Justice for John Gamble

Our next ghostly tale is recounted in Cooper's Clarksburg Register on November 30, 1853. This is a second or third-hand account by this point of an event that happened in Wetzel County, West Virginia, though the newspaper editor claims it was presented as-is to make it as factual as possible. Like the Radiant Boy tale, it's on the lengthier side, so certain areas will be paraphrased (but the full tale is linked above).

The original tale seems to have been printed as a letter to the editor in the Wheeling Argus, Nov. 4, 1853. The week before, there had been something of an uproar about the arrest of a man on charges of murder, based "upon a revelation from the other world." The rumor mill had begun to circulate this man was detained only on the testimony of a ghost. The letter writer wanted to set the matter straight that it was not just this ghost's word against a living man. To present the full facts, they started at the beginning of the case:

Three years ago the 12th of this month, one John Gamble was in this place [New Martinsville], and in the evening he left to go home, some four miles, in a skiff. When he left he had between two and three hundred dollars in money with him. About two miles below town some raftsmen that were lying at the shore, caught the skiff and some barrels that were in it when he started. Gamble was found afterwards down near Ray's run, and he had no money or papers or any thing else on his person when found, and his pocket in his pantaloons was cut off. 

The consensus seemed to be the most likely murderer was a man named Leban Mercer, but no proof was available, and so matters stood until two weeks before the writing of this letter. A group had gone to a neighboring town for a corn-husking, and were heading home about 2 AM. The moon was full and the night was clear. One of these men returning home was "Mr. John H. Hindman, the worthy proprietor of the Wetzel House." For reasons unknown, when the rest of the corn-husking party stayed on the road, Hindman cut across the fields of Robert W. Cox's farm. In the middle of this field

[Hindman] states under oath that a person all at once appeared to him, and when he first saw whatever it was, it was a little to the left hand and about three feet from him, and the person or ghost was in the act of speaking and he stated that the first words spoken were these: "You don't know me," and Hindman answered that he did not. Then the person, or ghost, or whatever you may call it, said "I am John Gamble, the man that was murdered by Leban Mercer. Your courts have not done me justice. I want you to have him arrested, and they will do me justice." 

After a bit more conversation that was not recorded, the apparition of John Gamble disappeared. This was said to have happened "in the midst of a large level field on the river bottom," precluding a hoaxer darting around a tree and out of sight. In addition, Hindman was said to be "a great disbeliever in ghosts and hobgoblins. . . a man of such strict truth and veracity, and above all, so cool and self-possessed under all circumstances, and free from excitement, that all who knew him did not for a moment doubt what he stated was true." 

Detail, "Res. of F.E. Williams, near New Martinsville, Wetzel Co., W. Va." Courtesy the David Rumsey Map Collection.

The next morning, Hindman described his apparition's size, appearance, and clothing, matching the description of Gamble at the time of his death. This was corroborated by another person ("Friend Cox," likely the Robert Cox mentioned earlier) who had seen Gamble the evening of his death. 

At this point, it appears Hindman went on a bit of an amateur detective expedition, interviewing Mercer. Allegedly Mercer made some confessions to Hindman, and it was this direct admission that led to Mercer's arrest - not the testimony from the ghost as was popularly supposed.

At the trial, the chain of events ran that Gamble loaded his skiff near Robert Cox's farm, preparing to head home down the river. The account is a bit unclear, but it seems Gamble had received a note of $53 the day of his death from a man named Whiteman, who lived near the Cox farm. This note ended up in the possession of Mercer, as well as other unexplained amounts of money. Circumstantially, Mercer came home that night wet and muddy, although the night was dry. Mercer's own contradictory statements about when he last saw Gamble and how he came to possess the money further pointed toward his guilt.

The conclusion ends with the delightfully ambiguous statement that "Hindman does not say it was a ghost, but that it was something mysterious to him."

In the end, it seems the confession and circumstantial evidence were not quite enough to bring justice for John Gamble. At the time of Leban Mercer's death in 1887, the Wheeling Sunday Register claims the confession to the murder was "without foundation." A later telling adds to the ghostly lore by claiming Hindman (or Hineman, in this paper) wasted away and had his hair turn silvery in response to the fright experienced that night in the fields. By this point, public opinion seems to be that the apparition was a hoax, perhaps someone who had witnessed the murder and wanted to bring the case to a resolution without coming forward directly.

The ghost of John Gamble - if it was a ghost - has never made a repeat appearance (even declining to come to his own court case). Whether this is because of a clever hoax that could not be repeated, or because the strain of the trial and the social ostracism permanently tarnished Leban Mercer's life, it's hard to say. Perhaps John Gamble felt that was enough to give him some measure of justice, after all.

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