The Olneyville tribune. (Providence, R.I.) 1893-189?, 1893-10-21

frightful thinga On the sixth and
maasard floors 1t appeared tina,
strange and absolutely inexplicabis
noises were heard. Then the nurse
OF the old lady on the fourth story,
going one night tC steal wine from
the cellar encountered the ghost OF
the defunct proprietor-he even held
in his hand receipt for rent, by
which she knew him.
was:
There is something under all
this"
From dis1uietude it had come Ia
fright; from fright IL quickly passed
TO terror, so that the gentleman OF
the first floor, who had valuables In
his rooms, made up his mind TO 90
and send In notice by his clerk.
Bernard went TO inform the pro-
prietor, who responded:
"A II right, let the fool 60"
But next day the chiropodist OF the
second floor, though he had naught
10 fear for his valuables, initiated the
gentleman beneath him. Then the
bachelors and the little households
o. the fifth story quickly followed
this example.
From that moment il was a gen
cral rout by the end OF the week
everybody had given notice. Every
one awaited some frightful catastro-
phe. They slept no more They or
ganized patrols. The terrified do
mestics swore that they, too, would
quit the accursed house, and re-
mained temporarily only on triple
wages
Bernard was no more than the
ghost OF himself; the fever OF fear had
worn him TO "A shadow.
Meanwhile three and twenty "for
rent" placards swung against the IA
cade OF the house, drawing an oc-
casional application for lodgings.
Bernard-never grumbling now
climbed the staircase and ushered the
visitor from apartment TO apartment
You can have your choice" SAID
he to the people that presented
themselves, 1.-THE house is entirely
vacant: all the tenants have given
notice as one man. They do not
know why, exactly. but things have
happened Oh yes, things! a
mystery such as was never before
known-the proprietor has lowered
the rents"
And the would-be dodgers fled away
aiirightcd
The term ended, three aud twenty
vans carried away the furniture OF
the three and twenty tenants. Every
body left. From top TO bottom, from
foundations to garret, the house lay
empty OF lodgers.
The rats themselves, finding moth.
ing to live on, abandoned IL also
Only the concierge remained, gray
green with fear in his lodge Fright
ful visions haunted his sleep. He
seemed TO hear lugubrious howlings
and sinister murmurs at night that
made his teeth chatter with terror
and his hair erect itself under his cot
ton nightcap. Nine. Bernard no more
closed an eye thar he. And Amanda,
In her frenzy, renounced all thought
OF the operatic stage and married
for nothing in the world but TO quit
the paternal lodge-a young barber
and hair-drcsser whom she had never
before been able to abide.
At last one morning after more
frightful nightmare than usual Ber-
nard, too, took good resolution.
He went to the proprietor, gave up
his keys and scampercd away.
And now on the Rue de la Nictoire
stands the abandoned house-"Thc
Accused House"-whose history l
have told you. Dust thickens upon
the closed Stats, grass grows in the
court No tenant ever presents him
self now, and in the quarter where
stand this accursed house so funereal
is its reputation that even the neigh
boring houses on either side have also
deprecated in value.
Lower ones rents! Who would
think OF such Translated
from the French or Emile Gaboriau.