The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-20
THE HANDLING OF GHOSTS.
SCIENTIFIC METHODS TO BE Used
ON ALL OCCASIONS.

Investigation Might Have Done
More Harm Than GOod-A Drum
mer's Experiences.
From the New York Sun.
The member Of the Society for Psychi-
cal Research listened attentively to the
story. When it was ended he asked:
Did you ever take any steps to inves-
tigate the occurrence upon scientific prin-
ciples?"
mo-" replied the man who wasn't sure
if it was a ghost or not.
There you made a mistake" said the
member Of the Society for Psychical Re-
search. "Now, I'm a man with a practI-
cal mind. The only use of ghosts, appa-
ritions, hauntings, and kindred phenomena
is to make us acquainted with natural
laws which have hitherto escaped human
scientific research. So it is the duty of
every man who sees a ghost or thinks he
sees one to make careful and searching
inquiries on the subject questioning
every one who may have had direct or re
mote connection with the occurrences, and
to promote the largest publicity attaina-
BILE in order to obtain the cooperation or
every person who may be able to throw
light on the subject"
Dye mean that if man gets dopy, he's
to give himself away?' asked one Of the
drummers. Il don't think"
No harm could be done by an investi-
cation conducted on purely scientific
lines" returned the member of the Society
for Psychical Research.
That's where you're wrong" retorted
the drummer. Listen to what happened
to me once. 1t was down in an old-fash-
toned town in Pennsylvania, where l had
to stop over night. The hotel was an old
fashioned place, too My room was on
the second floor, on the side of the builG-
ing facing a dark alley. The window
opened on narrow balcony or wide ledge
that ran part way around the house. 1t
went past a hall window and ended at a
sort of portico with pillars down to the
ground, so that a thief would have his
choice of two ways TO get into my room
If he wanted to; he could either climb up
one of the pillars of the portico and walk
along the ledge or he could simply step
out upon the ledge from the hall. l no
ticed all this the first thing after / went
to bed, my mind was running on thieves
and on how easy it would be for one of
them to rob me that night. The next
thing / saw was that there wasn't any
catch on the window, and no way of
fastening it down, so there l was for the
night with a plain road for thieves to get
into my room, and no way of keeping
them out There was two things that
worried me particularly. One was that
l was dead tired, and knew that just as
soon as | fell asleep I'd be dead to the
world for seven or eight hours, if the
house didn't tumble down in the mean
time, and that nothing much less than
an earthquake could wake me up. The
other thing was that, besides about $50
a I wit
| $500 diamond pin. 1t didn't belong to
me- I had let a man have a couple of
| hundred on it, and l was sporting it until
| he paid me. 1t occurred to me that if the
thief got away with it, I'd be out about
| $500, besides the money he owed me.
| 81 suppose it was the thought of the
other mans diamond pin as much as any
thing else that made me Watchful in spite
! of my fatigue. | went to bed and fell
| asleep sound, but l hadn't been asleep
! more than an hour when l was awakened
| by feeling a hand slide under my pillow
| to where my watch and money and pin
were lying. 1t shows how watchful was,
| for while l was half awake knew the
| fellows touch was as light as a feather.
| Then the next moment it flashed up on me
! that / had left my revolver in my sachel
upon the center table in the room, and,
| worse luck, it was unloaded.
| 81 must have awakened with a start for
| the thief pulled out his hand lightly and
| quickly and crouched down on the floor at
the head of the bed, apparently waiting to
| see If I was awake or had merely started
| in my sleep. l could hear his slow, eau
! tious breathing as he crouched there, and
! could actually feel the intensity of the at
tenton which he concentrated on me to
| detect my slightest motion. Fortunately.
| when l woke up, l hadn't JUMPED up in
! bed; had l done So l might have had a
| knife thrust into me, but l lay there just
| as if l was asleep, perfectly still And so
we staid the thief and !, each waiting for
| the other to move. 1t seemed to me as if
we staid an hour like that, and my body
was covered with perspiration from the
! excitement. I'm sure it must have been
| ten minutes, at any rate.
| "At last I couldn't stand 1t any longer.
| The suspense was too much for me- and |
| decided to take chances on the thief's hav-
! ing knife or gun. SO, as quick as could,
1 banged a pillow around down on the
| thiefs head, just so as to confuse him,
| jumped out of bed, and flung open the door
! leading into the hall, which was lighted.
| Then I saw that there wasn't soul in the
| room"
The drummer stopped short and looked
around A smile spread over the face of
| the member of the Society for Psychical
| Research.
"Ha haw he laughed, "And you notions
was, of course, that the hotel was haunted.
| 1 can see that it would be possible to
weave a very pretty and dramatic tale
about your adventure. 1 suppose there
is a sequel to your story and that the
next morning you made inquiries of the
! hotel people and saw their startled faces
| and finally got them to confess that q
| drummer was once murdered in that room
by a thief who got in through the win
dow, and the place has been haunted ever
since. Very pretty very pretty, indeed,
my dear SIR" he continued, raising his
| voice as the drummer showed signs of
! speaking: "but-permit me-not scientific.
1t is as good a basis as many tale of
haunted houses stands upon; but it can't
sustain scientific investigation. Science
simply says that you were tired, your
nerves were unstrung, and that you had
a nightmare on the subject on which your
mind was fixed before going to bed"
wait till you hear the rest Of it," re-
torted the drummer. I'm not just tell
| ing ghost stories. I'm proving that
! ghosts are delicate goods to handle. Well,
now, some men would have gone to work