The Savannah morning news., 1900-06-17
Established 1923.
WILSON
WHISKEY.
That's All!
lirnoreM
Distributors

Inc grounds are extensive and were once
beautifully kept. There Is a curious
most sufficient to turn a mill The man
sion reminds one of old baronial estates
in England, being double, with spacious
hall, lofty pillars and polished floors At
enc time ii was splendidly furnished, and
its owner Daniel Carol dignified ana
stately, entertained the distinguished Cit
liens of Washington. But the glory Of
the house has long since departed; the
Carol family are all dead except two
elderly ladies; and the home, after var.
Gus Vissitudes, as a boarding house, has
been bought by the government for a
hospital. 1t is related that ghosts drove
the boarders away every time, sneaking
through key holes, laughing aloud IN cor
ners, laying cold hands on Sleeping fore
heads, and doing other unmannerly things
unworthy of respectable spooks.
AT the corner Of Lafayette Place and H
street is the house which Commodor De-
catur built, which was occupied by him
at the time of his death, and which, il
is said. he yet frequents. Probably YOU
remember the tragic circumstances sur
rounding his violent end-how he had aid
ed in the courtmartiahng of Commodore
Barron, for which the latter challenged
him to fight duel, in 1920 Decatur fell
mortally wounded, and was brought home,
dying as MS friends were carrying him
up the winding stairs. Afterwards the
house was occupied by Judah P. Benja-
min, who furnished it in the most iuxu-
rious manner, and brought there his young
French wife. But nothing pleased her.
and she pinned Ike a bird In cage, until
her husband carried her back TO gay
Paree,' and himself went to live else
where. Their domestic tragedy has eie-
ments sadder than DEATH which cannot
be put into a newspaper paragraph. II
is said that every family which has since
occupied the house, has come 20 grief"
in one way or another, on account of tho
melancholy wrath of Commodore Deca-
tur.
In the immediate neighborhood, on the
opposite side Of Fayette Square, is the
Seward House where Secretary Seward
was living when he received the wounds
on that fatal night, when men held their
breath with fear and neighbor dared not
trust neighbor. The mansion was for
merry a clubhouse, and has been ''un-
lucky ever since Philip Barton Key came
out Of ii and had not gone twenty steps
when he was shot to death by Gen. Sickles
for alleged love-making to the latters
wife
Near the Metropolitan Church is hand
some house whose ghosts amuse them
selves every evening, just before gas
lighting time by rafting paper in. GER
tain room. For many years this phenon-
enon has been known, and a hundred
times people have been invited to hear and
bear witness to the truth. 1t begins with
a gentle swayng sound, like the folding Of
a newspaper and then grows founder I'M
til it sounds like the rafting of pro-
gramQnes in a crowded hall. If no light is
furnished it will continue all night. but
ceases the instant the gas is turned on.
The tradition is that many years ago, the
wife o. a well-rsmembered literary man
died very myst ri usly in that ROOM But
the poor lady reveals no secrets of her
taking off, and why she keeps it up is as
great. a mystery as her death:
The fine old Holt mansion on New Jer-
sey avenue, southeast. which was lately
in itiga ion among the heirs of the late
Judge Holt. is another OF Washington's
haunted houses untenanted for years.
Every night, at precisely II o'clock, an
1 unseen carriage dashes up to the door,
unseen horses seem to be pulled back upon
their launches ;the do1r-bell is so violently
jerked that is peaiins is heard all over
/ the quiet neighborhood; sounds of slam
ming doors disturb the night. and then
a mans excited voice, mingled with Wild
shrieks and prayers for mercy; after
wards dun blows and a heavy fall, and
all is stil until precisely IL
p. m. the next night In an
other house in a poorer quarter groans
and curses make every night hideous, so
that not only are tenants kept out of II,
but from every house in the close vioini-
". So great is the disturbance sometimes
that the polce have tean SUNNI med to
stop the fight that app ars to be going
on But the clubs o. the finest" have no
con rol over those unruly COMPLAINTS.
During the Wa1 Il was tenement house
of uns v ry re tstion, k pit by a dread
ful creature who was known as One-eyed
Sal. TIE poice r8ided her abode one
night, and bes q s other findings, came
across several bodies CT murdered SOL
diers buried in the cellar Meanwhile Sal
realized that then was the time for dis
a0pea ing and slipped out into the night.
Diigent search was made for her. far
and wide, but TO clue as 70 her where
abou,s was ever obtained The negroes
incl ne to the opinion that she simply
mounted her broom-stick ard sailed away,
as any hoodoo witch has a habit of do
ing.
Greatest of all the haunted houses in
this or any other country is the old capt.
ral prison, the scene of unnumbered trag-
edes-whera the Confederate Capt WirZ,
1 o. AndersonNile fame was harg d, and
Mrs. Su raft awaited her dreadful death
in terror; where Belle Boyd, the female
spy, who ded he other day, was for a
me kept out Of mischi Before becom-
i~g a mi itarY s~n it s7rved for a Tina
as the capitol of the United States, being
alb ut the only lub ic b ILL n TIA Is
oaped tha Bit 81 torches; and previous
to 1914 II was used as offices for the gen.
er7l pcstoffce and pat MT office. Afte~ the
Civil War Il was v'd into TWO private
residence enc of which become a swell
toar6ine hous In it John c. Calhoun
breath his last. Capt. WIZ was the last
pc son han d IN IS Id a 4. and
every colored person on Capitol Hill will
tel yu that IL is better n to take any
! chanc Of meeting his "hant" by wan
derng about he premises on dark nights.
| They assert T. at he has been often seen,
with protruding tongue, b ackened coun-
tenance and rope around his neck, trying
u scale that backyard fence!
If those ancient houses were the only
haunted ones in the nations capital II
the midnight cries of the disembodied
were the only sounds of sorrowi Under
the ros e many a banquet hall is coll
ed the deadly snake; over many an hon
ored head hangs the tabled sword as by
hair; and in many an aristocratic closet
lutks the family skeleton whose bones
are never ratified abroad.
Aar,,y,r--ssYO