The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1894-02-10
HAUNTING A GIN MILL
The Ghost of Suicide LOBBY
Causes Excitement at His
Old Hang Out"
MANY MANIFESTATIONS.
Chairs and Tables Upset and
Knocked Around the Card
Room of Mitchell's Saloon.

The mournful wall of the "Banshee1
woman in Ireland has parallel in Green
vile, if the stories told by a number of we'll
known residents of that section are to be be-
lieved. The residents of the celery district
have seldom been disturbed by spooks, but
real, lively ghost seems to have taken posses
sion of room in a house on the West Side,
aad many queer things have happened dur
ing the past week.
The first appearance of his ghostship was
made on last Saturday night, in room at
the rear of James MitcheIl's saloon, at Nc
Adoo and Bergen avenues. The ghost is sup
posed to be that of August LOBBY, who COM
mitted suicide on Saturday afternoon by
hanging himself in woodshed at the
rear OF his residence on Terhune avenue.
| LOBBY the readers of THE JERSEY CITY
NEWS will remember, has the reputation of
being a heavy drinker. He never worked
and whatever money he received from his
mother and sisters. who worked to support
| themselves and him. he spent in drink. He
was frequenter at Mitchells. saloon and
consequently it is but natural that his ghost
should visit the place.
THE GHOSTS FIRST APPEARANCE.
At eight o'clock on Saturday night
Mitchell's saloon was crowded with west
side residents and the conversation drifted
to the suicide of LOBBY. At the rear of the
bar-room there is a poolroom and to the
| rear of this there is another room in which
| there are a number of tables and chairs and
which is used as card room. On the wall
of this room is push button which connects
| with and rings bell in the front bar-roofn.
| There is also door in the room opening on
| Bergen avenue.
| While the discussion as to Lobey's suicide
| was going ON in the saloon, the bell rang,
/ 1a1 hall int hot.
| had entered the door at the rear of the card
| room went there. He found the room
empty. This puzzled him, and he examined
| the door and windows They were all
| locked. Mr.. Mitchell returned to the bar
| room, and told the customers of his expert
ence He had hardly finished his story
when a frightful racket was heard in the
| rear.
| A TERRIBLE RACKET.
| The customers all jumped up from their
| seats and rushed pell nell to the room.
| When they arrived there they found all the
chairs overturned and one table racking vio-
! lently as though it were unbalanced and
had received a jar. The table stopped its
| antics as soon as the last man filed into the
room Another examination was made Of
the door and windows, and, as before, they
| were found locked.
| Policeman "Philn McGovern, who was
| passing the saloon at the time, heard the
| r'umpus and imagining that a row was In
progress, raped on the door and demanded
the cause of the trouble.
isIt's Lobey's ghost, said Mr.. Mitchell to
! Phil.
'tNow you quit your foolin, ;" replied Nc
Govern, Tor it's in the lookup yen spend
the rest of the night"
swell, see for yourself" answered Mr..
Mitchell
| But Phil seeing no signs of rumpus stay,
ed outside to watch for the ghost. Mitchell
and his customers returned to the saloon to
! discuss the strange affair. Ghost stories
were told. and all but few believed that il
| was Lobey's ghost that caused the racket IN
the rear. The few that did not believe IN
/ this theory declared that some one who had
a Key to the rear door upset the chairs, ran
out of the rear door and locked it before
those in the barroom arrived there.
| Mr.. Mitchell denied this and said that if any
| one had a key to the room he did not know
of it, The rumpus took place at nine o'clock,
and at Quarter past ten o'clock the chairs
and tables were again knocked down IN the
| rear room.
NO SIGN OF THE GHOST
| All hands again rushed to the room This
time there were six chairs and table upse&
| Another examination of the doors and VIM
dows was made, and, as before, they were
! found securely locked In the meantime
| Phil McGovern had kept up watch on the
outside He had not seen anybody pass
within fifty feet of where he was standing
while he was on guard. He was positive
| that no one entered the door OF windows,
| and Mr. Mitchell and the other men were
| positive that no one had entered the room
| by the only other entrance, the door
| leading to the saloon. Mr., Mitchell and his
| customers were now satisfied that everything
| was not all right, and one by one the Gus
\ toners left the place until eleven, when the
| last man bid Proprietor Mitchell Good
| nightP and the saloon was closed. Mr..
| Mitchell retired to his apartments above the
store At midnight he was awakened by
/ another racket in the card room. he wisely
| decided to stay in bed, and when he visited
the room the next morning he found every
| table and chair upset.
| All day Sunday everything was quiet, but
\ on Monday evening the ghost again started
| in to raise high jinks Chairs were upset
| and the bell was rung frequently. As on
| Saturday night nothing could be found in
| the room. Three different times on Monday
night the chairs were thrown about and each
time there were people in the bar room to
| hear the noise.
MR.. DAFFLEDECKER's EXPERIENCE
! Since Monday, however, Mr.. MitchelPs
chairs and tables have manifested no desire
to execute the Jgs and dances, but Lobey's
| ghost seems to be still on hand, however. On
/ Thursday night Mr. G. Daffiedecker declares
| that he saw strange white object on Bergen
avenue near McAdoo. Mr.. Daff1edecker was
walking along Bergen avenue and the object
1 which had the form man, seemed to be
| walking toward him. He asserts that it
| came within twenty feet of him and then
| suddenly disappeared as though the earth
had swallowed it up. Other residents claim
that they have seen strange objects in the
neighborhood and now timid persons fear to
| walk there after dark. The matter has
caused much talk in Greenvllle and every
| night during the past week persons have vis-
| tied Mitchell's saloon to see the chairs and
tables fired about. Mr. Mitchell, however,
| is not anxious to have his strange visitor re-
turn and hopes he won't He fears that his
business will suffer if the queer antics again
/ take place in his card room.
| WEATHER INDICATIONS.