The morning call., 1893-09-18
WHO BUILT IT?
The House of Mystery on
the Lake Bank.
CHASE'S FATHER IN LAW.
The Grace Barton withdrawn on Sun.
days-A Shoe-DeaIer Closes His
Store-The Police Pet.

the u 00Ill DdUk Oh 1dht MtIElLl Is bU6 aD-
sorbing wonder of the hour. All day yes
terday people aocked to the point of land,
and at any time one looked acress the lake
from the b0athOuse from early morning
until night closed in on the land a crowd
of people could be seen about the spot.
People went on foot, on horseback and
in buggies, and a great many took boats
and padded or sailed straight across Lake
Merritt.
Many stood about and simply stared at
the hole in the ground, fearful OF soiling
their Sunday clothes if they stopped on
hands anu knees and ventured in. Others
came pre- pared to explore and were dressed
for the occasion. These last were mostly
Of the sterner sex, but there were some
young and ventur esome women who
plunged in boldly TO explore the house
OF mystery. One pretty aud shapely
young woman in boomers went in just
like a man and when she came out stoutly
declared that il was nOthing-"Just an
old pile of brick and rubbish where they
made Spanish brick"
She brought out big fat brick and
clung TO it. She said she was going TO
take it home. Nearly every visitor car
rled away brick or tile.
And the nightly diggers who have for
month past been deivlng into the bowels
of the earth. VINO were they? Why did
they dig? How did they know of the
buried ruins? There is 70 evidence on
the surface that such a ruin existed,
whether ii be a house or an old Spanish
brickkiln. and the great question is, How
did the diggers know of lis existence when
men who have been in the neighborhood
for more than quarter of a century had
no idea of It's presence, and never heard
even the slightest rumor of a house or
brickkiln being IN the neighborhood
This is the question that is puZZing all
Oakland. Was IL revealed in a dream?
Was it through the spirits of the departed
that sometimes, 1t is said, come back to
this trouolOus world? Or was it from one
of the many legends that are handed
down TO US from the earliest Spanish
settlers?
One person in the crowd at the ruins
yesterday said that it was probably the
agents of Uncle Sam who few months
ago turned uD lot on Eighth street to
search for gold stolen from the San Fran
cisco Mint. a bystander rudely crushed
his theory by asking him how the Govern
ment agents knew of the buried house.
All SOILS of stories are IN the breeZsS
and the favOrite one is that the house was
built by pirates long ago, who used 1t for
stOTehOuse to hide away their lOotings
from captured merchantmen and Spanish
gaileOns sailing from the Indies with rich
cargOes. It is said that here in this mid
trips and stored their rich pickings, and.
that soma survivor of that old-tlme band
has handed down through the years of the
dim past the legend of the existence OF
this house and the purposes To which it
was put, and that the gray-headed old fel-
low who was seen at one time about the
place and to leave 1t with a sack on his
shoulder-maybe containing yellow doub-
loons-knew the secret, and with the help
of one other dug and dug through the long
night for a month past for gold and
jewels.
The conjectures are numerous, but there
is a mystery still, and Oaklanders are wait
ing for answers TO the following Ques-
tiOns:
How came the house there?
VINO were the men who worked so hard
to uncover it?
How did they know of its existence?
What did they find in it?
One of Chase's Fathers-in-Law.
A middle-aged man, broad -sh ouldered.
black-mustached and resolute-looking,
and delicate little woman, blue-eyed and
fair, walked rapidly down Broadway yes
terday morning, lnquring of people in a
hurried and businesslike manner If they
knew anything OF party by the name of
Bacigalupi.
The question yesterday excited COM
ment people recalling the news that had
been published that day Of a daughter of a
man named Bacigalupi who had elODed
with carpenter by the name OF Chase
and been married to him on tugboat five
miles outside the heads.
The strange man and woman were
deeply agitated over something and made
no point of conceallHg their identity.
He said he was father-in-law of j. G.
Chase aud that the young woman was one
of ChaSe's wives.
He stated that his errand across the bay
Il .,N.,,-
him of the wealth OF wives already pos
sessed by Chase, and to warn the father
against an entangling alliance.
In referring TO his own experience with
the gay young carpenter he became even
more serious than he had previously been.
and went SO far as to approximately fix
the young mans horoscope, saying:
''If he keeps this up he will die with a
bullet in his brain"
81 should like to find out" said the
father-in-law, "hOw much money this
man Chase has got. He seems to be
throwing it about In liberal way. If he
could pay $40 TO get Mary Bacigalupi out
on tugboat and marry her, then l shall
see to it that he pays up the back alimony
he owes my daughter"
This young woman was recently di-
vorced from Chase, and now the carpenter
is short On his alimony. He has given
"bard times" as an excuse for non-pay-
ment, but the jaunty way in which be con-
Quoted the monetary part of his latest
exploit has astonished and daZZled the
parents of his former wife.
The Bacigalupi family rested quietly
to-day in spite of the serious turmoil that
has threatened its tranquility.
The law is with the father in claiming
his daughter. and the pro outcome
of the unfortunate affair will be an imme-
date and final ending to the short
lived happiness of Mr.. Chase ana Mrs.
Chase the third.
The Grace Barton Laid Of.
For the first time since she entered
the lists as a competing ferry with the
Southern Pacific the steamer Grace Barton
has laid up at her berth for day, with her
fires banked and her engines motionless.
She did not loosen a mooring all day yes
terday. and from this time on will make no
more Sunday trips.
AS a freight-boat the Barton can and
does hold her own. She is kioaded
down with traffic at each trip across the
bay on a week day, but owing TO the i'm
mediate effects of the rumOrs that have
been circulated about her, relative to her
alleged SELL -out to the Southern Pacific,
her passenger business is almost nothing.
1t costs about 500 to run the Barton a
day, making her regular trips. Before