St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-13
A HAUNTED HOUSE.
Ghosts Said to Be Strolling
Around an Old Homestead.


On a rise of ground sloping toward a
swamp fringing the more northern of
two bodies of water known as the Little
Lakes, in the town of Warren, stands a
dilapiuated frame structure, whose story
of blood some halt-doZen years ago ap-
palled the civilized world, saws the AL
bany journal. Here it was that RoXa-
lana DruSe, assisted by daughter of
seventeen, and abetted by two shiftlesS
nephewS, butchered. hacked and
chopped her husband. William DruSe.
and then. with true hell-born instincts,
boiled, roasted and burned the remains
and scattered the ashes in the swamp
adjoining the premises. The story is a
familiar one.
The miserable little frame farm house
wherein this tragedy was enacted has
literally been carried away piecemeal
by morbld-minded relic seekers. The
wall paper with which Mrs. Druse COW
cred the blood-bespattered walls has
been torn off and carried away; the
floor, which she .daubed with liberal
coats of paint to hide the crimson
stains, has been hacked, sawed and APP
propriated by the army of clinker-
Drained individuals who have visited
the place. just what pleasure these
people derive from these So-called relics
it is difficult to determine. The snake
fence which once surrounded the bull d.
ings has also been carried off, but
whether as relics or for fuel by some
poor but dishonest neighbor is not
known.
And now it is said that the old house
is haunted. 1t would be difficult to i'm
agine more favorable place for spoois.
even were there no horrible tale con-
nected with it. Situated IN the rear
of a great, barren field with swamp at
the back. and the highway seldom trav-
eled, hOweyer-Some 500 yards distant,
with topping chimneys, Tapping clap
boards, creaking doors and great rents
in the sides-the building presents a
truly uncanny aspect. But when are
added the details of crime. the awful
ness of which six years of retelling has
not served to augment, a greWSomeneSS
est hearted yOkel does not care to i'll
vestigate.
1t is said that upon StOrm-Swept nights
the place is visited by tue wraithS of the
murdered Druse aud his demon wife.
There are sounds of pistol shots and
groans, of wild yels and curses. There
Is the noise of falling body, pleas for
mercy, followed by the dull thuds of an
AK chop. chop, chOpping off hands, arms.
legs. The whole hOrrid trae edy is again
enacted. A brief silence ensues, and
then issues forth from the house a
ghostly apparition, which glides around
to the rear of the building. follows n
path swampward and disappears. 1t
has been noted that the spook appears
TO be that of a woman, and it carries
concealed large package of some char
acter. This is supposed to be the ghost
of the murdereSS and that the package
she carries contains tine head and Gre
mated remains of the murdered hus-
band.
Of those still living who were con-
nected with the tragedy, the daughter,
Mary, is slowly dying in prison of con-
sumption; the little boy, George. is still
living with the klnd-hearted farmer who
adopted him: Frank Gates is living
somewhere in the South, and Chester
Gates, the younger of the two nephews,
is making good living from the sales
of a linilnent made from favOrite
formula concocted by the old man
DruSe.