The Dixboro Ghost, Act I

Mar 16
10 min read

Updated: Mar 29

[Editing copy]

A Historical Drama,

By Mark A. McDonald

Cover photo: The window of the house of Martha, looking in from outside, empty.

Persons of the Drama

Martha Mulholland, the Ghost

Isaac Van Woert

Rachael Van Woert

Isaac Jr and Thomas, sons of the Van Woerts

Joseph Crawford

William Mulholland

James Mullholland

The Peddler

John Geddes

William Percy, Esquire

Dr. Samuel Denton

Dr. Pitcher

Charles Woodruff

Jackson Hawkins

Abigail Hawkins

James Clements

Jane Whitney

John Whitney

Martha Whitney

Mrs. Hammond

Dr. Scratchton The Magnetist

Dr. Itcher, The Phrenologist

John Allen

Lawyer

Clerk

Chief Shavehead

3 Student grave diggers

4-6 citizens of Dixboro

Page 1 Prologue: [Stage Direction: On the darkened stage, a large window frame appears, the glass made by smoke and light. Martha appears as if in or behind the window]

Martha: I wanted to tell you all of a secret,

And I thought I had….

Page 2

Act I Scene i The Van Woert family is riding in a small wagon West on Plymouth/ Ann Arbor road

Isaac: The rising sun will soon dispel the fog.

Rachael: A bell!

Isaac: And wagon.

Rachael: Hurry aside to let him pass!

Isaac: Over, beast!

[A bump and grinding]

Isaac: Arggh! These ruts! The leaf spring may have broken.

Rachael: A peddler!

Isaac Jr: Are we there yet?

Thomas: Are we there?!

Rachael: Almost, but not yet.

Isaac Jr: I have to talk to a man about a horse!

Isaac: So near to Journey’s end [exit Racheal and the boys]

Peddler: Indeed! Ein Peddler! Of goods for the body and the soul-

[Aside to audience] A saying learned in the school of the ancient Testicles.

Which wares would the misses require? Or the master [wink]. Pots and pans and bolts and nails, and medicines, common AND rare.

Isaac: With Journey’s end so near, we are quite depleted, and have barely money for the post to report back to Livingston, New York, from whence we hail, headed for Ann Arbor- can you tell how far we are away?

Peddler: Zwie stunden, two hours oder mehr, or more, wie diese strassen sind, etwas weniger [motions smaller] für einen (holds up one finger] Mann, der allein zu Fuss, by foot geht, und der Weg [pointing at the road] ist heute gut!

Isaac: a bit less for a man alone on foot, and the road is fair today?

Peddler: Ich verkommen vor da, und zum gehen Das Dixboro- which is far more near,

And must vamoose, or else be late for meetings there.”

On, mule! [He cracks the whip]

[Enter Rachael and the boys]

Rachael: Poor pony! He might have helped to look at the axle he helped to break- have you even seen it?

Isaac: In this new territory Michigania, A Western rush is everywhere, of enterprise and new activity.

Rachael: Let’s hope it can be fixed. This one of our new neighbors pretended not to see.

Isaac: Or in the town might we find better hospitality.

I, scene ii

Clements: There is the bell.

Hawkins: And, we hope, my nails.

Clements: But look, James comes behind him as if on cue.

[Enter Peddler}

Peddlar: The road is a rut.

Hawkins: And are there nails?

Clements: or my long ordered, pre-paid scales?

[Enter James]

James : [mumbling] I will box your ears.

Peddler: A wagon has broken in a rut up the road, bound for Ann Arbor, man and woman and two boys, with ox exhausted- and without coin- near their journeys end- so I was something there detained.

James: Perhaps they will be on their way. [To Peddler] You will preceded me to the mill where you will unload.

[Enter Van Woert family]

Clements: A Detroit wagon, or one from the East?

Peddler: The East, but rickety enough.

Clements: Those Detroit wagons often do not make these roads this far.

James: You will remember to whom you owe these roads.

Clements: Yourself and Captain Dix.

[To Hawkins]: But if you can duck the Miss’, there is new whiskey made of corn.

Hawkins: She does not enforce my temperance, but moderation with her smiles, if not her bonnet exposed to rain- I wait for nails, and have the ground prepared to raise new walls, at the nether end of this dreary-skied day.

James : The goods will be there.

[Exit James and the Peddler]

Clements: An ominous pall of funerary still hangs about this town, since Martha followed her sister Mary to a Dixboro grave.

