Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-10-13
A STRANGE STORY.
Olive Izarper's Experiences i'm q New
York Hotel.

| Olive I2arper's Experiences i'm q New
| York Hotel.
| In the latter part Of April 1873, I went to the
| Metropolitan hotel in New York. which is sit
| uated at the corner of Broadway and Prince
| streets, and was assigned to room ''342." This
1 room fronted on Prince street and was about
/ 10 feet wide by Is long, with an alcove for the
| bed adjoining the main hall. while a narrow hall
led from the main hall to the room by the side of
| the aIcoye. / am thus particular in describing
the room because it has direct bearing upon
| the story 1 shall relate.
| The room has but one window and beside that
| is the fireplace and both together take I'D the
| entire wall space. An old-fashiOned bureau
| stood by the window on the left hand on enter
| ing the room. A stationary wash-stapd. with 4
movable gas burner above, was placed between
the bureau and the door leading into the little
| hall. A rather faded Brussels carpet covered
the moor, and small oval handicapped table
stood IN the center of the room. A couple OF
easy-chairs and two plain chairs also stood
about. On the right-hand side of the room was
wardrobe near the foot of the bed. lust out
SIDE the alcove. and between that and the fire.
place was lounge. This completed the furn-
| ishing Of the room.
had arrived from a railroad journey and was
very tired but in superb health. l never was
| one likely TO indulge in yisOn and wish it
distinctly understood that am not spiritual
island do not believe in spiritual manifestations
| In any way. l relate what have to say lust as
| 1t happened, leaving the explanation to any one
who can explain it,
/ arrived, as l say. and was given this room.
| | had my dinner served In the room. and sat
there until nearly midnight wiring letters. and
| then calling the bell boy and giving him the
| letters, / closed and locked the outer hall door.
and then the inner one. and after looking at
several photographs of friends. / left them and
| my writing material on the table, and went to
] bed. first assuring myself that there was no
possibility of any one entering the room by the
| window. There were no transOms, only sort
| of windowblind slatwOrk over the head of the
| bed for air. left the gas turned up slightly.
and the little table by the side Of the station
| airy wash-stand. where l had drawn it for the
sake OF light, there being NO other burner in
| the room.
| Being very healthy, tired. and not troubled
| by bad conscience or digestion, went to sleep
almost as soon as l was comfortably settled in
| bed. and do not know how long silent. Sud-
denly awOke and sat bolt upright in bed and
| saw two men in the room. The light was bright.
and they were seated at the right-hand side of
the room at the foot of my bed. One was on
the sofa and the other on chair. and the little
handicapped table was between them and on
this fable they were playing euchre. / heard no
words, but knew 1t was euchre, because under
stand that game fairly well myself.
He who was sitting, or rather reclining, on the
sofa was delicate looking man, like one in
poor health, and he was dressed in light suit of
clothes. He had thin redish hair and struggling
beard. His forehead was unusually broad and
high. and the rest of his face was SO thin that the
pointed beard gave him a peculiar look His
hands were long and thin. and his left wrist was
misshapen as if it had once been broken and
badly set.
The other man was stout. dark, with piercing
black eyes, and eyebrows which seemed to stand
out straight. His hair was straight and thick
and very black and shining. His moustache was
thick and dropping. At one corner of the
mouth can't remember which-was little
scar like the letter V In shape, and his face and
chin had that peculiar blue tinge that some dark
men have when newly shaved. He was hand
some, withal. He was dressed in dark clothing
They played out one hand and had played one
trick on the next, when l noticed they seemed
angry and quarrelng, though heard no sound,
and in an instant the dark man quickly drew a
knife and stabbed the other in the left breast
The kn'te penetrated to the very hilt. He shv-
cred little. his eyes closed, and he was dead
Then the ether one rose and lifted up the inert
right arm and drew it forward. and clasped the
hand around the handle of the knife and pushed
the table closer until it held the elbow of the
dead man in such position as would keen the
arm from falling again. Then he gathered ND
the cards, put them Into his pocket, took I'D his
hat. and in an instant the whole scene had dis
appeared and fell back in the bed and knew
no more until morning.
and work up thrilling tale. but as am simply
narrating facts must say that was not fright
ened was more surprised than anything else
and the whole took place so suddenly that had
not time to get frightened until it was all over.
and when | awOke in the morning 1t had almost
passed from my mind, as ! thought it but a
dream. But when / rose and went into the
room saw that the table stood by the side of
the lounge and all my photographs and papers
were on the bureau. Still l did not attach
RI hot 7 bod 4
In my sleep some when was young, and in the
press Of business the next day 1t went entirely
out or my mind.
That night was reused IN precisely the same
manner as before, and / saw the same thing
precisely. In the morning the table stood by
the sofa again, and all the things that had been
on it were On the bureau. This surprised me a
good deal ana must confess to feeling little
'.crawly" about it; still much occupation during
the day almost efaced the impression before
night. The third evening spent with some
friends. and returned at about IL o'clock. and
almost Immediately retired. to go through ex-
actiy the same experience; and then in reality
began to feel uncomfortable and not to care
about going to bed. l determined to fix things
so that nobody could move that table | did
not believe in supernatural agency. and took
rope that had been around my trunk and tied
that table fast to the leg OF the bureau and tied
more knots than could have united in half an
hour. piled some things on the top and went to
| bed leaving the gas fully turned on | awoke
next morning after having been the unwilling
witness of it all again, and the rope lay on the
| floor and all the things with it.
declared to myself that / would not sleep
| in that room another night though l did not
| think spirits had anything to do with it. /
called chanbernad and asked her if she
| could not sleep in the room with me- She said
| that was against the rules, but that she would
| speak to the housekeeper. So Katy did and
| the honsekeeper came down. had a converse
ton with her and asked her if any one had ever
complained in any way Of that room She hes
itated. and finally said that sick lady once had
| insisted on being changed to another room, but
| did not offer any explanations. did not either
but decided not to give up without one more
| trial. and this night l determined not to fall
asleep at ALL aud so l sat up reading, or rather
| trying to read, until nearly II, and then l did
| not feel quite as though wanted to remain in
the same room, and desired as much protec-
ton as the alcove room would give. though
| there were but curtains to separate the rooms.
So sat up in bed there for about half an
hour. All in an instant the whole thing was
before me a-cain. and did feel somewhat queer
and chilly. but I watched the progress Of the
whole tragedy again, and, as decided, for the
last time.
As soon as was feasible in the morning sent
for Mr.. Adams the clerk, to come up, and asked
him If he would tell me whether any murder