The San Francisco call., 1898-04-12
COFFINS SLID
 AND SCARED VOLBERC 
 : Grewsome Relics Dis ' :: :. turbed by the Late :.' Earthquake. Ghosts Guard a Mysteri- ous Room in a Lonely ... House. A Caretaker Who Took Fliqht
 When the Floor Was
 leaving. NAILED THE SHOCKS IN. The Now Watchn1an Brave, bu- Withal Trenables When the
 Wind Blows.
A Capetaker Who Took F'lidht When the Floor Was
 leaving.
NAILED THE STOCKS IN
The Now watchnan Brave, but Withal Trennbles When the
 Wind Blows.

There is a new caretaker and watch man on the shore land owned by Dr. Benjamin F. Lyford, between Tiburon and California City. He is a little man, who has recourse to secret "charms" and specter-sCaring devices every time the wind rattles the clapboards of the little house in which he sleeps and cooks his meals. He has not yet made up his mind whether he has ghosts for companions or not. Three days ne has lived in the house and he confesses he is getting a little bit nervous about me rattling of the boards as the wind passes and the batter of the feet of the squirrels as they scamper over the roof.
 Two weeks before the little man was installed as caretaker of the property and the lonely house turned over for his use, man named Volberg was the watchman of the property of the Tiburon physician. Volberg slept and cooked his meals in the house where. his successor now lives. He was contented with his lot until one Sunday about a month ago when party of picnickers spread their lunch near the lonely cabin and the watchman, in an effort to be friendly, of fered to allow them to boil some water on his stove to give the ladies of the par ty cup of tea with their lunch. The men among the visitors who entered the house of the caretaker noticed that some of the doors of the place were securely locked and boarded up. Volberg in an swer to questions explained that his em- ployer was an eccentric man and he had some things slowed away there that he did not want any one to see. Nolberg said he had been cautioned not to enter those rooms and he had faithfully kept away from them. The explanation aroused the curiosity of the men, and some preteXt was made to get the old caretaker away from the place.
 As. soon as he was gone the door of one of the rooms in the attic was pried open The window of the room had been board ed up and the apartment was dark. A match was struck and in the dim light the curious visitors were able to make out the outlines of three collins. One was as If made for full-grown person, and the other two were as though made for the burial of infants. In another corner of the room was box resembling that used to contain a coffin when it is deposited in the grave. The curious visitors got out or the room as quickly as they could after making the discovery and the pie alckers hurried away from the house and finished their lunch in a more appetizing spot.
 That night Volberg found that the room had been broken into, but faithful to his lnstrucuons he kept away from it. and Tor three days he resisted the temptation to explore the mysteries of the apartment On WedneSday night following he lay on ms bed reading and thinking of the brok- en door and the mysteries that Iav be- yond. Finally the temptation became too strong and he grasped candle and start ed Tor the room. He cautiously ap- preached the place and quietly opening the door stepped into the room. He had hardly got past the threshold and in full NleW or the collins when the house shook The floor rose and fell and the collins be- gan 10 slide across the room
 NoIperg was found early the next morn Ing slttlng Tn the edge of a clump of pushes close to California City dazed, and with the stump of candle in his hand He was only partly dressed and shivering with cold. Nearly everybody was talk ing or the earthquake that shook m the bay cities and towns, but all that conId be got out of Volberg for nearly dav was an lncoherent story about ghosts Nothlng couid induce him to go back to the house The clothing he left behind he said could stay there. He took a roiind- about way back to Tiburon so as to avoid passing close to the house he believed was haunted, and went to San Francisco From that moment the house was with out watchman. until the present care taker took the place. The house is about a mile from any other habitation and in the most secluded spot along the Tiburon shore. The present custodian put fresh nails in the door leading to the forbidden room to keep out the sight of the collins, and with every nail he drove in he re, peated the assertion that he was not afraid of ghosts, though he resorted to the aforementioned signs and devices sev- eral times during the operation.
 The new watchman said that inc Rib1a says that there are good spirits and bad spirits, and he thought that he was guarded too well by the good spirits for same time he was not going to spare nails in an effort to keep the bad spirits away. '
 The collins that are slowed in the for btdden room are empty though once they held human forms That was nearly thir- " years ago when pr. Lyford was a surgeon SI m the army during the civil war. The physician at that time invented an embalming fluid and on the battlefield he had no lack of subjects for experimental purposes; The few bodies he embalmed ne kept in the cofffns for some time until !. ne oemo9nstrated the worth of his inven- ' oo4' The caskets he has kept ever since ana sL 10, TOT years they have been stored in nome of reVeling ghosts ~ NA4e