The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-11-24
IN THE WESTERN ADDITION.
At Least SO Some Neighbors
Positively Assert.
1T FOLLOWS WATCHMAN MALLON
A Difference of Opinion Regarding
Its What the Watch
man Says About 1t.

u,
puny fellows that flirt around in the pale
moonlight in some lonely retreat. and
chuckles when it succeeds 10 freezing the
marrow III the bones Of some strOlling pair
OF cooling lovers.
| No, indeed. If report be true this newly
arrived spiritual visitor is the very
essence and Incarnation Of boldness and
| effrOntery.
| His manner and general style smack
| strongly of that famous old brigand, Rim
aldo Rinaidini. or that equally notorious
pr1vateer. Captain Kidd. By those who
have remarked this distinguishing feature
of the gentleman with the vapury form, it
is ayowed that If there are ghosts this par
ticular one must be the cold relic of a per-
son of the Captain Kidd or Dick Turpin
stripe.
And. when one learns that the ghosts
first act upon his arrival was to seize upon
and appropriate to its own purposes II
large section of property belonging to the
Southern Pacific Railroad Company it
seems more than reasonable that there is
something in these avo walls.
No wadavs when DO one can be found to
openly DISPUTE the right of the railroad
company 10 grab whatever it takes n fancy
10, who will not say that it is a daredevil
ghost, indeed, that will Jump iuto town
| with wnOop. nS 1t were, and give the
railroad CON Dany the 0sfbv pre-emnting a
valuable piece 0, its possessions. True, il
cannot realize upon the same as living
person might, but the possession of prop
erty by ghost Is more than nine points
of the law, tor
You may tear down and build up the place as you
Will,
But shade of the spirit will hang round it still
Like tho ''Black Frlar." it will not be
driven away unless it takes a notion of its
own To light OUT for fresh fields and
pastures new.
The property in question that has baen
seized upon by the tog-hued Individual is
the long, rambling structure that occupies
| half OF the square block bounded by Turk,
| Fillmore ana Webster streets and @ iden
Gate avenue. Long ago, when the West
| era Addition was 10 It's infancy. and the
sun as 1t sank to rest in the west cast Its
| lingering rays upon rolling hills of sand
| and vistas of yellow and purple luplne
| blossoms, the old sta ble-or stables, ra her
served 10 house the old horsecars of the
Turk-street car line. In those days,
though, the old horsecars did not have to
| apologize for moving slowly and rafting
over the uneven tracks until the teeth of
the passengers fell out
They were the boss of the road then, for
the stately cabls-car aud the gliding cleo
| tric-car had not invaded their domain.
Now the glory of the horsecars has de-
parted forever, and Turk street will ring
with the whir of electricity. With the
| wibdrawal of the horsecars came the de-
cay OF the stables. Where before they
| resnunded with the neighing of hundreds
of horses. the shouting of hostlers and he
running in and out of cars, the long, low
structure, which, like the house of Usher
| is slowly nnstenng TO its fall, has only the
| dust-covered cars, a few decrepit horses
l md
pants. while the only sounds heard ars the
movements of the horses and the footballs
| of Waterman Mallon as he wanders
around looking alter things.
| more likely place for ghost to camp
in could not be found, and here it is that the
newly arrived spiritual swashbucklrr has
| located himself. His presence has been the
talk of the vicinity for some time past
and has given rise to no end of gossip,
| The arrival of the sponk was not heralded
by Waterman Mallon. The latter even
Will not admit that there is ghost on the
late he has not been acting like himself at
all and lay ii to the fact that he has seen
some thing but will not admit it,.
If some of the stories which are told
around are true MIR. Mallon has seen
something" One OF these accounts, and
the one most generally accepted sets
forth that the ghost appears about
II o'clock each night an unusu-
ally early hour for ghosts. it might
be remarked. and proceeds from
the northeast corner of the building t. 90
through the place. He visits every corner
as faithfully as Waterman. and when
ever 1t meets Mr.. Mallon on his rouuds it
invariably accompanies him. 1t is de-
scribed az having he aspect of a tall man
with flowing beard, and having the usual
| cbalky appearance which Is ascribed to
these mysterious beings. Waterman NAL
l -
and IL Is said that occasionally the ghost
| Trips alongside of him and raises its finger
toward the lump OF fnggy material which
| serves for It's head and then mods very SOL
tmnly. Dir. Mallon is an old war veteran
and is not easily frightened. but on one or
! TWO Of those occasions it Is said he hast
| tened away to his room and locked rhe
| door The ghost did not run after him.
These statements are vouched for by
! three citizens who live near By, and who
| sscreted themselves In the yard adjoining
the stables and watched for the ghost
| They all agree as to the particulars and
| vow That the ghost Is genuine one.
| There are doubling Thomases everywhere,
though, and ;hers are not few around
! the vicinity who 40 not pin their faith to
the story told by the men who watched.
One of these is a saloon man near by who
says that on the night the watchers were
| on duty he sold them several TASKS of
whisky, and he oven insinuates-welI,
never mind.
Several neghbors have put in hours at
night peeping through knotboles in the
surrounding high fence, but say that they
only saw light fitting around, which
might have been Mailon's lantern.
There are those, too. who love the darby
mysterious. and who shake their heads In
a very solemn way when the ghost is men
toned. These. who form a clique by
themselves, will DOT admit that the ghost
is a new arrival. Some are old residents,
and say that man was fouly murdered
many years ago on the sDnt where the
northeast Garner of the stable is, and they
connect lhat event with the rowing spirit.
Iu order 10 boister up their version they
say that the ghost appeared there years
ago, and that al least four watchmen have
in years agone been compelled TO leave
their positions on account of the ghost.
Where the ghost has bsen all the years he
did not appear they do not attempt 10 ex-
plain, but they are sure this is tue same
one that has wandered back again.
Some of the scoffers in the neighbor-
hood are not backward in asserting when
denying the presence of the ghost that
Mr. Mallon sometimes goes through the
stable in white neglige uniform with his