[Enter: Van Woert family]

Hawkins: What have we here? But holders for peppermint sticks- provided mother allows [he hands the boys peppermint sticks from the counter]

Rachael: Treats before the tricks!

Hawkins: Jackson Hawkins is the name, and at your service, all the same.

Clements: We welcome you to Dixboro, and have heard of your plight from our peddler.

Isaac: Our wagon is stranded up the road, the wheel and axle broke beyond direct repair. Bound for Ann Arbor, exhausted of money and supplies near journey’s end, and with no money yet- as we hope for work in carpentry that awaits us there. Isaac Van Woert is the name, Rachael, my bride from Livingston, New York.

Clements: We have something of a blacksmith for shoeing horses, but the nearest wagon maker for parts and repair is your destination West, Ann Arbor, with another not much nearer to the south at Ypsilanti.

Hawkins: The distance might be crossed in two hours on foot- well over that by wagon, even when the roads are dry. And is there there a host awaiting your arrival?

Isaac: We have our tools and livelihood all in our wagon, and hoped to find our way as we arrived, A carpenter by trade, I have heard of sudden work for builders, now that prosperity does seem to flow again.

Clemens That pall has settled over our entire nation since the panic of ’37- if we might now be seeing restoration.

Rachael: It cannot last longer, and must now be ending, and ending speculation. [To the boys] Silence a moment.

Hawkins: Well, wagon or none, you may need look no further for work: This very day I hope to begin to raise the first wall and start the chimney for a house of frame, in hopes by winter to free the misses from the darkness of our luxurious frontier cabin. I have only of late moved here to Dixboro from Ann Arbor, where my father and brothers have interests I would be pleased to hire you away from. This is new land, and men with hopes rise quickly, even to heights and offices…

Clemens: If some by overreaching yet quickly fall.

Hawkins: Come, lets stall this ox and bring you to your breakfast. Then we’ll store the ducklings with the lady ducks and go to fetch this wagon.

[Paper Draft Page 10]

I, Scene iii

Abigail Hawkins: My the boys are well behaved- such civil gentlemen of the East!

Rachael: Water with berries and a penny’s worth of peppermints will have their way, as will their weariness.

Thomas: More tired than hungry, now.

Isaac Jr: At the store, the tall man has JUICE!

Rachael: Not of wild grapes, and not for boys!

Abigail: Nor for most men, most of the time.

[Enter Jackson and Isaac]

Isaac: We have cut the tired beast some grass. She drank well at the spring along the road, and has now drank again.

Jackson: After eggs and cakes, we will consider whether work might yet be done this very day.

Rachael: By the Lord, two men in half a day may outwork one in one.

Abigail: Set the linens in the case, so they will not be endangered with the purple stain. [To Rachael] We do intend these for the table, when some day we have a church in Dixboro.

Jackson: There is yet syrup from our maples for the cakes. This land provides, and once away from Detroit, well stocked with lakes and streams that might be dammed for mills.

Isaac Jr. snickering.

Abigail Sshh! After breakfast the boys will rest.

Jackson: Well, but if you stay to frame the house, we cannot set the lady and the boys to sleep in the broken wagon! Yonder, do you see the strong boy bearing rocks next door for Mr. Whitney? I do think he knows of a house nearby that just now needs a renter.

Rachael: It is the boy we saw along the roadside as we as we came into the town, as though in prayer, beside a newmade grave.

Isaac: Just then she read from Franklin as the dawn broke behind us:

Rachael: Yes, of the sect called Dunkers, he wrote:

Like a man travelling in foggy weather those at some distance before him on the road, he sees wrapped up in a fog, as well as those behind him, and also all the people in the fields on each side, but near to him, all appears clear- though in truth he is as much in the fog as any of them…

So in praise of Michael Welfare does he speak.

Jackson: Joseph Crawford! Have you still a house to rent?

Joseph: Sir, I do.

Jackson: And stay you yet by your Uncle William? Indeed, and come to town this morn to move stones for Mr. Whitney?

Joseph: To which I must attend-

Jackson: Well, this is Isaac and Rachael Van Woert, newly stranded in our town. They have as yet no coin, per se, but he is hired to help build my house of frame, and may have advise from out East for Mr. Whitney as well. On funds assured by Mr. Clemens, with but a few days wage, he might easily cover rent by the first, and you have added income to your laboring wages.

