Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1895-03-08
BEATEN BY cHosTLY HANDS.
Miserable Existence of Bridegroom in
~ Haunted House,

/
In one OF the broadcast, cleanest,
| best:paved, and most fashionable Of
| Jersey Citys avenues there stands |.
handsome four-story brick house
which the eye singles out at first
glance as desirable place Of resi-
dence. TO begin with. it is exception
ally broad and solid looking, says the
Chicago Times, with "a hundred little
details OF construction which say to
the initiated eye ii was built by some
one who meant to live in it rather
than sell it. There is a queer sort OK
tower in front, with a balcony run
ming around the foot Of it,. Altogether
the whole air of the place is what the
real-estate men call a desirable resi-
dence for gentlemen.
That is what Southern gentleman
thought. Hewas in search of a house
to buy and was taken with the looks OF
this one. After he had looked it over
his wife Went to see it, in company
with q woman friend, long resident in
the avenue. As the door opened to
them the Southerner clutched her
companions arm
Lets 60 back, " she said. "Some
thing a feeling cannot explain
tells me ! cannot live in this house. :
Her companion insisted. that they 90
through it. 1t was broad daylight.
the house had a tenant. and no harm
could possibly befall them. So through
the house they went, finding much
that was desirable, though the South
erner kept looking nervously over her
shoulder. When the inspection had
finished and the pair were again on
the street, she said with a shudder:
II would not live there If thew
gave me the house. OF all places /
was ever in it is the one that feels
most haunted l expected all the
time to feel a ghost clutch my hairs
The other woman laughed dryly.
sit is haunted house, she said.
''the worst one in the city though I
was resolved not to tell you until after
you had seen it, No tenant lives in
it longer than three months-that is
why it is offered at such a bargain.
Lights fit through it at night. there
are screams and ghostly footballs. and
floating hands that catch at you as
you pass. The story Of it is this: Old
Mr.. j. built it, after he had his for
tune, intending to live there the rest
of his days. He furnished it maenifi-
Gently among other things he cot a
fine young wife. Six months after no
was found dead in bed and three
months after that his widow married
a handsome young fellow of whom COS
sip said that he was her old lover.
Anyway, before the honeymoon
ended he left his bride alone in her
fine house, and said openly it was be-
cause he could get no peace there.
that he was beaten by ghostly hands,
cursed by 9hostly voices, tormented
by ghostly lights. until he must either
leave or go crazy. Though that was
a dozen years ago, the noises con-
tinue; the ghosts will not down. The
wife has been dead for years; the
house passed to the husband, which
to my mind explains the persistence
of the visitation
Examples might be endlessly multi
piled. There is not a nook or corner
of the land that has not its own suffi-
GENTLY authenticated apparition The
real marvel lies in finding out that
the most advanced modern thought
no longer reckons these apparitions
such stuff as dreams are made of.