The morning news., 1892-02-08
A HELPLESS HUSBAND.
IMPRISONED IN A SPoOK TEMPLE
BY HIS CRAZY WIFE.

Orazed by spirituallsm and getting more
frantic every minute, Mrs. Matte Barn
Trip, chief spook priestess Of the boarding
house No. Ga East Eleventh street, has COM
plete possession Of the premises the other
tenants being in condition Of abject terror,
not knowing when she will break out and
slay them all or put them under some magic
SPELL
Her husband. old James Trip, the in
ventor of a sewing machine, she has q
prisoner in her room, the door of which is
barricaded. She keeps him in sort of mes
meric state and in the brief interims between
frances she holds him by her side, threaten
ing to wipe him off the face of the earth if
be runs.
! Mr.. Tripp has been wanting to run for
| two weeks, but he has never got any further
away than the foot of the staircase. Then
a hollow Come back, SIR has resouhded
through the house. and the little old man
has scooted up again trembling in every
limb.
Meanwhile Mrs. Tripp sits in bed, with a
| ''planchette" or spirit writing apparatus on
her knee, reeling off alleged letters from
| ghosts in various parts of the universe. AS
! she does 50 she chants in a monotonous
/ tone:
"pve got millions and billions and trlllions
| OF dollars. There are millions and billions
and trillions Of ghosts. Don't you see the
| spirits !'
| Poor Mr.. Tripp sits on the longe shiver
ing in all of his 200 odd bones He gazes-
vacantly in the air and preteuds to hehold
the spook.
Then after scribbling a few hundred let
ters from her ''planchette," Mrs. Tripp
| changes her tactics. She glares fiercely at
1 her husband and than bacyinS 70 rnaLa 6,rnraS
in the air with her hands. The poor old man
] grows hot and cold by turns
MR. TRIPP GETS RIGID.
| "Sleep!" she commands.
! In q moment he becomes rigid and appar-
| emily in cataleptic fit. He sits motionlesS
If his arm is stretched out, or his body hap
| pens to be in any particular position when
| he is told to sleep, 1t remains as 1t was until
he wakes from the trance.
What am doing" SAYS Mrs Tripp, ais
highly important. l must not be interEered
with. II any one takes him away, will
| kill them"
! For two weeks this performance has been
| going on in the boarding house. When
Mrs. Sarah Z. Lodewick, who owns the es-
tablishment and managed it until Mrs
| Tripp took charge of 1t two weeks ago, tried
| by bold dash to rescue the husband, il was
of no avail. She got him in a room and
tried 20 rouse him from his stupor. The
| priestess suspected that something was
wrong and broke down the door.
| "COme back and be mesmerized !" she
shouted to her husband and he skunk after
her into the temporary spiritualistic temple
81 will kill you before leave the house u
she hissed at the terrified landlady.
On another occasion Mr.. Tripp ventured
out Of the room. His wife presently called
| after him.
"Hark!" ne said, hoarsely, Matte calls
me. must go. l am completely under
her influence"
And he walked away, his spirit broken by
some mysterious power
One of Mrs. Trips principles seem to be
that eating and drinking are inconsistent
with spiritualism. Both she and her hus-
| band have been kept on short rations, and
there was fear Of their dying with starva-
tion. Mrs. Lodewick was threatened with
death if she interfered. Things were in
this extraordinary and alarming state, and
all her boarders were preparing to leave.
when the distracted woman went yester-
day afternoon to the Jefferson Market po-
lice court after the officials at the Mercer
street station had declined to interfere
Mrs. Lodewick told her story, expressed
her opinion that both her tenants were in
sane and declared that she was in danger of
her life. She asked for a warrant for their
| arrest in order that they might be COM
mitted TO the Bellevue hospital insane
pavilion and an inquiry made into their
| mental condition.
Throug AsoIne curious construction of the
law or misunderstanding of the case Justice
| Diver said he couldn't interfere as Mrs.
| Lodewick wasn't relative Of the Trips.
You see," he is reported to have ruled, ''it
| doesn't make any difference if she has
threatened your life. You can't swear that
she's crazy, because you're not an insanity
| expert. 60 to the civil court and begin dis
| possess proceedings. and when the marshal
puts them out tie police can nab them."
Mrs. Lodewick went to the civil cou rt and
repeated her tale. There she got the dis
possess warrant, and it was given to City
| Marshal Dowd to serve.
A CITY MARsHAL's THRILLING TIME.
Dowd is man of varied experience, but
it was materially enlarged by the develop
| ments of thu afternoon.
When he reached No. 81 he found jts in
mates crowded into the parlor and on the
strways, listening to occasional shrieks of
laughter and sharp rappings that came
from the third floor room occupied by the
Trips.
| Dowd is direct in his methods Of doing
| business. He lost no time in knocking upon
Tripp's door and demanding admlstance.
| There was no answer. Then Dowd
pounded the wooden panels. He got no re-
sponse from within. The situation was
| growing dramatically interesting when a
female voice came from the interior Of the
spook temple
go awayr it said. Then there was
pause. but stayl Before going. bring
me in a cofi1nful of coffee. Be quick,
now."
come. now, open the door," growled
the marshal, 'aud stop your monkey
shines"
Leave me, sir" came the reply; "but
don't neglect the coffiu."
! Sure now that he had lunatic to deal
with, Dowd proceeded to examine meas
urea
He quietly opened the hall window in the
rear and slipped out upon the extension
roof which is on level with the window
Of Trips room Springing to one of the
windows he looked In and saw a sight we'll
calculated to mystify his intellect.
The room was in disorder Upon a large
double bed sat Mrs. Tripp, clothed in
delcately frilled night robe. with her back
against the wall. Her limbs were stretched
across the bed, and on her knees rested
table, upon which from time to time she
would diligently write with "planchette." !"
She would dash off q sentence with her
nimble pencil. then pause to sharply rap the
table four times. Then she covered her eyes
With her left hand and posed as though
listening.
VERY BUSY OPERATOR.
Then another sentence would be written
and the rapping and listening would be re-
naatad Rv tho aida Of ths. hal in a