The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-01-16
, HIRED GHOSTS DOINGS.
os THAT HAPPENED TO THE
u.,uY OF 4 NAYAL OFFICER.

..,.,.,.p. seen. voices nsars. 90 nnv''.
-. presence Felt In . Rentea Hsuse In
.,.,.,,bia-Phenouepa which the npit-
:, ..,,.,y for PsJchicai Research 10 nnves-
.-..,-a Ghost story out or ths Ordinary.
.uuooooo-oo-o-o-o-oo. "moaned the wind.
p.,.r moved uneasily In his aleep.
v'oono-ooo-o-o-o.o-o," moaned the wind.
,.D.,sr turned. He turned again. He nut
Wv An indehnable something oppressed him..
nn r himself on his elbow. He sat bolt up
n. "a neered into the darkness. At the foot
mn. h.d he made out the outlines of o white
aOnre. The face was ~black-black 90 his
Own. - ~ L.,
nah room
'Syon. Sal, wha you doin' in nah room in you
-.h,dressl G'wan away, chile. G'wan away
IN, vhi,erobed figure stood calmly smilinR,
"a 9TH great deliberation dotted the robo and
hang II on a nail in the closet.
s0h. OBJ" gaspcd old Peter. "G'wan awayi
a,,n away! G'wan awayi.i-i.i.iir He
s,,h.d bis hands to his face and closed his eyes.
se'wun, g'wan, g'wan.n-n-n."
Swooo.oo.o.o-o 100000" moaned the
-,,a Peter Just squinted with one eye at the
.,.,t He saw nothing. He opened both eyes.
n, arure certainly was gone. Old Peter stared;
t,,ny ho got up. He peeked under the bed.
d, Iookcd under all the chairs and under the
.r,,.u and then made his way to the closet
There was nothing there.
~.I,clare to gracious, dat braok wretch Sal she
~, no right in old Pete's room. I clare TO
s,sous she haint." Old Peters kinky hair
,hr,stened to straighten itself. A cold perspira-
,in ,prang out on him. He crawled back into
III. bed. He drew tho bedclothing clear up over
N. head. "Wo-o-o-o-or o-o-o-o-o.o-o" moaned
the wind.
Tins aid the "boarder" introduce himself or
h,nelf or itself TO the household Of Commodore
Rank the very first night that Commodore
Ranks family moved into the furnished house.
ibs household of Commodore Bank, 1t may be
,hd right here, is II real household. The head
otit Is not a Commodore. but he Is mighty near
i:snd his namc isn't Bank, but 1t isn't far from
H. For obvious reasons his real name II
emitted. The fact is that when the facts to DO
narrated happened Commodore Bank was on
bis ship, one OF the White Squadron. in q South
American port. These facts are not Of very re-
cent date, and the reason that they are now
tpread before the world 10 that their exceeding
interest has induced the British Society for Psy-
ehlcal Research. which 10 an organization OF
scientific ghost hunters, to investigate them
and endeavor to explain them away. Commo-
dore Banks family consists of Mrs. Bank,
Miss Bank. who Is about IL; Master Bank. q
ti1foot boy of IA a colored man servant-the
SAM being Old Peter-and o colored maid ser
pnt, the same being Sally.
As stated before, tho Commodore was away on
s~eruise, and Mrs. Bank, the head of the house
hold. determined hat until his return 1t would
be wise to rent q furnished house for the accom-
notation Of herself and her family. To this end
many real estate agents wero visited. and at
last q house that exactly answered her require
ments was discovered. It WAS in West Phila-
dclphia. hardly . stones throw from Powelton
avenue, on one of tho little streets not q great
way from tho Powelton avenue junction
Of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The street
10 only one block long. and on either side
there 10 o row of brick houses. They are
built in pairs, with little yards between pairs.
The house which Commodore Banks wife
thought would suit her was in the middle of the
block and was precisely like every other house
on the block. Its previous history was not long.
1t had not been built more than six or seven
years; it had been built by q contractor for
sale; had been sold. and had been occupied
pretty regularly from tho time Of its completion.
For about six months before the Banks arrived
1t had been occupied Internationally, but no fam
lily had stayed there any great length Of time.
Indeed, some of them moved in rosy-cheeked
and happy one day and moved out pale-faced
and scared the very next morning, Utmost be-
fore the dawn. so early that only the maids
In the other houses saw them 60, and the
~ueighbors who had seen them move in never
knew what had become of them. How many
such tenants there were 1t Is impossible to say
how. but there were several. The last tenant
who had stayed there any time worth speaking
OF was the original owner of the house, or,
rather. the son Of the original owner, q young
man whose wife had died in the house, leaving
him a widower without any particular need of
household furniture. So no had placed the
house on the market furnished.
VI course the frequent and sudden movings
that had preceded the appearance OF the family
OF Commodore Bank had caused some talk, but
not enough to give the house a bad name. and
BANGS family heard nothing about
Them at all. They arrived at their new homo
ABOUT . oclock one autumn afternoon. Per
maps a few words Of description concerning the
Interior arrangements of the house will not be
out OF place here. The parlor is the front room
on the first floor, the entrance is on the side of
the mouse. an arrangement common In Phil
adelphia houses, and there is o very small
nan into which the outside door opened. Be
nina the parlor and going up from the hall
sa stairway leading to the second fioor;' in the
rear OF the stairway on the first floor is q
u'hlng room; back of that a kitchen, the door of
Nh'eh opens into a little shed. and back Of the
1heo a yard. The front room on the second
moor Is a sitting room. 1t is the same size as the
pafior and Immediately above It. The two other
rooms on that floor are bedrooms. On the third
moor there Is another room In front of the size
urine parlor and the sitting room; back of this,
siatge hall In which there is a linen closet, and
oack OF this linen closet and over a bedroom on
Tue second floor is another large bedroom. The
u'agrsm, which is printed herewith, will show
the general plan of the interior.