The Portland daily press., 1868-10-31
Miscellany.
A Detectives Experience.
DEN OF PHANTOMs.

A DEN OF PHANTOMs.
Many times the reporter had heard Mr..
F., in conversation with his friend j,
make alusion to a ghostly Renaissance,
which always called to their countenances an
expression of doubt and indecsion strangely
at variance with the bold and fearless cnar-
acters they bore. He had always desireu W
hear the story, and now solicited MI W
tell it.
Certainly but you must promise W 0"Iro
what say Pve seen, for there IS ho uecep''oh
about it.
We were after counterfeiters. A number OF
them were in the city, and were daily putting
large sums of spurious money IN Circulation
Sometimes a woman was made the medium
of tbis fraud: at others boy; always those
annarently innocent, while the actual offend
ers kept under cover. One night a young
woman came to the station, and complained
that she bad been brutalIy ill-treated bv a
man whose name she appeared anxious to
conceal. She did not wish him arrested. but
only sought protection for herself from VIC
lence. There was something in her air and
manner that interested us. | talked to her,
questioned her OF her home, associates, ana
means OF living. In reply to my questlohs,
she unthlnkingly pronounced the name oi
Whiting. This was the name OF the Ieadef
OF the counterteiters, the man whom we had
searched for anxiously, but could never nnd.
l questioned her now 10 purpose L was
wild with anxiety but apparently CAIN. Be
fore she went away got clue that thought
would serve me. The next night we set out
TO put plan we had formed into execution.
Disguised and thoroughly armed, we soon
found ourselves at an old house in the Third
District, near the bank of the river 1t had
long been disused, and was rapidly falling to
decay. In the old colonial days, when New
Orleans was yet an infant city, it had been
the mansion of rich proprietor. But, like
most old houses, it had an evil reputation.
A murder had once been committed there-a
fratrcide; sister had been done to death by
a maniac brother. The wraiths of both had
haunted the old building. 1t was avoided by
all. To the ignorant imagination it was fear
full as charnel house. 1t was such place,
however, as men of evil would select as an
abode. We believed we should find the Grim
mails we searched for there. Steathiy we
crawled through the weedy lawn-carefully
assembled the rickety stairs. Wide and spa
cious halls shot out on every side, and the
large rooms yet retained grandeur that well
behtted the splendors of the grand old days
when they echoed the laugh of beauty and
were the abode of elegant and sumptuous
hospitality. Hallowed the house had been,
as the house of virtue and innocence
Within these walls a race had lived and
died; here had loved and triumphed the
dark Spauiard and his descendants
Women have lived here whose beauty was
yet chronicled in romance. Some dark and
imperial, with blood fevered by the tropics
others sunny eyed and golden haired. We
reached room and sat down. 1t was neal
midnight. The din OF the city had long died
out. The quietness of death reigned in the
vast apartments, and darkness intense and
rax,lnc 1nA tI,n NJ.
for some sound to guide our search. Sudden,
~ dull, grayish CLEAN penetrated the room
1t grew on the instant soft and luminous
and ON the opposite paneing of the room ap
peared shadow. 1t grew gradually on the
vision until the outlines of young girl were
defined on the wall. The face was pale and
deathlike, and from the exposed breast dark
stream OF blood seemed to well from a deep
wound. 1t looked like shadow, and might
have been produced by artificial means; nev.
ertheless my hair stood on ends, anu a name.
less terror L could not subdue palsied SOU
and sense. My companion was moi
less affected; but neither of us spoke
Suddenly another figure appeared be-
side the apparition. 1t was thas OF
young man this face was convulsed with
horror, and in the protruding eyes was the
glare of the maniac. Stunned and motion
less we saw death struggle Commence
phantom death strugge-a moment more, a
scream of mortal agony echoed through the
room, and then laugh, distorted and horri-
BILE as the glee of maniac. 1t made the
blood curdle and the brain reel in delr:um
OF fright. But just as we were feeling the
utter horror ofour position, in the adjoining
room we heard heavy fall and a muttered
curse. 1t acted like electricity. That sound
at least was mortal. We sprung to
our feet and dashed open the door
OF the adjoining chamber-the next instant
the light from the dark lanterns flashed
through the room. But imagine our sur
prise to see before us the young woman we
had seen at the station the day before, kneel-
ing by the side of man apparently severe "
bruised by an accidental fall. The mystery
was soon explained. By artificial means, and
by curious combination of lights, the scenes
we had just witnessed in the other room were
produced by Whiting flor it proved to be the
counterfeiter) and his mistress To scare
away the supersttious visitor, if any should
chance to come, they had resorted to this de-
ception. We were not the first victims of the
delusion. In descending from the ceiling,
Whiting had fallen and broken his leg. We
took them both into custody In the building
ing were found all the appliances of the
counterfeiter, and large sum of spurious
money. But even to this day L cannot, with
out thrill of dread, think of our first expert
ence with the phantoms.-Nep Orleans Pic
dylne.