The Dickinson press., 1884-12-27
The Face Behind the 1,rs.
From tho New York Times.

est mansions on Madison avenue have
iron bars like those of q prison or asy-
lum. If these iron bars were only half
way up the window passersby would
conclude that the apartment 80 pro-
tected was the nursery" and they
were so arranged to guard against acct
dent, but these bars are often the style
OF those in a prison window, and look
as if intended to resist o force stronger
Than q child's. Passersby in the aristo-
ratio locality occasionally see a pale,
van face Of q man of middle-age peer
ing through these bars, but compare
lively seldom, and there is little oppor-
tunity to study the features, as an at
tendant soon appears and gently
bears the other away from the sight
of the window. One of the oldest and
best known commercial families in the
city occupy the stately mansion, which
was built by them over twenty-five
years ago. Servants change with the
seasons, and my inquiry in the neigh
borhood, unless from some old resident,
. will fail to elicit any information con-
corning the, barred windows, which can
not fail to attract attention and curiosi-
~ in those who have seer the appari-
ton of the face. The interest natur-
ally excited under the circumstances
will be heightened by o knowledge that
Lights kept burning III the room pro
tected by these iron bars all through
the night, and evidently from the shad-
ows on the curtains more than one per-
son is moving within. There is W
any other indication of habitation of
b apartment than those of the light
within, the form at the window aud the
shadows on the curtains. The appari-
ton of the face is so seldom seen that it
might as we'll not be included among
the evidences of habitation; but the
light at night and the shadows
on the curtain are to be seen nightly, as
we'll when the lower portions of the
stately mansion are gay with the life
of q reception or dark from the deser-
ton ofthe summers exodus. The family
are n of the largest and most fashion,
able in the city, and nightly during the
windows and evidences of society; but
there is no more change in the upper
part of the house than there is in the
light in the solitary house on the pro-
montory on the ~seacoast; it is the same
the year round. A careful corollary OF
all these facts prompted an investiga-
ton Of what, under the circumstances,
soon assumed the shape of a mystery,
and from an old resident, whose name
is historic, the facts We're elected after
much questioning, the old gentleman
not deciding to become communicative
until he perceived that a curiosity had
been excited that would not be satisfied
with any evasion of the story.
In the first place, the iron bars were
put across three windows Oh the top
floor when the ediice was erected.
The family moved into this house from
one they had occupied down town since
the days of the Revolution. The neigh
borhood was not rs populous and
fashionable then as now, and the COM
parative s%eclusion was one of the rea-
ons for the removals, for the vacated
house was still in q favorite locality.
In a bustling, growing city like New
York family histories soon pass away
like the families themselves, or at all
events we make history so rapidly that
III p1cScuG OCCuplcS Ul1o Ul1OuRllUS W
the exclusion of the past, and so this bit
of family history has entirely passed
from the minds except of o few aged
contemporaries to whom it is an old
story, possessing little interest nova.
days, though at the time of the removal
mentioned it was probably for the nonce
tea-table gossip. A member of the
family, a gentleman of five and twenty,
returned from an educational tour Of
Europein time to see his betrothed we'd
ded to o rival. The shock was toe
great for him to withstand, and his rea.
son was shattered. Since that day he
has been an imbecile, with little strength
of ambition to go about, and he has oc-
cupied the top floor room with the iron
barred windows, in charge ofan attend.
ant ever since, the removal being made
shortly after, and the apartment especi,
ally designed for him. He has neve,
since, according to information, spoken
a word, and is, of course, only seen by
the physician and members of the fam.
lily. Children born in the house tt
younger members of the family hav.
never seen the mysterious occupant
of the top floor; indeed, know
nothing about him. 1t is doubtful i
anybody outside of the family
and his attendants has ever seer
him in all these years. At times he IN.
dulges in the exercise of walking abou'
his room, but generally is contented tt
rest in an arm chair. It is said that he
never looks at a woman without a VIC
lent spasm. He has ample means il
his own right and wants for nothing
Any attempt to remove him from the
apartment excites him to an extent tina
induces those having him in charge t.
leave him where he is. He will proba.
ply never leave the apartment alive
When he is removed it will be in hi
coffin, and the children in the house
will then for the first time learn that he
ever existed.
The lady and her husband both fel.
victims to the cholera, which was ar
epidemic the following year in this city
and the depIorable mental condition O
her discarded lover, which friends a
the tune did not hesitate to attribute t.
her s~oulless conduct toward him, wa
the source of much tribulation to her il
her last hours.
Judge John G. Pinkerman, ofBridge
port, Conn, just returned from Eu
rope. was served with papers of at
tachment upon all his property Satur
dow p;obt for 1ofopino tho oboroofor n