The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-28
CROWDS SEEK THE SPIRITS.
WATERS ROAD LINED WITH Curl
OSITY SEEKERS.


Which Have Happened There Gre
ated n SensatiOn-Dr. KnOrr Ex-
plains His Views on Psychic Phe-
nOmena-POIIce Sergeant Davis
Tells of a GhOstIy by Experience
in Laurel Grove Cemetery.
The spiritual manifestations at the
house Of Dan Hill, colored on the Waters
road, still continue. There were several
outbreaks yesterday of the same charac-
ter as those reported in the Morning News,
principally in the early morning. AS
usual, the manifestations were very slight
while the crowd was present. Large
crowds visited the place during the day,
and in the afternoon the road was lined
with people. Many went out from the
city on the Isle of Hope line. The visitors
were chiefly colored, but there were many
whites.
The most plausible explanation of the
occurrences is that the Hill family has
some enemy who is anxious to run them
out of the neighborhood, and that several
confederates are employed to aid in Gre
ating the impression that the house is
haunted. This impression once created, it
is easy enough to make credulous people
of this class believe almost anything. If
one person declares that he has seen a
picture move across the room, in FIVE
minutes dozen will be ready to swear
that they saw the same thing. If the
wind makes a chair rock or a door creak,
it is at once attributed to spiritual agen-
cies.
On the other hand the members of the
family can hardly be interested in break
ing up their own furniture, and when they
swear that they have seen their goods
going out of the windows in broad day
light without the Intervention of human
agency, it makes a very queer case.
DR.. Louis Knorr takes exception to the
manner in which his name was connected
with this affair, and requests the publica-
ton of the following statement. He says:
IAN unknown colored man, Dan Hill,
came to my office and requested me to
see his wife and try to relieve her He
stated that she had been suffering for
some time and was at present suffering
with chills and fever; but that he did not
need my medical services for that dis
ease; that he wanted me to treat her for
a great scare" that forces her to leave
her home. l went with the man under
the impression that l should have to
deal with a case of mental alienation
brought about by malarial infection. Only
after l arrived at the house and learned
all the particulars, 1 became convinced
that the family was a victim of one of
those rare psychic occurrences recorded
at various times and in various coun-
tries. My services were called for the
purpose of giving advice or doing some
thing to allay the excessive fear of the
wife, and that end l strlved to attain to
the best of my knowledge. Finding the
family to be earnestly religious l urged
them to put their trust in God and assem-
BILE in fervent prayer and singing
hymns whenever those disturbances oc-
cur During my half hours stay there,
however, l did not see nor hear anything
of an extraordinary or unusual character.
I am sorry that my mental status was
classified as believer in spiritualism."
So many crude, superstitious notions, so
many ideas appearing to me erroneous
are included in the term "spiritualism''
that l cannot accept it as applying to the
psychic Knowledge l have been able to
gather in a scientific manner during the
last quarter Of a century, nor to the
hpotheSes l base upon those rare natural
phenomena. once more, therefore, l am
not believer in spirituaism," but a
scientific student of psychic phenomena.
The haunted house on the Waters road
was the talk of the town. The negroes
were very much worked up over the sub
ject and could be heard discussing it on
the streets on their way to and from
church. Some few declared that it was
Just newspaper talk" but many were
evidently firmly impressed with the idea
that the spirits were really making their
presence known in the Hill household.
While discussing the case at police head
quarters Sergeant Emory Davis recalled
an experience of his own, which would
have furnished the best kind of foundation
for a ghost story.
1T was about two years ago." said Ser
geant Davis. Il was riding in the western
section of the city one night and reached
Laurel Grove cemetery about midnight.
Happening to glance over into the north
west corner of the cemetery 1 saw a light
and what l thought to be man with
pick digging a grave, about so yards from
the street. ! took a good look and made
out very clearly the form of man, stoop-
ing over, with a pick rising and falling.
By his side stood another man
holding a light. l thought this
very strange and concluded at
once that grave robbers were at work. My
first thought was TO wake up the keeper
of the cemetery and make an investiga-
ton with him, but / concluded that this
would take too much time and that the
robbers might take alarm and make off.
determined to investigate it myself at
once. l tied my horse and getting over the
fence l crept down towards the light, pis-
toll in hand. In moving about between
trees and tombstones. l lost sight Of the
light, and when ! reached what l thought
was the spot / was puzzled to find that
there was nothing there. The light had
disappeared, there was no sound and moth
ing to be seen. This looked very queer
determined to go back to the fence, take
a fresh start and keep the light in view
until / reached the spot. When I got to
the fence and looked back into the GEM
etery there was the light shining plainly
and the man with the pick stnl at
work. This looked very strange,
indeed and if l had been a believer in
ghosts / might have been satisfied TO quit
right there, but l was determined to fol-
low the matter up ! started toward the
spot again, keeping the light in view all
the way down When l got within few
feet of the spot l saw how l had been
deceived. There was large margle tomb
stone there. with sides so highly polished
that they shone like mirrors. The side
toward the street was so situated as to