The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-08
SPooKS HAUNT AN OLD JAIL.
NEW ORLEANS POLICE FORCE SEE
STRANGE THINGS.
UnaccOuntabIe Happenings witness
ed by Keen-Eyed and sober OIL
ciaIs While on Duty.

ciaIs While on Duty.
/ From the New Orleans Times-Democrat.
BY all odds the most extraordinar airy and
| circumstantial ghost story in the annals
/ Of New Orleans (Which is saying a good
/ dead comes from the old Ninth Precinct
/ Jail, standing at the corner Of Hampton
and Short streets, in Carrollton. 1t is not
the usual neighborhood legend, distorted
| by travel from mouth to mouth, OF the
| vague tale of some nervous cd woman
! but the plain, matter-of-fa fact statement Of
at least nine peculiarly level-he AIDED and
! unimaginative men-ail members of the
police force and accustomed by their call
/ ing to the habits of observation. They tell
what they saw and heard in a simple
way, without advancing any theories. AN
| testify to many strange and unaccounta-
bic occurrences: four claim 10 have seen
apparitons that vanished before their eyes
and one, an old and responsible officer
! declares positively that he saw the ghost
of former commander Of the STATEN, nov
! dead. IL is certainly a case to puzzle the
skeptical
The old Carrolton jail was built nearly
| half century ago. II is a somber pile
! of brick, two stories high and its squat
ui5oAii4S architecture It's narrow, DdffeQ
windows and massive doorway give il a
| sinister and forbidding aspect well N
| Keeping with its purpose. The frontage is
/ on Hampton street behind a considerable
| eXpanse of well kept garden and the grim
! incongruity of frowning walls and smil-
| ing foliage is the first thing that strikes
| a casual visitor. In other days, before the
| jurisdiction of Carrollton was changed. 1t
| was the regular jefferson parish prison.
ana in square central courtyard there
was ganows upon which many man
was hanged.
The history of the place is fun of tragic
| episode. In almost every cell there has
| been death and suicide. The walls are COW
| cred with inscriptions, some sad, some vile,
most of them sentimentaI-the accumula-
ton of years. On one occasion two men
/ were lynched in the yard by a mob They
had murdered little girl and dismember-
| ed her corpse. Half sawed bars and
| patch OF masonry, fresher than the rest,
are souvenirs of escapes and attempted
escapes. At every turn there is some
thing that recalls story.
Furniture Moved About.
OF recent years the Old jail has been con-
! siderably remodeled. The main entrance
opens upon a short wide hall, to the left
OF which is the commanding officers priv
ate room, facing the street and in the rear
is an Office occupied by his clerk, the two
| apartments separated by a passage way.
| On the right is a heavy door, leading 10
a corridor, between double row of cells.
| Another door gives access to the former
| execution yard, already mentioned, and
! upstairs are the rooms of the Recorders
Court. The building is a present in charge
| of Sergt. Clifton, an old officer with a fine
| record, who is police commander of the
| district. He has eight men under him. a
clerk, deputy and two doormen. 1t was
in his office that reporter heard the story
| of the ghosts.
II can tell what has happened easily
1 enough" said Sergt Clifton, but explain
| II, can't I have been on duty here
about a year and a half. and we have
! been bothered off and on from the start
| by strange noises and other unaccountabie
| disturbances. Lately they have grown
worse. Here in my office our attention was
| first attracted 10 the old sofa in the corner
| Frequently at night one of the men would
| lie down it to rest, and invariably
something queer would happen. Sometimes
| the man would be thrown off violently
sometimes he would feel hands touching
| him and several times the sofa would be
| moved bodily several feet from the wall
| Strangers here have had the same expert
ence. We have never been able to find
| any clew to the cause. Some weeks ago
| was sitting one evening at my desk read
ing, when suddenly my chair was whiried
| entirely around. 1 was quite alone and
| several lights were burning brightly in
| the room. I was simply dumbfounded,
and all l can do now is to give you the
| facts. AS said before, the explanation IS
! beyond me.
Picture Jumps From the Wall.
"a few nights after I was talking to
| Corpl. Perez, when large picture of Gen.
| Beauregard, hanging on the wall above
! the washstand, came crashing down, and
| Of the same instant the stand itself, bowl
| and pitcher, were apparently hurled for
ward and struck the floor several feet
| away Strange to say, nothing was brok-
| en-. and oldest of all, the cord of the pic
ture was intact and the nail on which
it hung was as firm as ever. We had been
| talking about Beauregard during the even
| ing and the coincidence startled us great
w. Next night the mirror below where the
picture had been, fell in exactly the same
! manner. That time the wash bowl was
| broken l have since placed the picture
| end looking-glass elsewhere, and they
| have not been molested any further. These
| things occurred right before our eyes, un-
der the glare of the electric light.
The Sergeant's office is a room of me-
dunn size, spaneY furnished ana there
| is no place about it in which any one
could hide. The windows are heavily
| barred.
zone evening last week." he went on.
! two gentlemen and lady dropped in 10
| pay me a visit While the men were sit
|
| and leaned against the wall A moment
afterward she staggered forward crying
out that some one had given her a vio-
lent push We were all astonished, and
| in explaining to us what happened she
| again leaned against the wall and again
bounded away exactly as if she had receiv-
ed a sudden thrust against the shoulders.
She was greatly excited and alarmed and
it was some time before we could quiet
her. There is the bare brick wall; you can
see for yourself how impossible it was for
\ any trick to have been played. The lady
had never heard of the ghosts"
The most remarkable story of all is told
by the head doorrnan, c. w. Foster Off
Ger Foster Is a man of middle age quiet,
well educated and intelligent. He has
been on duty at the Jail about eight
months
Vanishing Visitors.
81 heard all sorts of strange noises fire.
....n..L L.. 40 rlncal.n thala