The bee., 1883-01-27
CATCHING A GHOST.
A Philadelphia Detectives story.

profession. The better class of secret
agents decline such cases, but "sn:de
and sneak detectives" are delighted to
have the handling of all such.
The case about to be narrated, while
not in the regular line, was undertaken
by reason of intimate personal rela-
tions, and eventually led up to legiti-
mate detective work. The lady, whose
husband was commercial traveller for
large New York house, was in a
highly excited condition; indeed it was
/ owing alone to her indomitable spirit
that she was able te remain out of bed
do not much wonder at the young
wife's CONSERVATION, for the case was
very mysterious one, as the reader
will confess. Mr.. Blanque has been
absent some weeks somewhere in the
far west, but just where was not
known, and it was this fact that caused
Mrs. Blanque's greatest agitation when
coupled with the singular manifesto
tions.
Mrs. Blanque in the last ten days had
been using the second story front room
Of her house as, sitting room. One
evening, wearied with reading, she
moved her chair from the open CRATE,
and leaned her head against the wall
so she said: but l Judge from subse.
quent facts that she had been making
love to the fine photograph of her hus-
band which hung upon the wall, She
heard this appalling announcement
uttered in a sepulchral voice:
kill the dog, Blanque p
AT the same moment the picture fell
to the floor, and as l suppose, from her
hand. The glass was broken. There
are many people who are sure the
breaking of looking-glass is a certain
portent of sudden death in the family,
and while this did not fill the condi-
tions because it was not mirror, it
none the less occupied her mind with
the idea that this event was a certain
token of her husbands death.
Mrs. BIanque was brave enough,
however, to place her head close to the
wall again, and heard the most diaboli-
cal noises-noiSes the like of which
she never heard. The spoken words,
as well as the sounds which followed,
seemed to proceed from some deep
! subterranean cavern.
Mrs. Blanque hastily left the room,
and did not venture back again that
evening. Several times during the
next day she repeated her experiment,
but heard nothing, and were it not for
the broken glass she might have per-
suaded herself that it was imagina-
ton. Recovering her self-possession
somewhat, she yentured the next night
to seat herself as before, but up within
few minutes of ii o'clock heard nc
further disturbances.
She had the glass replaced, and
once more it was suspended from the
wall. An evening or two afterward
she read until late, and, 1 imagine,
pressed goodnight kiss on the por-
trait of her husband. She heard the
uncanny racket, and continued listen
ing to this for some moments, when
the awful announcement was made:
"He is dead p
Some other words there were, the
purport of which she did not catch
and soon after the house seemed filled
with shrieks and hollow reverberations.
These made her blood run cold, and
she fed from the room. She had the
coachmen sleep in the apartment all
that night and every succeeding night.
With the return of daylight she felt
somewhat braver, and resolved to make
another experiment before she made
known her fears. The fact that these
disturbances occurred about midnight
only served to indicate their super
natural origin.
The third trial was made about IL
o'clock, when Mrs. Blanque had her
maid by her side. No sooner had the
lady taken down the picture and placed
her ear to the spot it covered than the
blood-curdhng din began, which she
described as the mindling of noises
by drawing heavy iron chains over zinc
or tin and ear-piercing shrieks from
demon lips. 1t was some time before
she heard any words, and those caught
were "Blanque, Blanque." Then she
heard something about "bones rotting,
which of course she concluded were
her husbands and no other.
The awful import Of this revelation
overcame her and she tainted. She
could stand it no longer, and the next
day sent for me, as being one of hel
husbands nearest friends. That night
with one of my subordinates, / called
at the house and began the inyestiga
ton. Between eleven and twelve
heard the dreadful sounds as described