" The hungry worm my sister is, This winding sheet I wear, And cold and weary lasts my night, Till the last morn appear."

Margaret'^s Ghost. The wild and romantic scenery of the glen, seems to favor these superstitions.

In this vicinity, Jacob Acker and Isaac van Wart, two well known patriots, made a bold attack upon a small party of British cavalry. For the purpose of annoying the enemy they concealed themselves in a neighboring wood, from whence they could obtain a view of the road ; and, as the British passed in full

e See Greenburgh.

350 HISTORY OF THE

gallop, Acker fired at the commanding officer. The sudden report of the musket frightened the horse, which immediately commenced plunging ; the rider in his efibrts to restrain the restive animal, lost his hat, which Acker determined to possess himself of; was again reloading his piece, when the enemy not knowing the number of their assailants deemed it proper to retire, which they effected with much haste and confusion.

Jacob Acker, commonly called Rifle .Take, is reported to have killed with his own hands, on different occasions, five or six of the enemy.

Two miles north-east of the county house are situated the ^^four corners,^^ (so called in contradistinction to the upper,) better known as Young^s burnt house.

We learn from the petition of Samuel Young, (former proprietor of this place,) and the report of the committee made thereon, that at the commencement of the revolutionary war Joseph Young, father of said Samuel Young, resided about four miles east of Hudson river, on the road leading from Tarrytown to the White Plains, that after the British took possession of the city of New Yoik and part of the county of Westchester, that road was denominated the American lines.