Joseph: Take him to the house as you think best, and I’ll get busy. I do thank you both again, and will come for breakfast on another day.

Isaac: Well, and we thank you [Exit Joseph].

It is good to see him up and moving.

Abigail: And secure with William, rather than alone about an empty house.

Jackson: So it is by chance misfortune, you may be employed and settled in a single day.

Abigail: Before arriving at Ann Arbor, finding here something of your journey’s end

Isaac: As it is said, You may plant a field well, as clear,

Though it is not plain who will gather the fruits, And you may build a house well, though it is not clear who will live in it-

Rachael: … Though to him who is in their graces the divine may grant a sign.

[Exit Jackson and Isaac]

I, iv

James: Tell no one our business

Peddler: I was detained in loading, and the liquor and lead are heavy! And the road full of ruts.

James: Set one in the wagon for watering our lawyer. We need no longer pay to demonstrate her insanity. I will be made executor by December. The papers of the division, demonstrating his will, will not be found again. I hurry now, as you again have made me late. Begin melting the lead for the bullets. The Chief will soon be by, and pay the price. [James drives off]

I, v

Isaac: That is three full days, and soon we will cover the rent.

Rachael: If you have done as well as you look badly, we are likely not to starve. The boys are down at the river by the mill with their new friends, and must be home by sunset. Rest a while. I will to Mrs. Hammonds, as she has baked us cakes, and with Abigail prepares the day of rest.

[Exit Rachael, kissing his bruised forehead]

[Isaac goes to the front window, and begins to comb his hair through the fading evening light. In the window, the specter of Martha appears, with a candlestick in her left hand, and clutching her stomach. She moves slowly into the bedroom, and the door closes. Isaac then goes in, opens the door, and lights a candle.]

Isaac: What! A dark and empty room!

[Divided stage- the light dims as Isaac stands amazed. while it brightens on the Left, where we see Rachael at Mrs. Hammonds drinking tea]

Hammonds: We have baked all day

Abigail: And have you cleared the cobwebs from your cabin?

Rachael: It is quite adequate, a vacation from the stuffy homes of Livingston- our heritage back East.

Hammonds: You began to tell us of your husband and New York-

Rachael: Yes, Isaac is the grandson of the famed Isaac Van Woert, the first to receive the medal from these new United states- his for fidelity, demonstrated when, on the watch with his militia fellows, David Williams and John Paulding, they captured the British Major Andre, and by this revealed the treason of Benedict Arnold- the vile conspiracy to betray the fort at West Point, and with that, the Revolution. That was the 20th of September, 1780, the 65th anniversary just past- but that is this Isaac’s Grandpa back in Livingston.

Abigail: Oh my!

Rachael: And with this Paulding, newly escaped from the British prison in New York, and dressed in Hessian attire, this Andre was confounded into custody, and found with letters intended to excuse himself. These three, while not yet knowing the import of their find, were offered by Andre handsome bribes, which they in fidelity steadfastedly declined.

Abigail How integrity in small matters often preserves the greater things!

Hammonds: How pleased we are to welcome veiled nobility into Dixboro, in our very midst! That is an amazing story, and told well!

Abigail: You will tell more later, of their lives following the war.

Rachael: We thank you for our dinner again, and soon will be better settled in.

[Exit Rachael]

Hammond: Some from the land of Petticoats and carriages find their way into our Michigan, and find the place too harsh, and return quickly, while some others stay.

Abigail: and some that do well yet move on, still further West, as spirits ever unable to find rest.

[The light dims on the left, and brightens on the right of then stage]

Thomas: Where is mother?

Isaac: What?

Rachael, Here, with dinner- Get Izzy and wash- if green apples and wild grapes have not soured your stomachs- then to bed!

Isaac: I may not be well

Rachael: Oh, dear,…you look distracted. Oh, you must be exhausted. Come and eat. The muffins are yet warm, and there is butter and jam.

Isaac: I will lie a while, and when the boys are fed, will tell you what I seem to have seen.

Rachael: My boys, Mrs Hammonds suggests

That with warm hugs we tend our husband’s breaths

Izzie: And muscles. Make a muscle, Dad!-

Isaac: Let us see your muscles! no bigger? I am weary with the making of my muscles in plane-ing of the oaken center beam.

[Page 19]

The Dixboro Ghost, Act I

Recent Posts

Comments