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Speaker 1: The White House by s Bearing Gauld, on the road

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between Raskelf and Easingwall, stood in sixteen twenty three and

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stand still a lonely inn called the White House. The

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wide brown heathery moor called Pillmore then extended to the

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roots of the Hambledon Hills, on a slight rising ground

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above the marshes. Stood here and there a farm or cottage,

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and here and there a portion of the soil had

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been enclosed. To this day, a large portion of the

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moor remains untilled, and as a favorite resort of botanists,

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who find there several varieties of gentien an orchis rare elsewhere.

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Originally it stretched from borough Bridge to the Hambledons, intersected

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by the streams flowing into the Ooze, patched here and

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there with pools of water. In the White House lived

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a man called Ralph Reynard, and his sister. Ralph paid

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his addresses to a fine looking young woman, dark eyed,

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who lived at Thornton Bridge. At the Red House, where

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the road from Brafferton or Tollaton crossed the Ooze to

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Topcliff and Rippon, the old house, lonely, surrounded by trees,

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with traces of a moat or pond in spring full

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of yellow flags, stands to this day almost deserted. The

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girl was poor and a good match was of the

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first advantage to her. She was at the time in

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service at the Red House, and thither Ralph came to

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visit her, But for some cause unknown they quarreled. An

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estrangement ensued, and Ralph came no more across Thornton Bridge.

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At the same time, a yeoman named Fletcher, living at

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Moor House in the parish of Rascal, had cast his

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eyes on the comely young woman, and he took advantage

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of the rupture between the lovers to step in and

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offer his hand to the damsel. He was at once

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accepted in a fit of resentment against Ralph Reynard, and

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the marriage rapidly followed, so that she soon found herself

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the wife of a man whom she did not love,

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and some miles nearer the White House where lived Ralph,

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whom she did love, than when she had resided at

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Thornton Bridge. The resentment she had felt died away. An

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explanation followed, when too late there was a scene despair

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on both sides, and resentment entertained by both Ralph Reynard

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and Missus Fletcher against the unfortunate yeoman who stood between

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them and perfect union and happiness. On market Day, when

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Missus Fletcher ambled on her nag into Easingwold, she invariably

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halted at the White House when the hostler one Mark Done,

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a beatle browed uncouth fellow from Huby, received and held

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her horse as she dismounted and entered the inn. Ralph,

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the host was always there, and received Missus Fletcher with

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an affection which dissatisfied his sister, a woman of sense,

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who saw that this cherishing of an old passion could

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lead to no good. When Mark Dunn disappeared for hours

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at a time, she shrewdly suspected that he was sent

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on messages to Rascal. More than once she interfered and

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rebuked Ralph her brother, warning him of the dangerous consequences

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of thus encouraging the attachment of a woman now bound

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to another man by the most sacred ties. With an oath.

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He bade her mind her own business and not interfere

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with him. Fletcher could not but be aware that his

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wife did not love him. Whispers reached him that she

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met her old sweetheart when he was from home that

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her nag was seen standing an unreasonable time outside the

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door of the White House. He caught Mark Dunn one

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evening prowling in his orchard, and he fell on him

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with a stick. The ungainly fellow howled with pain and

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swore revenge. Fletcher became gloomy, neglected his affairs, and began

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to fall into difficulties. He had been seally passionately attached

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to the dark eyed, handsome girl he had brought to

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his home. He had done his utmost to render her happy,

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and now she was making his home miserable, destroying the

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former serenity of its spirits. He was obliged to go

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one day on business to Easingwald. He would not return

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till late. His wife knew it. Something troubled his mind.

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A presentiment of evil which he could not shake off,

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hung over him, and he wrote on a sheet of paper,

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if I should be missing or suddenly wanted be Mark

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Ralph Reynard, Mark Dunn, and mark my wife for me.

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Directed it to his sister, and on reaching Easingwald, posted it.

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No sooner was he gone than missus. Fletcher mounted her

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horse and rode to the White House. She asked to

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see Reynard, and he walked by her side some way

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back to Rascalf. There they parted, and Reynard was next

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observed in close conversation with his hostler, Mark Dunn. It

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was May day in the sweet spring evening. Fletcher was

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returning on foot from Easingwold when he came to Doornay Bridge,

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where at that time a road branched off from the

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Highway from the North to York and traversing the land

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led to Rascal. As he crossed the bridge, he stood

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still for a moment and looked up at the stars

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just appearing. Next moment, Reinard and Dunn were upon him.

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They had sprung from behind the bridge and he was

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flung over it into the water. The stream is narrow

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and not deep, so that once recovered from the shock,

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he could have easily crawled out, but the murderers leaped

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into the water after him. Missus Fletcher, with a long

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sack over her shoulder, ran out from the shadow of

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a bush where she had been concealed, and they held

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the farmer under water, the two men grasping his throat,

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his wife retaining his feet in the sack into which

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she thrust them till his struggles ceased and he was

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or was supposed to be dead. The body was then

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thrust into the sack which missus Fletcher had brought for

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the purpose, and the three guilty ones assisted in carrying

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or dragging the body along the road towards the White House.

