Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-01-13
WAS SHE A GHOST?

A Mysterious Death Accompanied BY I'm
canpy Qualifications.
A Cleveland special says: Mrs.
Emily Frayne, Of Hamilton, Ontario,
died at 3 o'clock Friday morning at the
home of her sister and the latter's hus-
band, at No. 81 Prospect street, sur
rounded by circumstances which make
the cause of her death decidedly mys-
FERROUS, not to say suspicious. The
apartments of the Haddens are on
the second floor of the block stu
ated at the number named, and
other rooms on the same floor
and that above are occupied by other
tenants. Mrs. Frayne, whose husband
and two children died last summer,
came to visit her sister week ago to-
day, and was then in her usual health.
She became suddenly i'll about 9 O'Clock
on Thursday evening. The attack was
attended by violent purging and vomit-
ing, together with frothing at the mouth
and commissions. Death, as already in
Dictated, ensued three hours later, and
at this point the singular feature Of the
affair, as developed to-day, has begin
ming.
II. Frank Lamb, a frescoer, about
thirty years of age, retired to his room
on the third floor of the block about 2
O'Clock Friday morning and was soon
asleep. He says he had been asleep
only short time when he was aroused
by being turned over in his bed by
some power outside Of himself, and, as
it now appears to him, he saw the form
of woman standing at his bedside. lie
put up his hands and inquired what
was wanted, and the answer came in
spirited, feminine tone: = Hush !
hush !" Lamb says he then regarded
the interruption Of his slumber as
a nightmare, and went to sleep
again. The next that he remembers,
the mattress upon which he slept, to-
gether with the bedclothing, was thrown
from the bed to the floor. The noise
thus occasioned aroused Mrs. Charles
Mcdonald, wife of a " Bee-Line " con-
ductor, who occupied rooms on the
floor below. Mrs. Mcdonald dressed
and started to go upstairs to investi-
gate the matter. The janitor of the
building, William Rice, who occupied
the room adjoining that of Lamb, heard
the commotion and stepped into the
hallway. Lamb, who had gathered
himself up, opened his door and con-
fronted Rice and Mrs. Mcdonald, and
just at that moment Mrs. MADDEN opened
her door and uttered cry to the effect
that her sister was dead. Lamb says
that without the slightest knowledge Of
why it was so the word "poison "
escaped from his lips at the moment
he was thrown TO the floor. He says
that the first word that the janitor ut
tered when they met was poison"
but that when he said, What did you
say" Rice replied, /" oh, nothing"
Lamb is not believer in spiritualism,
and the singular manifestations are
wholly unaccountable to him. Rice
says that, while in the hallway adjacent
to the rooms occupied by the Haddens
yesterday, he overheard loud words and
voice, which he recognized as Had
denis, say, " You should not have done
it; it was wrong; to which came the
reply, in a woman's voice, "YOu
shouldn't accuse me-" Then, so says
Rice, Mrs. MADDEN opened the hall
door and peered out.
The dead woman is said to have had
an income of 5000 per annum, and was
about to come into possession of con-
siderable property to which she had
fallen heir. The Haddens are in very
poor circumstances, and, being without
means to bear the funeral expenses, the
body still lies in the house.