The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-13 00:00:00

Shocking Discovery at Glasgow.

The Glasgow _Herald tells a sad story. Some few years
ago a master mariner, named Stewart, came to live in Glas-
gow, accompanied by two sisters, aged about 44 and 38 years
respectively. Four years ago Captain Stewart died in Africa
and the two sisters shut themselves up in their house, re-
fusing to hold any intercourse with the outer world. On
Wednesday a warrant to search the house was obtained,
I and the place was entered by the police, accompanied by two
medical men. On the right of the lobby was seen a dining-
room, parlour, and bedr.iom, filled with excellent furniture,
but overlaid with a thick coating of dust, which evidently
had never been disturbed for years. On the left was a
room from which all furniture had been removed, and
the floor of which was covered with a horrid accumula-
tion of refuse and filth of every description. In the kitchen
there were two or three scattered books lying on the dresser.
In the fireplace were some ashes, but to all appearance there
had been uo fire in the grate for a lengthened period, and
the closest scrutiny of the apartment failed to discover any-
thing in the shape of food. The whole of the open rooms
having been examined, the visitors next addressed them-
selves to the closed door of a chamber lying between the
kitchen and the apartment which had been used as an ash-
pit. When they tried to open this door a loud scream
issued from within, and strange shrill voices asked who was
there. Answer was made to the effect that it was the police,
and a request made that the door should be opened. The
voices responded that the place was the House of God,
that the seal of the Apostle Peter was on the lock, and that
the visitors were not the police, but belonged to the Free
Church, and were sent by the Free Church Presbytery.
It was in vain that the party repeated that they were the
police, and had nothing to do with the Free Chcrch ; they
found the inmates of the chamber inexorable, and were at
last obliged to force open the doer. They found a darkened
apartment, and near the door could be observed P. haggard
looking female, who made a great outcry about the intrusion,
The other inmate of the room could not at this time be seen,
but her voice chimed in with that of her companion, and she
was speedily discovered huddled up in a remote corner,
With a good deal of trouble the two wretched creatures
were got out into the lobby, and then into the dusty dining
room. They restated with what little strength they had,
and earnestly begged that they should not be taken out, that
they should be led back again to the house of God. When
got out into the light the appearance they presented was
shocking in the extreme. They seemed to be emaciated as if
from semi-starvation. Their apparel consisted of some scanty
underclothing, in a filthy condition, and old black merino
wrappers, and no shoes or stockings. Their hands and faces
looked as if they had not been washed for years, and their
' hair hung about their faces and over their shoulders in matted
and dishevelled misses. When taken into the dining room
the unhappy creatures became perfectly wild with excite-
ment. They seemed persuaded that their visitors were
spirits, and flung themselves about with the utmost violence
in order to escape from their custody; and it was only when
Dr Liddell threatened to pour some water over their heads
that they became comparatively calm. They still, however,
clung tenaciously to the notion that the party before them
consisted of spirts from the other world, and prayed earnestly
to God to protect them from the spirits that had come to
injure them. In all their words and gestures it was
observed that the younger of the two took the lead, and
that the other repeated with parrot-like imitation whatever
her sister said or did. The younger woman, indeed,
seemed to have established a sort of ascendancy over the
elder, and when the latter attempted to put a word in, as if on
her own footing, her sister would turn sharply about and tell
her to hold her tongue and sit down, as she had lost her mind
—a rebuke which seemed always to be taken with meek ac-
quiescence. After they:hadibeen some time in the dining room
one of them fixed her eyes on Mr Superintendent M'Call,
and after looking earnestly at him, shouted out, " Newton
of Ayr, Newton of Ayr; are you M'Cull's brother of New-
ton of Ayr," and went on to ask our worthy Superinten-
dent of Police if he had been long dead. Mr M'Call tried
to re-assure her, and asked her to feel his hands, and so
ascertain that he was alive. She refused, however, to touch
him or any one else in the room; and when anyone went
near, she cried to them to stand back, as they were all
spirits. When two policemen in uniform came into the
room they both fastened their eyes eagerly on the bright
buttons, cried out that hero were two spirits of the Glas-
gow police, and wanted to know how long they had been
dead. While this strange scene was going forward in the
dining room, the apartment from which the two women
had been removed was subjected to scrutiny. In order to
admit the light of day it was necessary to remove three
black shawls which had been nailed one over the other
across the window. When these had been taken
down, and the dust-covered blind drawn up, a miser-
able spectacle presented itself. The floor was
covered in most parts to the thickness of about a foot with
ashes and rubbish. In the fireplace was a great heap of
ashes, with a small fire smouldering on the top—the fire
standing out front the chimney altogether, and sending
its smoke up along the wall of the room, which was thickly
coated with soot. The only furniture in the room consisted
of a low bedstead covered with some filthy bedding, a chest
of drawers, a stool, and a broken chair. On the drawers
were a few hooks scattered about, and on a plate was a
piece of soap, with a few dry crusts of bread, which only a
person in a state of starvation could have eaten. In one of
the drawers was found a purse, containing is 54; but be-
yond the crusts referred to no trace of food was anywhere
visible, The wretched condition of the women cannot have
arisen from poverty, us there was discovered on the person

of one of them the sum of £1 in bank-notes, together with
a cheque on the Bank of Scotland for £2BB. It is stated,
moreover, that they were in receipt of some small annuity,
settled on them by their deceased brother. Some difficulty
was experienced in removing them from the house, but at
last they were got into a cab and conveyed to the asylum. '