The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-10-09
for infants and Children.

1ne specter waved lpS and In a TnreaE-
ening manner, and said to me, in an
awful whisper, Woman, there is q
curse upon this house, and upon all who
follow in the footsteps of Ralph SevernI
And then she pointed to a gaping wound
upon her forehead, and with a cry of ter
ror | fed down the stairs"
Surely this was not a pleasant opening,
but l urged it upon my wife that she
had not been hurt, and furthermore, thai
a respectable ghost would have appeared
to me rather than to her.
It was half an hour after midnight
when we retired. The chamber which
we had selected was the p~leasantest room
in the mansion-a large square room,
with a deep bay window looking down
upon the lake. The hangings were Oh
green velvet, heavily fringed with gold,
and the curtains, though slightly yellow
from time, were clean and of finest lace.
| left a small lamp burning upon the
dressing table, and being very tired l fell
asleep soon after touching the pillow.
Flow long | slept | cannot say, but il
could not have been an hour, when l was
awakened by my wife, who was clinging
to me in fright, and as / awoke I heard
o low moaning sound a of some one in
deep distress, and presently a whisper as
though the speaker were close to my ear
"a whisper awful and distinct-and
these were the words that were spoken:
"a curse there is upon this house and
upon ell who would follow in the foot
steps of Ralph Severni"
The lamp had been extinguished, and
while the foregoing words were being
whispered the apartment was pervaded
by a ghostly light-a sulphurous, death
ly, waving glare; and presently a female
fyure appeared at the foot of the bed
the same which my wife had seen upon
the landing. It was robed in white, the
face pale and ghostly, and dark spots
were upon the brow and upon the robes.
It was surely nothing of human mold,
for it stood upon the air. and as | sat up
l could see its feet treading empty space
on a level with the bed framel With a
threatening wave of the hand the fig
ure bowed its head, and melted away
into thin air-melted away with a sor-
rowing sigh-and the ghostly glare faded
out, leaving only the pale glimmer Of
the starbeams to break the midnight
gloom.
AS soon as | could collect my scattered
senses I broke from my wife's grasp and
leaped out upon the floor, and very
quickly lighted the lamp. The doors
were fast-locked, as l had left them;
the windows had not been touched: the
hangings were all intact, and nowhere,
after the strictest search, could I find
the slightest trace Of any method of in
gress or egress to a material body.
In the morning, Seth Dabney made it
his business to ask me how ! had rested.
| told him | had been seriously disturbed;
and I gave him to understand that if the
spirits Of Ralph Severn's departed vic
Tins wished to inhabit the place / should
leave. could see by the old mans face
as he turned away that he was well
satisfied.
When left to myself I went up into
our chamber, taking with me a hammer
and a chisel. Around the chamber was
a high oaken wainscot, and this | pro-
ceeded to sound with my hammer; and
very oon | found a place opposite the
foot of the bed which gave back a hol-
low sound. A critical examination re-
vealed to me the fact that at this point
a panel 3 feet long by Q feet high was
loose, and | could detect slight abrasions
upon its surface. as though it, had been
slid behind the casing; but l could not
it without breaking it, as it ap-
peared to be fastened upon the other
side. But that was a good beginning.
Upon going outside . found that the
wall in which was the loose panel was
toward a chamber which we had as vet
appropriated to no particular use, as its
single small window left it far from
pleasant. From this chamber, next to
the outer wall Of the building and tow
ard my own chamber, opened a closet
occupying not more than four feet of tbe
division partition, so that from this
closet to the opposite wall there was left
a space of at least three feet between the
two rooms-and this space was sealed nm
and it was into this space that the slid
ing panel opened.
My next field Of examination was be-
low, and | was not long in discovering
that the space directly beneath the NOV.
able panel, and occupying half the IN
DERIVING area of the dark chamber. was
also scaled up, but so adroitly cut into
by closets and cupboards that only a
well directed examination could have re-
vealed the fact. Never mind the details
Of my persistent search. 1t occupied
time; but succeeded in the end. I
found an entrance into this last named
sealed up space from the cellar, and
there ! found what / had anticipated. i
found a powerful argand lamp, with a
polished concave reflector, and also two
large mirrors set at a proper angle for
throwing a reflection upward; and di-
rectly in the line of this reflection was
the sliding panel in the wainscot Of nv
chamber.
l also found here q long white robe: