28:23

the disfiguration that had given the woman her ugly

28:25

name. And

28:27

what was lacking in his memory,

28:30

fancy surprise. Stamping it with

28:32

a validity of conviction, in the maddening

28:34

attempt to recall such scraps of

28:36

the woman's history as he had heard, the muscles of

28:39

his arms and hands were strained to

28:41

a painful tension, as by an effort to lift a great weight. His

28:46

body writhed and twisted with

28:48

the exertion. The tendons of his neck stood

28:50

out as tense as whipcords, and his

28:52

breath came in short, sharp gasses. The

28:56

catastrophe could not be much longer delayed or

28:58

the agony of anticipation would leave nothing to

29:00

be done by the coup de gras of verification.

29:04

The scarred face behind the lid would slay him through the wood. A

29:10

movement of the coffin diverted his thought. It

29:14

came forward to within a foot of his face, growing visibly larger as it

29:17

approached. The rusted

29:19

metallic plate, with its face, had been placed on the

29:21

floor. The

29:24

rusted metallic plate, with an inscription

29:26

illegible in the moonlight, looked

29:28

him steadily in the eye. Determined

29:31

not to shrink, he tried to brace his

29:33

shoulders more firmly against the end of the

29:36

excavation and nearly fell backward in the attempt.

29:39

There was nothing to support him. He

29:41

had unconsciously moved upon his enemy, clutching

29:43

the heavy knife that he had drawn from his belt. The

29:47

coffin had not advanced, and he smiled to

29:49

think it could not retreat. Using

29:53

his knife, he struck the heavy hilt against

29:55

the metal plate with all his power. There

29:58

was a sharp, ringing percussion. And

30:01

with a dull clatter, the whole decayed

30:03

coffin lid broke in pieces and came

30:05

away, falling about its feet. The

30:09

quick and the dead were face to face. The

30:12

frenzied shrieking man, the

30:14

woman standing tranquil in her

30:16

silences. She was a holy

30:19

terror. Fort

30:27

Five. Some

30:34

months later, a party of men and women belonging to

30:37

the highest social circles of San Francisco passed

30:39

through Hurdy Gurdy on their way to

30:41

the Yosemite Valley by a new trail.

30:44

They halted for dinner and during its

30:46

preparation explored the desolate camp. One

30:49

of the party had been at Hurdy Gurdy in the days

30:51

of its glory. He had indeed

30:53

been one of its prominent citizens and

30:56

it used to be said that more money passed

30:58

over his faro table in any one night than

31:00

over those of all his competitors in a week.

31:03

But being now a millionaire engaged in greater

31:06

enterprises, he did not deem these

31:08

early successes of sufficient importance to

31:10

merit the distinction of remark. This

31:14

invalid wife, a lady famous in San

31:16

Francisco for the costly nature of her

31:18

entertainments and her exacting rigor with

31:20

regard to the social position and antecedents

31:22

of those who attended them, accompanied

31:25

the expedition. During

31:28

a stroll among the shanties of the

31:30

abandoned camp, Mr. Porfir directed the attention

31:32

of his wife and friends to a

31:34

dead tree on a low hill beyond

31:36

Injun Creek. As

31:39

I told you, he said, I passed

31:41

through this camp in 1852 and was told that no fewer than

31:44

five men had been hanged here by

31:47

vigilantes at different times and all on

31:49

that tree. If I'm

31:51

not mistaken, a rope is dangling from it yet. Let

31:54

us go over there and see the place. Mr.

31:57

Porfir did not add that the rope in question was

31:59

perhaps the zest. very one from whose

32:01

fatal embrace his own neck had

32:03

once had an escape so narrow that

32:05

an hour's delay in taking himself out

32:07

of that region would have spanned it.

