St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-09-21
ONE MAN MYSTIFIED.
He Wants to Know How an
Egyptian Coin Came on a
Table,
And Who Made Way With
Some Ones Coveted Gig
arctic Papers.
Footsteps Of a Woman on a
Stair, and Yet Nobody
in Sight.
Tho Ghost - - N-@l:-- T.
The Ghost Of a Canadian In
habitant Distinctly Seen
49, on a Bridge.

II am not superstitious," says Alfred
Balch. Il do not believe in Theosoo ply.
L have never received any evidence Of
the truth of Spiritualism. | never saw
ghost. l have no fear of ill-luck.
Yet have had in my life few expert
ences can not explain, sii4sda one of these
happened to me the other day. Being
smoker of cigarettes which l make
myself, buy little books of cigarette
paper. These have covers of card
board, and each contains about 100
sheets Of what is called rice paper.
ION a Saturday morning l purchased
one Of these books and used it on that
day and the next. have little square
table alongside of my chair in the sit
ting room, which is meant to hold books
may be reading and other little things
which l use. On Sunday night made
and smoked cigarette just before go
ing to bed. The table at that time was
covered with white cloth, on which
was the Life of Savonarola," by
Clarke, match-safe, saucer for ashes,
my tobacco pouch, my cigarette holder
and this book of cigarette paper. There
were when | went to bed about seventy
sheets of paper IN the book.
On Monday morning after breakfast
went into the front room to get cigar
cite. When picked up the book it was
empty, and / was forced to hunt up an
other. Every thing else was on the ia
bic as had left it the night before. But
alongside the book lying Oh the white
cloth was a round copper coin, worn
badly on one side, but showing raised
character on the other. My wife is
collector Of coins in very small way,
having thirty or forty of those that have
struck her fancy, and when looked at
this coin l had found l supposed it be-
ionged to her. i did not know what it
was, nor had ever seen a coin like it
before. L carried it back to the dining
room to ask her where she got it, when
she startled me slightly by speaking as
though she was obliged to me for haV-
ing procured it for her. i, of course,
knew that had never seen it before,
ana L found out that it was as
Tod Strange TO Her.
She called the servant in, for we both
supposed it must belong to her, but she,
after examining IT, declared she had
never seen it. She also proved that she
had not been in the sitting room since
the afternoon of the day before. Ny
wife and l then went into the front
room and removed every thing from the
table, trying to find the cigarette paper.
but without success. There are four
facts which We established: First, that
the cigarette paper had disappeared be-
tween 10 O'Clock Sunday night and Z
O'Clock Monday morning; second, that
the coin had made its appearance in the
interval; thlid, that we had never seen
the coin before and did not know what
it was, and fourth, that no person, so
far as we knew, had been in the sitting
room during that time. The folding
doors between the sitting room and the
bed room were wide open during the
night, and it would be impossible for
any one to move about that room with
out being heard.
| took the coin to numismatist, who
told me it was an Egyptian five para
piece. Its value is about one cent. |
have the coin still, and l am no nearer
knowing how ] got 1t now than | was
the morning ] found il resting on the
white tabernacle, alongside of the empty
covers of the cigarette book.
Now for story of one of the greatest
scares L ever got. Between the villages
OF Tadousa and L'0use L'Eau, at the
mouth of the Sagueney river, in Canada,
there is a hill. at the base of which is a
ravine, and over this is bridge.
1t happened one night when | was in
my fifteenth year that | was detained in
TadOusa until II O'Clock, ana the people
Twas with talked of the ghost of a
Canadian habitant who had committed
suicide in the ravine, who was supposed
to haunt the scene of the
SeIf-SIaugIiter.
About ten minutes past midnight l
left the house and started to walk home
in the moonlight. When L reached the
bridge | looked down into the ravine,
and my heart seemed to stand still.
There, outlined against the bushes in
shadow of the bridge, was tall, white,
misty sort of a figure, dressed apparent
ly in long and flowing robes, and having
one arm raised. 1t seemed to me the
finger beckoned to me.
rubbed my eyes and pinched my
self, but it was no use, the figure was
there, Then picked up some stones
and threw them down. They went
through it, yet still it beckoned me to
come. took to my heels and made the
quickest time l ever made to the top of
the hill.
Being somewhat blown by my fright
and my run stopped, and. thinking
for moment, went back. There was
the figure, still reckoning with his
horrid hand. 1t seemed to me could
see the eyes that glared at me. / threw
more stones. but they had 10 effect
whatever, and | made up my mind that
| would go down and see what the thing
was, no matter what happened. / car
give you no idea in words of how real
it looked to me, from whatever point
gaZed, and how my blood seemed to be
cold when ] watched that Internal hand
beckon to me.
At the end of the bridge was a fence
which | climbed and began to work my
way down the bank. The thing was
there still, and | cannot say with truth
that l. went very fast. threw stones
at it, which had no effect whatever, and
was all ready if it moved toward me
and | really half believed it would, if [
stoned it long enough-to get up the
bank in short order. AT last / was
close to it, and | put out my hand very
cautiously, for it was still plainly be-
fore me, to touch 1T. 1only touched the
busiest
For moment or two was confused
my mind had become convinced there
was something there. Then | searched
for the cause of the appearance. as that
had not vanished, and speedily found it.
Under the bridge there was a little
pool of water, which, acting as mirror,
reflected the moonlight upon the
bushes, and the shape the light assumed
made my ghost. The explanation was
so simple that. coming as it did after
my great fright and struggle with my
self before | could make up my mind to
examine it, it made me very angry.
Had been able to connect it with any
persons l should have wished to hurt
them in some way, but as it was / could
only go home deriding myself for my
Absurd Credulity.
When | was student in McGlIl uni
versity in Montreal, two years after see
ing this ghost of a mud-puddle, there
was an old house up on the mountain
which had the name of being haunted.
Charlie Ferry, Jack Mills and / went
up there one night to see what would
happen.
Tho nIaoa xuoc furnlNlo da-,1 droo,