The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-10-15

IAE DEMON JAIL.
ago, has been missing since 1869. One of
the watchmen on duty in the building
shot at it then, and it disappeared. Since
then until now nothing more has been
heard Of it, though one or two of the older
policemen of the capitol force still speak
of the spectral animal in awed whNJpers.
1t is described as larger than a lion, with
fiery eyes and fiendish ierceness.
Their work. when performed in the
night, requires more than ordinary nerve,
inasmueh as the interior Of the great
structure is literally alive with echoes and
other suggestions Of the supernatural. In
the daytime, when the place is full Of peo-
ple n the noises of busy life, the pro-
fessional guides make a point of showing
persons how a whisper uttered when
standing on a certain marble block is dis
tinctly audible at another point quite q
distance away, though unheard in the
space between.
A good many phenomena of this kind
are observable in various parts of the cap
itol, and the extent to which they become
augmented in stranEeness during the ST.
lence of the night may well be conceived.
Tit silence of any ordinary house is OPP
pressiye sometimes to the least supersti-
tious individual. There are unaccount-
able noises, and . weird and eerie sort Of
feeling comes over him, distracting him
perhaps from the perusal of his book. He
finds himself indulging in a vague sense
Of alarm, though he cannot imagine any
cause for it.
Such suggestions of the supernatural
are magnifed a thousandfold in the cap
itol when the Waterman pursues his lone
1- haof 4h-e1~l kl1 -~o~< ~-.u;1o-u ~I,-.o
immense spaces impress him with q sense
of s~olitariness, while the shadows thrown
by his lantern gather into strange and
Insnacfng forms.
Four years ago there died in Washing
ton an old gentleman who had been SIM
ployed for 30 years in the library of con-
gress. The quarters Of that great book
collection, while housed in the capitol,
were Interestingly restricted, and much OF
the cataloguing was done by the veteran
mentioned in a sort al vault in the subcel-
lar. This vault was crammed with musty
tones from floor to ceiling and practically
nc air was admitted. 1t was q wonder
that he lived SO long, but, when he came
to dis, he did it rather suddenly. Any
now, be became paralyzed and unable to
speak, though up to the time Of his actual
dsmise he WA able to indicate his wants
BY gestures. Among other things, he
showed plainly by signs that he wished to
be conveyed to the old library.
This wish Of his was not obeyed, for
reasons which seemed sufficient to his
family, and, finally, he relinquished it by
giving up the ghost. It was afterward
learned that he had hidden, almost I'M
donbtedly, 90, 600 worth OF registered Unit
ed States bonds among the books in his
subcellar den-presumably concealed be-
tween the leaves Of some Of the moth eaten
volumes Of which he was the appointed
guardian. Certainly there could be nc
better or less suspected hiding place, but
this was just where the trouble came in
for the heirs, in whose interest the books
were vainB searched and shaken, when
the transfer Of the library FROM the old to
its new quarters was accomplished. The
heirs canno secure a renewal of the bonds
by the government without furnishing
proof Of the loss Of the originals, which Ii
lacking, and, meanwhile, 1t is said that
tho ghost Of the old gentleman haunts the
vault in the subbasement which be used
to lnhabit, locking vainIy for the missing
securities.