Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1900-04-25
HOUSE WITHIN A HOUSE.
How Wealthy Woman Will Evade
 Vitch's Hoodoo.

safely say that nothing to match II hds ever been seen anywhere. Baronlal eastles, as well as edifices of other ines afn gain resident spooks or ageGI a cu-ses as incidents of their histc.y. but it has not been the fashion hitherto to provide in the architect plans against such troubles, and the notion of embodying hoodeo killer Ill the very fabric of a mansion is wholly novel. The owner of this remarkable house, which as yet is not quite half finished, is Mrs. R. H. Townsend or Philadelphia Before her marriage she was Mary Scott, a daughter of the late Col. Tom Scott, of Pennsylvania railroad fame Her wealth runs into the millions, and the mansion afore- said will cost her about s4e0,000. It will be nearly twice the size of the famous Letter house, on Dupont circle, being 125 feet in width and 123 feet ln depth. Mrs. Townsend is building It, she says, for her youngest daughter now IF years of age, and almost ready to enter society. It will be the scene, doubtless, of some of the most gor- geous ente tertainments ever given at the national capital Now, once upon time-a very proper way to begin such story as this-Mrs. Townsend inter viewed a witch. It was a remarkably clever witch, and, in revealing the future to her lady patron, she predicted number of events since realized with astonishing accuracy in Mrs. Town sends life. It was very bright and cheerful picture she drew, on the whole one may command a good deal or brightness and cheerfulness if one pos sesses millions of dollars-but there was one unpleasant prognost1eatlon. This was that if Mrs. Townsend ever occupied a dwelling which had never been lived in before she would die with in six months after moving in. ms prophecy struck Mrs. Townsend as greWsome, to say the least, and up to now she has carefully avoided all risk of mourning the penalty suggested.
 Though anxious for some time past to move her residence to Washington and build a home here, she has been restrained from the accomplishment of this desire by the Witch's ominous vat icination. She had thought of buying house, but could find none that was large enough or adequate in other re- speets for her purposes. At length, however, she hit upon an ingenious method of eYading the hoodoo and get i ting what she wanted at the same time. 1 She decided to purchase the old Hill. 1 yer mansion on Massachusetts avenue. and to construct palace around it.. This she is doing in such a manner that while occupying the new mansion, she will actually live in the old Hillyer l house, the skeleton of which is re- tained as middle portion of the re- vamped structure. Her bedroom, her dressingroom and bathroom and her boudoir will be in the ancient dwelling, the original floor joists and framework, as we'll as the roof, being kept intact. Thus the hoodoo will be defeated, in- asmuch as the construction on which the builders are now engaged comes i under the head of alterations" tech nically speaking, and Mrs. Townsend may consider herself safe against the fulfillment of the conditional threat re- corded against her in the book of fata
 Judging Machines.
 For registering the results of foot race the human eye and voice seem sometimes painfully inadequate. Close contests of this kind will doubtless end more pleasantly when the new Judging machine" described by the Golden Penny, comes into general tse. The machine, which was invented by an Australian, is designed to be placed at the finish line, and consists of a ! light metal frame partitioned into two IF more divisions, each about four feet wide. On the top of the frame stands a small cabinet containing numbered divisions corresponding to the num- bers of the tracks. The instant the 1 first man passes through his division a shutter falls. disclosing his track number. The other numbers are 1m- mediately locked, except when the ma chine is set for final heats In this 1 case a small cylinder is attached to the machine, and hammer head strikes mark on the revolving cylin- der as the men finish. Thus the exact positions Of all the competitors can be 1 told to a nicety. The same inventor has originated an automatic judging machine for bicycle races. It consists of fine, light metal strips plaeel in a small trench about two inches wide, which is sunk across the track at the finish. During the last lap these strips. which are coated with enamel. are placed in position by means of lever,
 and the first wheel to cross receives
 five marks. In crossing, however. it : ]: e.4r t lc