The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-02-08
RLAINESUNLUCKYHOUSE
-u1RrY YEARS OF EVIL FATE
HOVER ABOUT ITS WALLS.

..sassination and Death Have Fallen
mon It's Occupants Through { amily
Aner Family-A Tragic History.
From, the NeIg York Sun.
U,sH1NGroN, Feb. 3.-The death Of Mrs.
conpiuger, Secretary Blaine's daughter,
S;-scrs attention anew to the unlucky house
- which the Biaines live. The house is the
IA Seward mansion, and in it Mr. Blaine
Tenet his keenest personal sorrows There
-~o-a fears of calamity overtaking him OF his
t.r,ilv when it was announced that he had
isssed the old building, and gossip, super
..irious and tragic, was heard among
n 1vbo knew the history of the place.
uad If been a haunted house, had ghosts
haan seen there in convention, there
,o,,ld not have been more talk. Some folks
there we're, though, who believed that the
lnck of Blaine would offset everything, and
when on the second Wednesday of last
month the family of the Secretary of State
ave q reception to their hosts of friends,
srd the rooms were filed with a gay, for
t,7e-favored throng, the professionals
against superstition declared that the spell,
II ever there were any, was broken.
Vet within a week the eldest son of the
secretary, Walker Blaine, fell sick and died.
That made talk about the house, and people
cid il was an unlucky spot Now Mrs.
Coppinger, Blaine's daughter, is dead, and
once more the story of calamity Is told
There may be some hing, there may be
nothing, in the tale of superstition, but GER
tain it is that if the house was in the real
estate market to-day it would be long
bafore it got taker. The house stands on
LAFAYETTE square. 1t was built before the
war, and one of its earliest occu-
pants was Secretary Spencer Upon
his family the evil spirits of
the house first visited their fate. The secre-
tary's son was lieutenant in the navy, and
while his father was in the House his son
was hanged to the yard arm of his ship for
his alleged participation in a mutiny. Then
the Washington club had the place during
President Buchanan's administration. The
men about town belonged to the club, and
Philip Barton Key, the reckless, adventur-
Gus district attorney of the District of
Columbia, was one of the members
There had long been talk connect
ing him with the handsome wife of
Gen. Sickles, then a representative in
congress. The SickleS house was on La
fayette square, and one February morning
when the sun was shining a handkerchief
was seen luttering from one of the windows
in the house of Gen. Sickles. Young Key
answered it and stepped bouyantly up the
square. Sickles, who had seen the signals,
caught him in front of the house, and in a
moment Key lay on the walk wounded to
death. 1t is only few years since the tree
against which he fell was cut down.
Secretary Seward next occupied the place.
On April A. 1864, while he lay ill in bed, a
man came to the house saying he had been
ordered to fetch some medicine and deliver
it in person to Mr.. Seward. This was de-
MED him, but the stranger knocked down
Frederick w. Seward and a servant, rushed
into the Secretary's room, and tried to kill
him with dagger. He was captured, but
he escaped and rode off on his horse, which
had been standing in the street. His name
was Lewis Payne, and after awhile he was
caught and put to death. The war depart
ment, fearing that other attempts might be
made TO assassinate MIR. Seward, ordered
that sentry patrol before the house night
and DAY. This was done, and for four years
was continued, even though for a long part
of thai time the Stewards were not there.
Next the mansion was taken by Secretary
Relknap. He had not been there long
before his wife died. That ended the occu-
pancy of the house as a residence. The gov
ernment rented 1t and used it tor the COM
missary generals office. When the commits
sary-generalS staff was moved to the new
building of the war department the house
was left vacant, and no one dared to face
the evil fates by taking it until Mr.. Blaine
had leased it. He tore down the partitions
that made rooms where the Seward assas-
sination bad occurred, and, with a lavish
spending of money, transformed the musty
old office apartments, and made them beau
tiful with the furnishings of a rich mans
home. But the decorations have seemed
more like those of tomb, and men want to
know what will be next in the series of mis-
fortunes that appear to come TO those who
inhabit this historic home.