The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-04-02

Cured. Then Aunt Hattie, as Ihad always
called the sister, wrote me such a strange
letter that was sure her mind was affected,
and fastened home to find that she had
disappeared The lawyer was little better
than daft, not being able to keep his mind
for five minutes at a time and spending most
OF his hours in the garnet OF the house de-
llvering imaginary addresses to imaginary
courts. It was generally believed that the
woman had drowned herself. though the
body was not found. At this time brother
or the lawyer came from Burlington, la. &,
and mad him adjudged or unsound mind
and took him away to Chicago asylum.
he had not been an inmate of the pla0e two
months when he threw himself from a win
dow and was killed.
What have told you up to this time was
common talk, published in three or four
different papers, and 1 may add that nine>
tenths of the people believed in the old
crones curse. The house was first rented
to grocer, who was known to everybody
as hard-hesded man and a man with
plenty Of nerve, and yet after six weeks
residence in the house he moved out. He
had leased it for year. l do not know
what he may have told others, but he in
formed me, under promise of secrecy, that
he believed the house TO be haunted. Il
was no use to ridicule his statements for he
was serious and earnest The fact of his
moving out proved that He, however,
made such reasonable excuses to others that
he finally subleased to a stone yard man
named Apologize.
The latter lived there only three weeks.
Neither be nor his wife would offer an ex-
cuse beyond that the place was rather lone
some, but daughter 20 years old said they
had heard footballs passing through the
house until all were half scared to death.
On several occasions, she said. the kitchen
door had been found open when all were
positive that it had been looked.
A NIGHT IN THE HAUNTED HOUSE.
1t was year before any one else took the
house, and it was then vacated for good.
The story got around that it was haunted,
and though it was offered rent free to poor
people, no one would move into it. When it
was put up at auction sale there was only
one bid, aud so no sale was effected.
While ready to admit that half believed
In 'the curse" l can truthfully declare that
the stories reaching me from time to time
regarding the house excited my contempt.
For several months before the opportunity
came l was anxious TO pass night there
and see what would occur. House ana
grounds had long been abandoned to
tramps, but yet on certain occasions these
tramps had made queer statements about
what had happened there. The windows
had been broken, the doors torn away, and
the once fine old mansion was bad wreck
| only two doors left intact were the sliding
doors separating the parlors. The others
had been used for fuel in the fireplaces.
told no one of my intentions, but at 10
O'Clock that night, armed with revolver,
candle and matches, | returned to the house
and sat down on the floor in a corner of the
back parlor. There was doorway between
| this room and the dining room and one be-
tween that and the kitchen. 1t was a warm
| night in summer, with never breath of
| wind. 1t was as quiet as a graveyard in
| the house aud about the grounds. You must
not think me boastful when tell you that
| | was not even shaky. | was somewhat ex-
| cited, but not at all nervous. In the first
| place, believed that all the stories had been
grossly exaggerated, and in the next was
of the opinion that some practical joker had
hand In the business If there was anything
in it.
From 10 to l o'clock nothing happered-
nothing but my going to sleep. l heard the
town clock strike u, and heard the first
quarter chime. l didn't feel sleepy, and
yet l dropped off. aud about a minute after
l awoke the clock struck /. The sounds of
footsteps awoke me. Some one came up
the graveled walk from the gate, passed
around to the kitchen door, and en-
| tered. 1t was q shuffling, dragging
step. 1t passed across the kitchen,
passed across the dining room, and /
| doorway. 1t was not 30 dark but could
have made out even a rat. No one APP
| peared. l crept on hands and knees to the
| doorway. No one could be seen. While |
| crouched there the step went away from
| me across the room and into the kitchen to
the back door. followed on tiptoe clear
to the back door. 1 stood in the door gay
while the footsteps passed down the gravel
walk and were lost at the gate.
| Whose footstepss You tell l returned
| to the parlor and sat down. In about ten
! minutes some one slowly descended the
front stairs. There were no front doors. l
rose up, tlptoed into the front parlor, and
thence into the hallway. Nothing was TO
| be seem After a minute the football echoed
down the hall leading to the dining room.
| l followed after. l seemed to be almost
over them. Had there been a person there
| should have bumped against him. Down
| the hall through the dining room, across
the kitchen, and down the graveied walk to
the gate Thus l followed thu footballs and
saw nothing but the gloom of the night.
| People had told of hearing women weep
of signs and groans and curses, of sudden
drafts of cold air and the sounds of blows.
| heard nothing but the footballs. l went
| away not because l was afraid, but because
had found out all I could. In a year or
two more part of the roof fell in, and the
house w6s a sort OF ruin, wherein tramps
skulked away when hard pressed for Iodg-
| ings After years aud years one of them
started confagration and persisted in the
flames. Whose skeleton did they find? ]
believe it was Aunt Hat:ie's" l believe
the half-crazsd lawyer killed her and hid
the body somewhere in she walls. That's
all. You can smile in derision or speculate
on it as mystery.
RICH CONGRESSMAN.