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They were alarmed once the clatter of a horse's hoofs

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was heard, and they concealed themselves by the roadside. The

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horsemen passed, they emerged from their place of hiding and

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continued their course. As they drew near to the inn,

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a streak of light from the inn door showed that

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it was open. They heard voices. The horseman had called

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for something to drink, and it was brought to him

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without his dismounting. Then miss Reynard was heard calling Ralph Ralph.

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She wondered perhaps at his long absence, or wanted him

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for some purpose in the house. No answer was returned.

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Reynard done, and missus Fletcher lifted the body over the

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low hedge into Reynard's croft or garden and buried it

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in a place where the ground had been disturbed that

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day by his having stubbed up an old route. They

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carefully covered the body with earth, and Reynard sewed mustard

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seed over the place. It was thought prudent that missus

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Fletcher and Reynard should not meet after this. People wondered

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what had become a Fletcher, but knowing that he was

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somewhat embarrassed in his circumstances, they readily accepted the statement

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of his wife that he had gone out of the

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way to avoid having a writ served on him. Thus

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matters stood till the seventh of July. When Ralph Raynard

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rode to Topcliff Fair. It was a bright sunny day.

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He passed the Moor House, but did not stay there.

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Cross Thornton Bridge went before the Red House, where he

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had so often visited and spent such happy hours with

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the woman who was now his accomplice in crime. Along

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by Cundle to Topcliff. He dismounted at the inn there

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the Angel, an old fashioned house near the dilapidated market Cross.

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He led his horse out of the yard into the stable.

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The sun glared without within it was dark. As he

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was removing the bridle from his horse. Suddenly he saw

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standing before him the spirit of Fletcher, pale with a

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phosphoric light. Playing about him, pointing to him and saying, Oh, Ralph, Ralph, repent,

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vengeance is at hand. In an agony of horror, he

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fled out of the stable in the daylight without He

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recovered composure and endeavored to believe that he had been

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a victim to delusion. He thought he must buy some

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present for the woman love for whom had led him

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to the commission of murder. He went to one of

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the stalls to buy some trinket, a chain of imitation

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coral beads. How does it look on the neck, he asked,

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extending it to the keeper of the stool. Then he

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looked up and saw a ghastly figure opposite the dead man,

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with the coral round his neck, knotted under his ear,

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and his head on one side, the eyes wide open,

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with a blaze in the eyes, and heard him say,

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how like you a red streak round the neck such

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as this? I will put one round the throat of

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my wife, and you shall wear one too. Sick and faint,

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he hastened back to the inn and called for beer.

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Towards evening he rode home. He saw as he came

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towards the car, where there is a dense clump of

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trees a figure looking at him. It was deliberately getting

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out of a sack and shaking and ringing water out

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of its clothes. With a scream of terror, Reynard plunged

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his spurs into the horse's flanks and galloped past Kundle Home.

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As he crossed Thornton Bridge, he closed his eyes, but

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when he opened them again he saw the well known

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figure of the dead Man walking before him, so fast

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that his horse could not catch him up. The ghost

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trailed the sack after it, and left a luminous track

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on the ground when it reached a point at a

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little distance from the White House, the very spot where Reynard,

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Missus Fletcher and Mark Dunn had turned aside the body,

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the specter strode across the heather, leaped the low hedge,

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and melted apparently into the ground where now a rich

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green crop of mustard was growing. You're back earlier than

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I thought, said the sister of Ralph Reynard. I reckon

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thou hast not been stopping this time at moor House.

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Reynard said nothing except i'm ill, ah, said his sister.

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I've gotten thee a nice bit of supper ready with

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a beautiful dish of salad, and she laid the cloth

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and placed upon it a plate of fresh cut mustard.

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Raynard's face grew rigid and white. What is the matter,

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asked his sister opposite him on the settle sat the

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dead man, pointing to the salad. Ralph sprang up, drew

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his sister away and told her all. She poor woman,

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horror struck, ran off at once to Sir William Sheffield,

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a Justice of peace residing at Raskelf Park. The three

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guilty parties were apprehended and taken to York, where on

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July twenty eighth, sixteen twenty three, all three were hung.

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When they had been cut down, the bodies were removed

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and conveyed in a wagon to the White House, the

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hangman seated by the driver in front. There is a

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little rise not far from the Inn, commanding the spot

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where the murder was committed, and the green mustard bed

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where the body of Fletcher had been hidden, but which

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had been removed and buried in Rascalf Churchyard. On this

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hill a gibbet had been erected, and there the three

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bodies were hung, with their faces towards the dismal flat

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and the gurgling stream where the murdered man had been drowned.

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There they hung, blown about by the autumn storms, screeched

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over by the ravens and magpies, baked by the summer sun,

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their bare scalps capped with cakes of snow in the

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cold winter till they dropped upon the ground. And then

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the bones were buried and the gallows cut down. About

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eighty years ago the plow was drawn over Gallows Hill

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when a quantity of bones were unearthed by the chare.

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They were the bones of Reynard Dunn and Missus Fletcher.

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The hill to this day bears its ill omened name,

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and people mutter about Rascal the doggerel lines, a wooden church,

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a wooden steeple, rascally church and rascally people. End of

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the White House by S. Baring Gould.