St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-07-01
Story Of a Deserted and
Haunted House on Pearl
Street.
A Committee, in Solemn Con-
clave, Agree to Divulge
Nothing.
A Seventh Street Character
! Who Has Seen the
| World.
Pat Huligan Swears Off on
f. Wakes and Their Con-
! sequences.

. There is a superstitution connected
+ with an old frame house which has
stood empty for the past four years on
Pearl street. At the beginning of that
period the place was taken by family
of Bohemians, who, though no member
of the family could speak English, man
aged to convey by means of an inter-
prefer their idea that the house was
haunted. The trouble was. they as
serted. that no matter what means were
adopted the doors of the house
could not be kept closed. No matter
if the refractory portals were locked
and latched, the lock would slide back
without any apparent cause, and the
door slowly open to its full width. Dis
credlting the stories, the agent for the
Chicago owner of the property decided
to Investigate, and in company with two
/ well known real estate men of this city,
whose names are withheld by request,
proceeded to pass part of one night in
the reputedly bespooked building.
With lamps lighted they sat in the
front parlor from II to IL p. m. The
door was locked. Suddenly, just as the
family clock ON the shelf begun to strike
the hour, there was a sharp click, and
the door slowly moved open. The
party looked at the open doorway, fully
expecting some apparitiOn to appear
from the gloom of the passage beyond.
but none come. The door was relocked,
and, after an interval of fifteen
minutes, the performance was
duplicated. There is something
uncanny about the atmosphere of
house which has even the reputation of
being haunted, and the occupants of the
parlOr didn't like it. Finally a plan
was decided on-they would get nails
and nail the door up. Lots were drawn
to see who should go after the nails,
which were finally secured by one of
the party under protest. Nails were
driven from the door into the post from
top to bottom. The man who did the nail
ing smiled triumphantly and sat down.
In precisely fifteen minutes by the same
old wheeZy timepiece, there was slight
preliminary noise and then the door
flew open with loud bang, soaring the
party of watchers out of seven years
/ growth, and proving cOncluSively that
the spirits or whoever was responsible
/ for the phenomena were getting hot in
the collar and would stand no more
tnonkeying. One of the watchers got
sleepy; another had man to see; and
the third felt sure that his wife, would
be anxious about him; she always
was when he was out late. By mutual
consent the premises were vacated.
/ Shortly afterwards at the next street
corner three men might have been seen,
with their right hands in the air. swear
Ing eternal secrecy regarding the events
+ of the night. Time overcame the scru-
Piles of one of the three worthless figur-
ing in the adventure, and he told the
story, together with the names of his
companions, at little dinner the 9th er
evening.
There's an old fellow who perambu-
lates Seventh street in all kinds of
weather, whose peculiarities..hav made
him an object of interest to many.
During the summer months Jack" as
he is Familiarity called-John Peters is
his name-wears dilapidated Panama
hat, the brim of which IS In itself wide
enough to attract attention. and smokes
necessarily coa-lblack clay pipe of
peculiar pattern, which he says he has
carried ever since the Franco-PruSSian
war. The old fellow has history.
He was for thirty-fve years On of the
most trusted lieutenants on the
force of mounted police at Cape Town,
Africa. He accompanied Gen. Grant
in his Indian travels, having been by
that time pensiOned by the British gov
eminent, which pension he still draws.
He tells some queer stories of the gen
erals experiences in hunting untam-
able inhabitants of the jungle. Peters
volunteered his services to the officers
in command of the first British eXpedi-
ton against SuakIm, which were &C
cepted from the fact that none had
better knowledge of the country than
he had. He served through the entire
campaign as guide, wearing the uni
form of the Britishsarmy. For his Serv-
ices in this expedition he received sub |
Stantial remuneration and several med
ais, presented by Capt Graham as proxy |
for Queen Victoria, which medals he
still carries. Mr.. Peters has daughter
residing on East Seventh street who
was married in England seven years ago |
to Edward Ferris, young New Yorker
now employed in this city, with whom
he has resided while in st. Paul; also
mounted police and one sheep rancher
in New South Wales. With the latter
Mr.. Peters expects to end his days. The
old gentleman leaves st. Paul for San
= Francisco this morning, and will sail for
Melbourne within the next two weeks.
Pat Hahgan, one of the old-time dray-
men, tells blood-curdling yarn about
the night he sat up with Martin Finne-
gan's corpse IN the early days of the
SANITY City. Finnegan was hard
drinker. His wife and daughter were
both hard workers, and between them
kept the home from the utter ruin which
would otherwise have been, resultant
upon Finnegan's passion for the
crather. One night Finnegan, who
had been on one of his periodical
Spress, fell in tit, and was taken
home, to all appearances as dead
as, Caesar. The remains were laid out
ready for burial on fiat table upon
which the mother and daughter did IRON
ing for those who could afford to employ
them. Mrs. Finnegan was Frustrated
by the sudden shock and was taken care
Of. at a neighbours house, the grief
stricken daughter remaining with her.
Pat was asked to sit up with the corpse,
and couldn't well refuse, as he and Fin
negan had been great friends during
the life of the latter. When night
came on, Pat, with many miSgivings
for which he could not account,
hied himself to the house of his de-
parted friend, the corpse being the
only occupant. The remains were
covered with a sheet, and looked
ghastIy enough ill the dim light of the
two wax candles which flickered at the
head of the table. 1t was a sacred
duty, however, and Pat. taking long
pull from bottle he had brought with
him, took Testament from his pocket
and made up his mind to
say prayer or two for the dead.
Suddenly he looked up. Surely the
sheet moved Everything was quiet
again, however, and Pat tried to con-
vince himself that the wind was re-
sponsible for what he had fancied was
a movement on the part of the corpse.
He kept his eyes intently fixed Oh the
occupant of the table. however; and as
he gazed, his eyes started from their
sockets, and his hair stood straight up
like the bristles OH tame porcupine.
There was no longer any doubt
about it; the corpse moved.