32:11

Proceeding leisurely down the creek to a

32:13

convenient crossing, the party came upon the

32:16

cleanly picked skeleton of an animal, which

32:18

Mr. Porfir, after due examination, pronounced to

32:20

be that of an ass. The

32:23

distinguishing ears were gone, but much of the

32:25

inedible head had been spared by the beasts

32:28

and birds, and the stout

32:30

bridle of horsehair was intact, as

32:32

was the riata of similar material, connecting

32:35

it with a picket-pin still firmly

32:37

sunken in the earth. The

32:39

wooden and metallic elements of a miner's kit

32:41

lay nearby. The customary

32:44

remarks were made, cynical on the part of

32:46

the men, sentimental and refined

32:48

by the lady. A

32:50

little later they stood by the tree

32:52

in the cemetery and Mr. Porfir sufficiently

32:55

unbent from his dignity to place himself

32:57

beneath the rotten rope and confidently lay

32:59

a coil of it about his neck,

33:01

somewhat, it appeared, to his own

33:03

satisfaction, but greatly to the horror of his

33:06

wife, to whose sensibilities the

33:08

performance gave a smart shot. An

33:11

exclamation from one of the party gathered

33:14

them all about an open grave, at

33:16

the bottom of which they saw a confused mass

33:18

of human bones and the broken remnants of a

33:21

coffin. Coyotes

33:24

and buzzards had performed the last sad

33:26

rites for pretty much all else. Two

33:29

skulls were visible, and in

33:31

order to investigate the somewhat unusual

33:33

redundancy, one of the younger men had

33:36

the hardyhood to spring into the grave and

33:38

hand them up to another before Mrs.

33:40

Porter could indicate her marked disapproval of

33:42

so shocking an act, which nevertheless

33:44

she did with considerable feeling and in

33:47

very choice words. During

33:50

his search among the dismal debris at the bottom

33:52

of the grave, the young man

33:54

next handed up a rusted coffin-plate with

33:57

a rudely cut inscription, Which

33:59

with. The County Mister Poor for

34:01

deciphered and read aloud with an

34:03

earnest and not altogether unsuccessful. Attempt at

34:06

the dramatic effect, Which. He deemed

34:08

the sitting to the occasion and his

34:10

rhetorical abilities. Man

34:12

Well, I'm Mercy. More. Their

34:14

mission San Pedro. Died and hurdy

34:16

gurdy. Age forty seven. Hells

34:19

full of such. Indifference

34:22

to the piety of the reader and the nerves.

34:24

And this is poor. First, fastidious, Sisterhood of

34:26

both sexes. Let. Us

34:28

not touch upon the painful impression

34:30

produced by this uncommon inscription. Further

34:32

than to say that the elocution.

34:34

Are a powers of mister for for. Had

34:37

never before met would sell a

34:39

spontaneous and overwhelming recognition. The

34:42

next morsel that rewarded the ghoul in the

34:44

gray with a long. Tangle of black

34:46

hair defiled with clay. But.

34:49

This was such an anti climax had

34:51

received little attention. Suddenly.

34:53

With a short explanation and a gesture.

34:56

Of excitement. The young

34:58

man unearthed a fragment of Grace Rock.

35:01

And. After a hurried inspection, handed it up

35:03

to Mister Poor for. As.

35:05

The sunlight sell upon it. It glittered

35:07

with a yellow luster. It

35:10

was thickly studded. With gleaming points.

35:13

Mister. Poor for snatched it bench his head

35:15

over at a moment. And. Through

35:17

it lightly away with a simple remark.

35:20

Ah are and Pyrite Fool's gold.

35:23

The. Young man in the discovery shaft with

35:26

a trifle disconcerted. Apparently. Meanwhile.

35:29

Mrs. Prefer unable longer to endure

35:31

the disagreeable business. Had walked back

35:33

to the tree and see this herself at it's root.

35:36

While. Rearranging the trust them golden hair which

35:38

had slipped from it's confinement. She.

35:41

Was attracted by what appear to be and

35:43

really was the fragment of an old code.

35:46

Looking. About to usher herself that so

35:48

and lady like and act was not observed.

35:51

She. Thrust her jeweled hand into the

35:53

exposed breast pocket and drew out a

35:55

moldy pocket book. It's.

35:58

contents were as follows One

36:01

bundle of letters, postmarked Elizabethtown,

36:03

New Jersey. One

36:05

circle of blonde hair tied with a ribbon. One

36:08

photograph of a beautiful girl. One

36:11

ditto of same, singularly disfigured.

36:15

One name on back of photograph. Jefferson

36:18

Doman. A

36:21

few moments later, a group of anxious

36:23

gentlemen surrounded Mrs. Porfer as she sat

36:25

motionless at the foot of the tree.

