The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1888-08-18
Special to the CARBON ADVOCATE.
BROADBRIM'S n. Y. LETTER

10 you DelleVe IN luckT III course
not. None but superstitious people believe
in luck. This is an enlightened age we live
in. In the olden time, when people were
Ignorant and foolish, 1t was all very well to
believe In luck; but we've got past that now,
and don't you forget ltr'
This was the reply Of a very smart man
to me last week when asked him the ques-
tion indicated above. / was standing on
the corner Of Twenty-:hird street and Sixth
avenue, in front of Levi M. Bates dry
goods store, while thousands Of dollars
worth Of costly silks, laces, cloths, &C.,
were going under the auctioneer's hammer.
On the opposite corner tho Masonic Hall
stands, a monument to the energy of the
"Brethern. of the Mystic Tie." Fifty
yards from the northwest corner Is
Roster & Balls beer garden, where hun
dreds gather nightly to see O'Connor
trayesty Shakespeare. But 1t is with the
first corner named that have to do now,
when asked il you believed In luck. A
hundred years ago, when the old polt-road
led out to the village Of Blooming Dale,
right on this piece of land was a famous
old mansion occupied by family by the
name Of Won der Hyde. The house was
surrounded by well laid out ground, and
back Of 1t was pleasant orchard reaching
far beyond the limits OF the present Madi-
son Square. 1t was in the year 1862, Sep
tember IL, that mighty crowd of excited
burghers might bel seen surrounding the old
manor house, for early that morning Emeri-
tus Won der Hyde and his wife were found
murdered in their bed, and the house had
been robbed Of silvsrware and valusbles,
with which the robbers had escaped. The
murder caused profound sensation, and
although the Won der Hyde property was
one of the most desirable on the Island, II
was years before any one could be found to
occupy 1t. 1t was known far and near as
the haunted house. Late travellers riding
In the wee hours TO and from Blooming
Dale, asserted that they heard unseemly
noises; lights flashed out from the windows
Of the room where the murder had been
committed, and more than one was ready
to swear that they had seen old Emeritus
Won der Hyde and his wife looking out Of
the windows-their garments cIimsoned
with blood as they were on the night of the
murder. Years rolled on and the old man.
sion was torn down, for bad luck seemed
10 pursue 1t, no matter wha: business was
tried there. Failure after failure followed
IL. About seventeen years ago It was pur-
chased by Mr.. Edwin Booth, who invested
In 1t all the earnings of his life, and also
induced his father-in-law, James McVickAr
OF Chicago, TO back him in the venture, and
the result was Booths Theatre, one of the
most magnificent temples of the drama ever
erected in New York. Aided by the genius
and experience Of Booth, Shakespeare was
produced here as 1t had never before been
seen in New York. The best actors, the
best scenery, the most gorgeous costumes,
everything that art could lend or genius
conceive, conspireofor success, but all in
vain. The ghost of Emeritus Won der Hyde
and his wife walked the stage and sat In
the flies and fitted among the scenes after
the audience had departed; and one day
Edwin Booth marched out Of the theatre
ruined man; his fortune gone, his father
in-law seriously crippled, and himself
bankrupt, loaded with liabilities to the tune
Of hundred thousand dollars. The Dion
Boucicault took IT, and he went to the wall
in few weeks. Stetson Of Boston, one of
the most successful managersin the United
States, tried IL and came 10 grief after sink
ing respectable fortune. He withdrew,
and no manager had the courage TO try IL
after him. The building was then altered
into stores. The corner was thought TO be
one OF the very best In New York. It was
opened by couple of experienced and en-
terpriaihg men a. q dry goods store. All
around them and on every side were men
who had built up colossal fortunes iE the
dry goodA business; but bad luck followed
them from the first, and when on the verge
Of bankruptcy they found q purchaser In