Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-11-12

committee on miiltary
and militia, of which he used to be chairman,
beneath the Senate chamber He opens the
door slowly, and stepping out closes it silently
oehind MN, proceeding thereupon with noiseless
uead along the corridor westward. Nobody
has ever yet ventured to follow him. so that it
Is impossible to tell whittier he goes The
negroes who come to clean the floors at 5
o o'clock every morning are 20 afraid Of encoun-
tering the specter that they turn on every cleo
trlc hight IN the haunted vicinity
Not far from the same locality. under the DOR
ueo OF the Senate wing, the ghost of an
| elderly colored man scrubs every night
| before daybreak the same marble floors
which he used TO clean regularly for
wears whlle Avlng. His name Osborne.
and he died -atker more than a twelvemonth
| ago. The sounds of his brush and pail and the
sioSb OF spectral water on the stones it is sald
| are distinctly heard on such occasions. while
| several OF has surviving fellow-workmen swear
that they have beheld his shadowy figure en-
| gagged In the manner described The phantom
| which has been longest known at the C,pitol
however, hauuts the basement of the House Of
| Representatives. 1t has been seen bv many of
the waichmen. who all describe the apparition
| ms that OF tail. military-looking gentleman of
! foreign aspect, with long mustache and goatee
| He walks about the corridors in a melancholy
way, with his hands clasped behind him, and
promptly vanishes when approached.
GRUEsoME PLACE AT NIGHT.
The watchmen of the Capitol, who are all
| men selected for intelligence and experience
say that the building is gruesome place to
| walk about in at night. The huge structure is
hIIed with mysterious sounds. the smallest
noise being magniied by reverberations
Strange voices seem to whisper everywhere,
from the corridors that run around the dome
to the place of echoes called the crypt
beneath. Walking across statuary hall in the
silent darkness, where the marble figures ranged
around the great apartment seem themselves
like so many specters on the watch. n person
experiences strange Illusion, doubtless arising
from the acoustic peculiarities of the spot. He
hears footsteps steaIthiiy following his own Us
If some one was pursuing him with an inten-
tion to leap upon him. The footsteps seem to
be going 4 little faster than his own, as ii to
overtake him. If he walks more rapidly. the
footsteps are likewise accelerated Brave man
though he may be, he cannot help feeling as
Coieriige says:
Like a man Who. on lonely road, doth
walk in fear and dread.
Because he knows frightful fiend doth close
behind him tread"
Yet when he looks around there is nothing
PRACTICAL JOKE.
One night ten years ago Waterman who
had been newly employed on the force at the
Capitol was passing through statuary hall alone
in the darkness. when he heard a groan and
saw spectral figure, all in white glide out from
behind one of the stntues. He promptly drew
his pistol and fired two shots at it, His aim
was disturbed BIZ fright, which was fortunate
for his fellow officer of the guard who had
thought to play good joke by dressing himself
up in sheet and hiding. On account of this
occurrence the watchmen have not since then
been permitted TO carry their revolvers at
night, lest mistake should give rise to fatal
consequences. The illusion of mysterious foot
steps often puzzles the guards in many parts of
the building. Time and time again one watch
man or another has been convinced of the
reality Of these sounds to pursue them
quietly in rubber shoes. without a light The
footsteps have been cornered at the ends Of
corridors ard elsewhere, but only TO be heard
presently In another direction and never to be
oyertaken. The cats which race in troops
about the Capitol at night are doubtless re-
sponsible for many of the ghost stories con-
nected with the structure.
THE GHOST OF GUrrEAU,
the assassin of Garfield is said to haunt the
United States Jail here, where he was executed.
Negroes confined there are extremely afraid Of
being put in the cell which he occupied One
colored prisoner shut up il this cell was scared
into n mt by another who rolled marbles into it
at night from the opposite side of the corridor
Another specter attached 20 the same penal in
stitution has in the belief of the creduious, the
1t IL the apparition of murderer named Stone,
who was the first individual hanged at the Jail
lie WAS a large man, very fat. and his head was
cut Off by the rope rs clearly as if the Job had
been done with AK.
MARKED DWELLING.
There are no ghosts in the famous red brick
house on Lafayette Square which Mr.. Blaine
occupies, but it is said that death har,nts it,
Something tragic seems to happen to every one
who ventures to occupy 1t, and people whis-
pered dismal forebodings when the ex-Secre-
tary Of State became its tenant at the beginning
of the present administration. In 1853 when
the mansion was occupied by the Washington
Club, Barton Key was ehot by Gen. Sickles on
the pavement IN front and was carried into the
house to die. On the evening of April IA. 1863
almost at the moment when President Lincoln
was assassiuated, Louis Thornton Powell. alias
Payne, entered the residence for the purpose of
killing Secretary Seward, who was confined to
his bed at the time. With knife and pistol he
horribly wounded Mr.. Seward and four other
persons. Since Mr.. Blaine took the house he
Las lost two of his sons and daughter, but he
has returned to II nevertheless, disda1ning su-
perstltion.
GHOSTS IN THE SUBURBS.
One of the lieutenants of the watch at The Capt.
tol tells story of u remarkable apparition
which he investigated about six years ago near
Washington. A house in the suburbs. some-
what Isolated. was reported to be haunted by
two specters. which had a most extraordinary
method of showing themselves. The dwelling
In question was entirely surrounded by picket
fence and many persons averred that on vari-
Gus nights they had seen pair Of sheeted
spooks walking around on top of the pickets.
so seriously alarmed did the inmates become
that they advertised their property for sale. but
nobody would buy it on account Of its spectral
reputation. The narrator quoted having
belief IN ghosts determined to investigate the
matter and lay in wait after dark near by.
About an hour after midnight he a single
phantom appear at the top of the fence and
walk slowly around it. 1t was all in white and
looked sufficiently like real ghost to brighten
the watcher pretty badly. Nevertheless he lay
low and waited to what it would do. The
spook made the circuit of the fence and finally
disappeared, apparently vanishing through a
side door of the dwelling.
THE GHOST TRAP.
On the next day he found himself somewhat
recovered from his fears, and going to the
haunted housein the afternoon he quietly sprink-
led quantity of white -four along the top rail of
the fence. 1t was idea of his own for ghost
trap. When night came he again on hand
and in hiding as before little after mid
night he saw two phantoms on the fence. They
walked with deliberate steps, one about six feet
behind the other and after making the circuit
they disappeared through the side door. After
waiting a few minutes to muster up his courage
the watcher approached the fence and exam
ined tina. portion of the upper rail on which no