Los Angeles herald., 1892-02-12
LACKS TRUTH ONLY.
COLD FACTS DESTROY AN ENTER.
TANNING GHOST STORY.

U0Um w Nicn DlQ NOE EXIST.
Romantic Lord Lytton was, but not
buperstitious. His death, however, has
revived the story of the yellow BOYS
room, the ghost chamber said to exist at
Knebworth house, the beautiful ances-
'tral home of the Lyttons for more than
500 years. At Mr.. w. P. Frith's door
must the charge be laid of having put
the interesting tale in circulation, for we
find it first in his engaging volume of
"Reminiscences" After relating West
woods experiences with the weird wom-
an of the Maison Blob, the painter sup
plements the story by another anecdote
of more tragical significance
'At Knebworth," he says, ''the seat
Of Lord Lytton, there is bedchamber
called the yellow boys room" He then
proceeds to relate that during visit to
Knebworth, Lord Castlereagh, while the
guest of the grandfather of the late
British ambassador to Paris, was as
signed without word of warning to the
mysterious and haunted room Feeling
very tired he soon dropped into sleep,
but his uneasy slumbers were troubled
and it was not long before he awoke.
What it was which startled him his lord
ship never knew, but the sight which
met his eyes as he gazed at the still burn
ing fire in his room was startling enough.
The figure of a boy, with long, yellowish
hair streaming down, sat in front of the
fireplace with his back toward the Irish
nobleman. AS the latter looked, the lad
arose, turned toward him, and drawing
back the curtain at the bottom of the
bed with one hand, with the other he
drew his fingers two or three times across
his throat Of course the impression
produced on Castlereagh was decidedly
disturbing. Bulwer insisted that he
must have been dreaming, but his lord
ship declared with emphasis that he saw
the figure as distinctly as he saw his host
at that moment, and that, far from being
asleep. he was wide awake.
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
Mr.. Firth then adds that Mr.. Bulwer
did not tell Lord Castlereagh-Byron
carotid cutting Castlereagh" gh"-that the
yellow boy always appeared to any one
who was destined to die violent death
and always Indicated the manner of it
to his victim
/ A more amusing and less unpleasant
incident is told of the same chamber at
Knebworth by our artist author, the
subject being a timid, nervous brother
painter who spent a night at the poets
lovely and stately retreat in Hertford-
SHIRE The father Of the author of "Lu.
cile," Mr.. Firth says, confded the de-
tails of the Castlereagh story to his
guest on allotting the yellow boys room
to him, remarking on bidding him good
night, "You will not be frightened, will
you" "No-o-o," said the painter, with
an ashy face. "Well, it is getting late;
what do you say to retiring? Yes, that
is your candle. Too warm for fire in
your room. You don't mind2 Good
night" "The rest of the story shall be
told" says Firth, ''in my old friends
words as nearly as can remember them.
4 had seen," he went on, .'the Internal
room before dinner, and / thought it
looked ghostly sort of place, and when
] reached it that night what would not
have given to be back in my own room
at homel looked under the bed, up the
great, wide chimney, and had shock
from the sight of my own face in the
looking glass; No ghost could be whittier
than was. l don't believe in ghosts,
you know, but still it was really too bad
of Lytton to tell me such things just as
! was going to bed, and then to put me
in the very placel There was an awful
old cabinet. l managed to pull open the
door and was tugging at the other, when
any candle went OUTFLOW, don't know
somebody seemed to blow it out. |
can't tell you what became of it; all
know is | jumped into bed with my
boots on. and lay trembling there for
hours, Frith-literally for hours-till
sleep took me at last; and never was
more thankful than when ! awoke and
saw the sun shining into the yellow boys
room"
NO TRUTH IN THE STORY.
The circumstantiality with which Mr..
Firth tells these short tales must con-
vince his readers that he is thoroughly
satisfied in his own mind that the Incl
dents which he carefully describes all
happened at Knebworth. And yet, in
that respect, he is altogether out in his
reckoning. There is no yellow boys
room in that grand old house Of the Lyt-
tons at Knebworth. Lord Castlereagh
never spent night there, nor is it known
that he ever visited the place in his life.
In the autumn of 1884 spent two or
three very agreeable days at Knebworth,
the guest of Lord Lytton, who very kindly
showed me everything of interest about
his home and it's charming surroundings.
thought it strange that the yellow
boys room-if there really was such
zoom-had not been open to me, and that
the very story associated with it in the
Firth "reminiscences had been kept back.
So sent off hurried note to Owen
Meredith, then performing his embassa-
aorial functions in the gayest capital in
Europe, and an early mail brought me
these lines:
paris, Sth Feb'y. 1888.
my DEAR Mr.. STEWART answer
your letter of the 18th ulto. in desperate
and unavoidable haste Mr.. Frlth's
autobiography is all wrong about the
story of the yellow Boy That story
was told by Sir Walter Scott of Lord
Castlereagh, who is said to have seen
the Yellow Boy in some house in Ire
land at the time when he was secretary
for ireland, just before the union, and