36:28

Her head dropped forward, her

36:30

fingers clutching across photographs. Her

36:33

husband raised her head, exposing

36:35

a face ghastly white, except

36:38

for the long, deforming cicatrice, familiar

36:40

to all her friends, which no

36:42

art could ever hide, and

36:45

which now traversed the pallor of

36:47

accountenance like a visible curse. Mary

36:51

Matthews Porfer had the

36:53

bad luck to be dead. But

37:02

wait, there's more to the story. Though

37:10

A Holy Terror was not published by Ambrose Beers,

37:12

who has been a frequent guest of ours on

37:14

the series, until

37:16

1882, and no specific year is given

37:18

for the events as narrated by Jefferson

37:20

Doman, there are little hints pointing

37:22

us to a likely conclusion that the story

37:24

takes place during the tail end of the

37:27

California gold rush. When gold

37:29

was first discovered in the foothills of the

37:31

Sierra Nevadas in January of 1848, it

37:33

became an irresistible siren song for

37:36

fortune hunters from all over the world. Over

37:39

the next two years, hundreds of

37:41

thousands flocked to California from across

37:43

North America, South America, Europe, and

37:45

China. It petered out

37:47

in the late 1850s when silver was discovered on

37:49

the other side of the mountain range in what

37:51

would shortly become the state of Nevada. The

37:54

group of wealthy travelers we meet on their journey from

37:56

San Francisco has amongst them at least one who appears

37:58

to have gotten rid of silver. rich during the

38:00

gold rush in the very camp that they're visiting.

38:03

We are also meant to infer that

38:05

he perhaps did so by pulling gold

38:07

from someone else's claim, or that he

38:10

committed some offense which nearly ended in

38:12

his hanging. The notion

38:14

that vigilantes might have executed him for

38:16

this transgression was in keeping with the

38:18

customs of the day. During

38:20

the years of the California gold rush, there were almost

38:22

no laws whatsoever and no mechanism to enforce

38:24

the very few that might have technically been

38:27

on the books. Each

38:29

camp created its own system of

38:31

laws, particularly where claims were concerned,

38:34

and they chose their own police of sorts to enforce

38:36

them. Mining camps were

38:38

rough, dangerous places in the best of times.

38:41

Tens of thousands are believed to have died

38:43

from injuries, illnesses, and acts of violence. One

38:46

must suppose that a certain portion of this

38:48

was vigilante violence as remembered by the traveler

38:51

when wondering if the noose was the same

38:53

that he had himself escaped. But

38:56

while the reputation of the camps was known

38:58

far and wide, some still opted to take

39:00

their chances, and there were others

39:02

who paid dearly for the flood of gold

39:04

diggers without ever having had a choice in

39:06

the matter. In the first

39:09

two years of the gold rush, it

39:11

is estimated that more than 120,000 Native Americans

39:15

were killed by settlers through both

39:17

disease and murder. The

39:19

violence inflicted on the tribes who had been

39:22

there already for centuries went

39:24

unchecked and unpunished. There

39:27

is yet one more thread in this story that appears

39:29

to draw from the twisted history of the region. Now,

39:32

we as the audience are not told much

39:34

about the woman Manuelita Murphy who was nicknamed

39:36

Skari and only known by reputation

39:38

as the Holy Terror, having possibly

39:41

even been buried face down just to send

39:43

her straight to hell. But

39:45

whatever happened that led to this reputation

39:47

are Manuelita's death, or of course never

39:49

told her side of the story. But

39:51

Beers might have been inspired to tell

39:54

about Manuelita's death from a story in

39:56

real life that occurred about 30 years

39:58

earlier. Mexican-born

40:00

Josefina Segovia became the first and only

40:03

woman ever to be hanged in California,

40:06

sentenced to death for a murder of a minor

40:08

in Downeyville in the heart of the Gold

40:10

Rush region. Now there are

40:12

disputes as to the motive, with the members

40:14

of the makeshift jury and the eventual lynch

40:17

mob asserting that she was unprovoked and killed

40:19

her victim for no reason. It

40:22

is apparent that Josefina's reasons for stabbing

40:24

a man to death in her little

40:26

Adobe home are also sadly lost to

40:28

the ages. Nighty

40:34

Night is co-produced and distributed by

40:36

Podcast One. It's also executive produced

40:38

by Paul Anderson and Nick Pinella

40:40

for Workhouse Media, editing and sound

40:42

design by Steve Delimater, and

40:44

a big thanks to my executive producer,

40:46

Stacey Perra, and finally a thank you

40:48

to Sarah Kalin, my researcher for the

40:50

external tidbits at the end of every

40:53

story. Thank you guys for listening. Until

40:55

next time, Nighty Night. Sign

41:25

off at Nordstrom Rack today. Great brands,

41:27

great prices. That's why you watch.