"Though dark as could be, yet he thought he could see The skeleton hanging on high; The gibbet it creaked; and the rusty chains squeaked; And a screech-owl flew solemnly by. "The heavy rain pattered, the hollow bones clattered, The traveller's teeth chattered--with cold--not with fright; The wind it blew hastily, piercingly, gustily; Certainly not an agreeable night! "'Ho! Grindrod, old fellow,' thus loudly did bellow, The traveller mellow--'How are ye, my blade?'-- 'I'm cold and I'm dreary; I'm wet and I'm weary; But soon I'll be near ye!' the skeleton said. "The grisly bones rattled, and with the chains battled, The gibbet appallingly shook; On the ground something stirr'd, but no more the man heard, To his heels, on the instant, he took. "Over moorland he dashed, and through quagmire he plashed, His pace never daring to slack; Till the hostel he neared, for greatly he feared Old Grindrod would leap on his back. "His wager he lost, and a trifle it cost; But that which annoyed him the most, Was to find out too late, that certain as fate The landlord had acted the Ghost." The tragic story of Eugene Aram has received attention at the hands of the historian, poet, and novelist, and his name is the most notable in the annals of crime in the North of England. In the winter of 1744-5 a shoemaker, named Daniel Clarke, who had recently married, and was possessed of money and other valuables, as it subsequently transpired not obtained in an honourable manner, was suddenly missing, and two of his associates, Richard Houseman and Eugene Aram, were suspected of knowing about his disappearance, and even at their hands foul play was suspected, but it could not be brought home to them. Aram left the town, and in various places followed his calling--that of a school teacher. The mystery of Daniel Clarke remained for some years unsolved, but in 1758 a labourer found at Knaresborough some human bones, and it was suspected that they were Clarke's, and were shown to Houseman, who was supposed to have a knowledge of the missing man, and in an unguarded moment said that they were not those of Clarke. His manner aroused suspicion, and on being pressed he confessed that Clarke was murdered and buried in St. Robert's Cave, and that Aram and himself were responsible for his death. The cave was explored, and the skeleton of the murdered man was found. Aram was arrested at Lynn, where he was an usher in a school, and was esteemed alike by pupils and parents. He stoutly protested his innocence, and undertook his own defence. He read it in court, and it was regarded as a masterpiece of reasoning. It was, however, made clear from the statements of Houseman, who was admitted as king's evidence, that Aram had murdered Clarke for gain when he was in indigent circumstances. The jury returned a verdict of guilty against