The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1889-10-29
A HAUNTED CABIN.


fngton Girls ON Wheels-How to Make
a Handkerchief Box.
On the banks of the Trinity, about a
mile and a half from Galvesto u stands an
old log cabin dating from the earliest
days Of Texas. This cabin, it is claimed.
is nightly the scene of ghostly orgies.
calculated to freeze the blood of any hv-
ing creature within sight and hearing OF
them. A party of young men in this
city in q spirit of adventure visited this
haunted howell q few nights since, and re-
port that they found it illuminated by an
unearthly blue light, which emanated
from no visible source, and hlled with
suffocating fumes of birthstone n sui
phur. :.
Invisible hands snapped and tugged at
them, and shrieks of diabolical laughter
and lamentation too pitiful for descrlp-
ton mingled in a dreadful chorus. Half
embodied figures could be dimly. seen
through the hazy atmosphere OF the
room. Sometimes a bare arm would be
thrust toward them, as If in supplicatlon,
or with mocking gestures, and again o
distorted leg would be revealed or q
severed head seen to be floating about
just out of reach. These sights and
| sounds were witnessed by all, but a OF
the party was treated to a separate and
special vision.
One declared that he beheld an Indian
chief in full war dress, who informed him
that he was the spirit of "Big Warrior.
Another saw a combat between Two
black imps, who fought with arrows OF
flame and used their tails for bows. A
third was caught IN the embrace OF a
skeleton with cleaning eyes and dartlng
tongue, and compelled to join itin an odd,
| fantastic dance of its w invention. Mr.
i. was lodging continually phantom
| tomahawks, whose realistic appearance
each time would cause him to forget that
they always melted away before reacnlng
him. Having heroically braved all the
| attacks from the demons who were EVIL
| IDENTIFY in possession of the cabin and try
ing to eXpel their human visitors, the
young men were finally raken separately
to the door and flung out into the night
amid bursts of hideous laughter. They
attempted to re-enter the shanty, u
found the door held by an invisible
They fingered about for some time and at
last saw the cabin apparently on IRE, for
flames leaped up the walls and great
clouds of smoke rolled out of every crew
ice, but on returning next morning the
log hut was still standing, presenting its
usual .-GaIUestoa NctUs.
A Sad Reversal.
The rapid gyrations of the social ma
| chine account for a strange and pathetic
incident that was the subject of an official
order by Mayor Noonan. Nancy Wash
ington, an aged and very respectable
colored woman, was Instrumental IN Sc
| curing the release from the Workhouse
OF q woman known as Sarah Hender-
| son. a cyprian, who is the daughter of
a family named Perry, once numbered
among the very foremost leaders of fash
ion and ante-bellum culture IN st; Louis:
Thirty years ago Sarah Henderson
was a wet fodder. the pet and tyrant in
a highly favored family, and Nancy
Washington was the trusted and pam
| pered "mammy" whose especial duty it
was to guard the little girl from harm.
But war broke out and stripped "Marster"
Perry of his wealth and scattered his
slaves, and little BY little the family be-
came broken up and separated. The
daughter of the STAKEHOLDER, reduced to
poverty, contracted a marriage for which
her earlier training had not qualified her.
and in the end fell into sin. Meanwhile
her OLD nanny had lost track of her, and
being in the full enjoyment OF her own
toll prospered moderately.
BY and by the once ~inseparable baby
mistress and devoted nurse were thrown
together, but the white child had become
a woman, and an outcaSt woman, who
naturally Stunned the only person who
! knew the full measure of her degradation.
| Olu MAINLY w ttoAlhStOA uAA FtAHtV saw
could for her wretched protege, however,
and many a meal was given and received
when the recipient must have otherwise
gone long hungry. A few days ago Nancy
Washington received q note from Sarah
Henderson," asking her to go to the
Mayor and use her influence to secure her
release from the Workhouse, to which
she had been committed on Septem-
Der 2, from the Second District Police
Court.
The devoted old ssMammy," glad of any
chance to succor her former charge, hast
ened to the Mayor and laid the case be-
fore him, tellinS the story Of their former
relations, with sobs of sorrow and shame
FOR the degraded condition of her var
The Mayor was greatly affected by the
pathetic story, and promptly signed the
desired remittal. At the same time he
asked the devoted old negress to use her
best efforts for the reclamation of the
daughter of her former master, and
Nancy Washington promised to make the
trial. The case is without parallel in the
history of the Mayors office.-St. Louis
Globe-D Democrat.
Washington Girls on Wheels.
Washington girls set the fashion in
bicycles for the entire country. They
were the first to abandon the somewhat
awkward tricycle. and to take to the more
comfortable and graceful safety That
this was a machine which it's rider had to
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