The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-10
THE EVIL SPIRIT.
Cuts Capers Near BrusseIs-Makes
Chairs Jump md Dishes Run.
From the New York Press.

Chuirs Jump and Dishes Run.
From the New York Press.
London.-It would be Impossible to con-
vince the people of the village OF Ath, near
Brussels that the devil is not after Pol
lain and his wife Polain is a meek and
most emineutly respectable Belgian shop
keeper, a stopped little man, who never
misses mass and has no bad debts His
wife is equally virtuous and upright, and
together they look like the last couple in
the world that the devil would go out Of
his way to injure.
"Ah! yes, yes" say the people Of Ath,
'all this is very wei, but what bout them
before they came TO Ath in last October?
! Why should they have come to Ath at all?
Why so quietly? Why had they the money
to set themselves up in their little shop
why, if they were not trying TO elude
the devil? The devil. you may be sure,
knows great deal more than he will even
deign to tell common people. Pollain and
his wife may have Haunted him. The dew
il grew angry and determined to make an
example of them to warn all inf1dels OF
what was in store for them"
The police officers who have been down
from Brussels declare that the whole thing
is nonsense. The people say that Pollatn
ard his wife must leave the town. The po-
lice say he needn't, unless he wants to. AS
there Is no market for a shop that is sup
posed to be branch Office of the Internal
place, and all the money Pollain has in
the world is in his little shop, he proposes
to remain, and to grin and bear it.
The trouble began almost as soon as the
Pol,ains moved into the shop. The first
thing that was noticed was the disappear
ance of money from the till Pollain left
some five francs in small change in the
till, was out of his shop for a minute, and
when he returned the money was gone
He attributed ii TO a thief, as also the dis
appearance of money and goods on the
next day. But when he mad a bell put on
the front door and the money and the
goods disappeared without the jingling of
the bell, he became suspicious. Finally he
locked the door when he went out of the
shop, but returned to find. as usual, both
money and goods gone. Then they began
to find money IN the mattress of the bed
and hidden away in the cupboards. Certain
marked coins convinced them that it was
the same money that was taken from the
till
The devil, having announced himself
formally now began to work in the most
impudent manner imaginable. Perhaps
Nine. Pollain laid the knives for dinner on
the table; but when she came back they
we're found in the four corners of the room.
! While she was in the pantry the pats
went up into the garnet. The soup tureen
was emptied of its contents the moment
| her back was turned.
Such demonstrations were usually ac-
! companied by heavy footsteps on the roof.
| but nobody was ever to be found on the
| roof. But the devil does his worst for the
| POllains at night. One morning the bed
room was found down in the Kitchen the
| dining room table was bottom side up. and
| the chairs were thrown about heller skel-
ter, as if a free fight had taken place, to
| say nothing of other misplacements of
household furniture and utensils, which it
would seem could have been done only by
| human hands.
The strangest thing in the devils soirees.
| however, is the nightly incidents respect
! ing Pollain's old silver watch, his high hat
! and his silver salt cellar, the three earthly
| possessions of which he is most proud.
| The silver watch is an heirloom from his
| father. 1t is of Swiss make and every
night since he first wore it it has licked
| away peacefully under his pillow. The salt
/ cellar is a wedding gift from the girl that
! Pollain was engaged to before he was en-
/ gagged to Nine. Pollain. 1t is kept in the
| cupboard. There has been some rivalry
| between the watch and the hat as to
which is the older Poilain wears it only
| on the grandest occasions. 1t is kept in a
! box under his bed.
For years Pollain has made it a point
| just before retiring to look under the bed
to see that the hatboX was all right. Yet
since the devil came. he has awakened
morning after morning to find it gone.
| When he has looked under his pillow for
his watch he has found instead the salt
| cellar The hatbox is usually found down
| stairs on the kitchen table, tied up in the
same decorous, careful manner as it was
after the hat was last worm Inside of the
! box, in the hat, is found the watch.
This sort of thing naturally has made
| Pollain nervous. He lies awake every
night, trembling as he hears the heavy
footsteps on the roof, and the chairs waltz
ing with one another in the kitchen. At
last he drops into a troubled sleep, and it
is then that the salt cellar is exchanged
for the watch under his pillow.
The whole thing would be quite enough
to drive the poor man mad, If 1t were not
that people were coming down from Brus-
sells to see the shop and buy things as an
excuse for coming in. The police officers
have stayed in the living rooms back of
the shop on six different nights. They
have heard some rats scampering, and
that is all. Everything has been as deco
rous as in any well-regulated house. The
| dignity of the chairs has been unassaila-
BILE and the watch and the hat and the
salt cellar have remained where they were
put. The last police officer, who left
there al s clock in the morning, had not
| been out of the house five minutes when
Pollain, hearing a noise in the rear hur-
ried to the door to see two chairs stand
ing on the table. He swears to the truth
OF these things. and to the movements of
the hat. the watch, and everything else,
and so does his wife. The village priest
believes him. and has tried Intellectually by
! prayer to drive out the evil one. Pollain
says that he has seen the spirit, but when
he tried to grasp it it disappeared. lie de-
scribed il as something white, which
moved rapidly.