The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-03-10
A GH0STLY DRAMA.
McDowslls College Again the Scene Of
an Astonishing Tableau.
ApparitionR Been In the Haunted Cham
Der After Midnight.
The Spiritualists Preparing to Test the
Phenomenon.
ISt. Louis Dispatch. !

of all eyes, and large number of gentlemen
in different parties explored the building
constantly yesterday, while others gathered
on the vacant lot on the corner Of Eighth and
Gratiot streets and watched the southern
side of the stone tower with unhsgging in
terest. Nothing occurred to break the Sab
bath stiffness, however, all day long.
Neither did anything of an unusual char
acter happen on Saturday night, owing
probably to the crowd OF people who in
tested the whole edifce, filing it with
noises and being as certainly out OF rapport
with anything of q spiritual nature as one
could well conceive.
A party of gentlemen was made up on
Saturday evening to attend the manifesto
tons and max some further effort toward
a rational explanation of the mystery. AS
long as the parties with lanterns kept pos
session of the buildings it was, of course. no
use to make any attempt, and when the
last of these departed, about 10 O'Clock, a
long and fruitless watch was begun, which
ended at l o'clock Sunday morning. and
only went to prove nothing at all. Fortu-
nateIy the crowd had not been able to dis
cover the stairway leading TO
THE HAUNTED CHANBER
in the third story OF the tower, and hence
none of the conditions of an apparltioa
were disturbed. On Sunday evening the
College was again filled with a crowd of Gu
rioslty-inspired ghost-hunters, who found no
better amusement than to work upon each
others supersItious fears with bogus dem-
ons;rations- At o'clock in the evening Mr..
Abend, who was spoken of in this connec-
ton before, Mr.. Griffin, Mr.. Harrington. DE-.
Besle and a Post-Dispatch reporter met at
Mr.. Attends house, on Gretiot street, and
fixed themselves thoroughly for complete
examination OF the mystery. The party az
rived at the rear of the College few mo-
\ ments before O'Clock and proceeded 10 the
top story as quickly as possible. Men bear
ing lanterns were wandering aimlessy
about the building peering into
every crack and Granny, and it was
q hard task TO shake some of these
people off. Even after gaining the
these would-be explorers filled the place,
and each gentleman OF the party pre- srved a
most discreet and thorough silence TO evsde
the persons below. The sitting facilities of
the room were extremely limited and the
cold winds whist!ed around the tower chill
Ingly, so that the watch was an extremely
uncomfortable one. Each Que was pro gldt
with dark lantern well hidden in the folds
of his overcoat. and it was expected that
whatever imposture there might be present
would be certainly detected. The clocks in
the Christian Brothers Collegs were heard
striking 10 and IL, and nothing occurred
Whispered conversations between tWOs and
threes of the watchers had almost induced
the party to give up the exploit, when II
o'clock sounded. It was then decided that
the vigil should be kept up until l O'Clock.
? when, IL nothiog happened, the company
would 90 home.
IEE MANIFESTATIONS.
But very few minutes had passed after
this decision until the lonesome silence of
the tower was broken by a strain of weird
music, which seemed TO be descending from
the cupoia- Ii was a plainiive wall,
harmonious bat inexpressiby sad, and
while there was apparently nothing of the
human voice in the melody il bore no re-
semblance to any instrument except posi-
bly, an eolion harp. The music swelled and
became louder as il approached the floor.
waning and then growing louder aud louder
Ult1l ii copied the deep brass groan Of an
organ fugue. The harmony ceased aud the
room from some inc xplicable source becsme
filled with dim white light in strong con-
trast to the pitchy darkness without, and
which IVES strong enough to enable one co
Amake out the shape of every object in the
room. The dark lanterns, of which there
were several in the room, we're at this point
turned on by precoDcerted signal, but they
added nothing 20 the light, as they were all
out. In the middle of the nebulous illumina-
ton OF the center of the room, it became
possible to make out the haZy outlines OF
I what appeared 10 be common table. IL was
vague and shadowy, however and ii paled
and came several times before the whole
party were quite sure of its identity. When
the table had fully materialized, the music
hos I'd in md hT1rra nod do
gradually evolved itself out of thin air upon
the table. As far as could be made out in
the semi. darkness. it was
THE APPAEErEeN or A BEACTIFUL WOMAN,
her long hair reaching quite to the floor be.
meath, and her person, though wasted away
by famine and disease, retained enough OF
its fair proportions to testify how much
\peauty the girl once had Ii took lone
Time for the naturalization to reach this
stage, as some OF the gentlemen present
would continually try to push forward and
scan more closely the mystery, and on each
ettempt the shadowy tablesu faded away and
larkened TO mere outlines. Utter silence
2 however, restored the picture, and the party
waited breatblessiy for the denoument. Al
last the table and the figure assumed the
clear cut distinctness of q picture in the
field of a stereoptieon, and by each sids
appeared two further shadows which came
out OF the gloom. They were men. and
armed apparently with long disseotint
knives.
my Cod" exclaimed Abend hoarsely anC
loudly, 1.-The story that 6peiRer told is work
ing itself out" At the first syllable OF the
\imprecation, ss though g sudden blacknesl
Rad burst into the room, the tableau had
gone out, and it was utterly impossible Il
distinguish the faintest point of light any
where within the chamber; aud hardly haC
the echo OF his voice ceased reverberatinl
when every ear was filed with the awful
shrek of q tortured woman. The sound wa
a fearful one--not loud, but horrible in the
Suggestion Of what was behind 1t. 1t ended
in q gurgle, and seemed to be choked off BY
other hands. The crash of glass, which We
Also heard before, pune uated the stiffness
and the hurry of footsteps making off toward
1 the northern wall. None Of the party fell
eqnal 90 following mp the noises, but each
d came quietly out of the towers and without
even q word OF farewell TO each other, seq
arated 10 think over what they had seen snC
heard Looking back at the upper window
/ Of the tower. fsint CLEANS OF light could b.
made out within the chamber; and two o
the party declared this morning that lookinl
up from Eighth street they bad discerneC
the sheeted figure OF q woman vaguely out
lined Mt the eastern window which faded al