St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-04-28

-DolH ttOlH Dle$tluStAef CSAOly, tHi1ity
farm folk, and not much bothered
with superstition. In four years the
Writings lost four children. Then
the mother became bedridden and
the father insane. The pair were
sent to Massachusetts, where both
recovered to a certain degree.
There were few changes or deaths
after this on Devil House farm I'M
til Ira Wilson, stalwart stone
mason, came along. He secuted the
idea Of any trouble. In the third
year of his residence there he was
attacked by a severe hemorrhage
and came near dying. AS soon as
possible he was carried on a stretch
er off the farm. This was in the
fall of 1878. Wilson went to Rhode
Island. He was so scared that moth
ing could induce him to visit the
house again.
A young mechanic. Richard White,
and his wife were frightened from
the place by severe illness, two or
three years later and in the spring
of 1884, Ira Wilson's oldest brother,
culean physique and. possessed Of
great will power. He was firm in
his belief that no such things as
curses could interfere with him. He
had three sons. The second was a
sailor and the others managed the
farm. Wilson himself was well to
do. He gave house warming. Two
years later the entire family was
stricken with melancholia The
sailor son, Henry, came home and
was also seized with the malady.
He was sick three months with it
and begged to be moved from the
house so hard that finally the fam
lily consented. To this fact Henry
Wilson told the Sun correspondent
he
ATTRIBUTES HIS RECOVERY.
81 kept thinking of that old grave
yard over on South HILL" said he
land I knew 1 should get into it if
l did not get away from the farm
The oldest son of the Wilson's was
next affected, and the next spring,
that of 1886, Wilson's only daughter,
Phyllis, died. Wilson would not
have her body buried in the South
Hill plot. In 1887 Wilson was found
unconscious on the floor of the Devil
House. He died the same day. A
month later the eldest son died.
About this time Henry Wilson,
who was now a ship captain, re-
turned from a voyage and made ar
'angements to transfer the remnant
Of the family to another town. Be
fore this could be done his widowed
mother was attacked by a painful
malady and she died. The youngest
son, Horace, was stricken down in
1888 with the strange disease and
died. Thus, the entire family, save
Captain Wilson, was exterminated
No sooner did Captain Wilson offer
the place for sale than a travelling
Yankee peddler hurried to purchase
it. He was John Kenyon, resident
of Hope Valley, r. l., and he has,
tened to bring his family there to
SETTLE them for life. In 1890 niece
of the Kenyons, who lived with
them, became frightened at the talk
of gosslping neighbors, who related
in their own way the story of the
curse. She fled to Rhode Island in
consequence. Kenyon was soon
taken with nervousness and his wife
became a recluse. The former final
ly died and the latter was coaxed
back to Rhode Island At this time.
1892, many thought the Devil House
farm would never be occupied again,
so long and formidable had its death
hist become, but it is now said it will
soon be sold again, after being emp
ty for two years.
A few years ago Captain Henry
Wilson, who is now a skipper we'll
known in the New York Yachting
fleets, slept on a wager in the room
in which Betsy Chapman had her ex-
perience with Satan. He got through
the night safely, but he SAYS no
amount of money would TEMPT him
to again sleep anywhere on the Devil
House farm. Captain Wilson now
resides in the town of Stonington.