Helena weekly herald. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1867-1900, 1877-01-11
A Thrilling History that mas Ended in
Horror.

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by company OF whom the ruling spirits an
principal shareholders were: William Z
Kingsley, the Hon. Henry G.. Murphy an,
Thomas Kinsela, proprietor Of the Brooklyn
Edgle. Mr. and Mrs. Conway had been Yer,
successful III their management Of the OF
Park Theater in Brooklyn, and had amassee
some seventy or eighty thousand dollars
They had, indeed, become so popular an(
firmly established that capitalists, such al
Kingsley and Murphy, thought it an excel
lent speculation to put up the house for them
The spot selected for the building was the
old site of St. Johns church and buryinl
ground. the pioneer Anglican church Of the
city. The church was torn down, and al
who had friends buried in the cemetery, and
possessed the necessary funds, had their
bodies removed but there were many buried
there whose families had become extinct OF
moved away and even some who were too
poor to meet the expense Of disinterment
and burial; hence great many bodies were
left in the ground and the theater was bull,
over them.
From the very moment the location was
decided upon, Mrs. Conway was impressed
with forebodings Of trouble and sorrow. She
insisted that the contemplated enterprise was
a desecration of holy ground, and that moth
ing would succeed there. Although her hus-
band did not entirely share her feelings at the
time, still he also expressed great dissatlsfac-
ton with the site chosen tor the theater.
MRS. CONwAYs FEARS REALIZED.
The theater was built, despite the fears Of
those interested, and was one OF the most
elegant and costly structures Of the kind any
where about the metropolis. When compile
ted, it is said to have cost considerably over
100000. The Conways leased it, and soon
sunk every dollar they mad made at their old
establishment. The dressing rooms were
situated directly over number of scantily
covered graves, and, in damp weather, the
exhalati0ns from these were not only disa-
greeable, but SO noisome us to cause serious
illness among the members of the company.
An impression got abroad, before great
while, that the house was haunted, and there
was at least this much ground for the rumor.
The theater might be shut up, every door and
window closed at night, every possibility Of
draught provided against, and yet, just as
soon as the lights were extinguished, never
before, the flies and scenery on the stage
would flap, swing, strain and creak, as if
terrific gale were blowing up through them,
and all this time without breath of air STIR
ring. Mrs. Conway, who ascribed all their
bad fortune to influences, other than human,
could not be persuaded, upon any considera-
ton, to enter the house after the lights were
turned off. 1t may be imagined that the poor
lady's life was not pleasant one, with this
horror constantly upon her mind, to supple
ment the modification Of continual pecuniary
loss which she and her husband were suffer-
ing; but her real sorrows had not yet COM
menced
DEATH OF THE CONwAYs.
They had been in the ill-fated theater about
two years, when Mr. Conway, one night, fell
on the stage, stricken with the disease from
which he died few weeks later. Before
his death, he expressed the belief that he
might have lived to a good old age if he bad
left the haunted and cursed Brooklyn Theater
alone. He died, leaving his widow and chill
drcn in such pecuniary condition that there !
was no alternative for them but to carry on
the theater. This Mrs Conway did, but with
no better success than formerly, and her
opinion about the certainty of disaster i'm
pending over the concern, became more and |
more fixed.
Just two years from the death of her hus-
band she herself was brought low, and died
n her private apartments over the theater.
When in her last moments, she insisted that
Ill her losses, her bereavement, and every
hing unfortunate which had happened her
md hers, was directly punishment for the
lesecration of St. Johns graveyard, and that
3od would ever visit with His displeasure all
Who thus disrcgarded sacred things. On the
hight of Mrs. Conway's death, means and
hrieks were heard in the theater, after the
lights were put out, which 50 terrified the
tage carpenter, scene shifters, and property
nen, that they all trmbled over each other
own stairs and rushed into the street with
lanched faces and teeth chattering with
ear. All these men claimed that they had
cen manifestations of frightful character,
ut as their testimony may be questionable,
wing to the abject state Of terror to which
hey were certainly reduced by some cause
r other, we refrain from repeating their
tories.
swINDLING THE ORPHANS.
At the time of her demise Mrs. Conw ay
wed about $12, 900 rent on the building, and
lere were no assests with which to meet it.
he daughters, Misses Minnie and Lilly Con-
'ay. felt that, with the prestige of the family
anne, they might still retrieve the fortunes l
the concern If they could once get start. !
Lessrs. Kingsley, Kinsella and Murphy {
rOmised them that if they could raise $5,-
10 of the amount due, they could have the
leatre. Their friends accordingly planned |
benefit for them at the Broadway Academy t
Music. at which place they gave an after \
Don and evening performance, both playing q
e sadly appropriate drama of 'sThe Two /
rphaps." The object Of the benefit had (
zen noised abroad, and all Brooklyn felt so i
eat an interest in these young girls strug- t
ing against every obstacle for q livelihood, q
at there was general determination that