The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-02-06

az Unknown Person While Playing the
Harp-iehord in Her Own Parlor- Priest
Who Broke His sacred Vows.
Col IL. not unknown 20 military
fame, a V.rgiEian % the old school. lives
so quaint, maHy-sab,ed house set IN the
seI rolling country along the river not
many miles below Alexandria The walls
a. the old mansion are covered With pic
f.Tss. stately portraits % bygoae bei.,s.
aim court views Of ladies in richly cOlosel
cIosses and gentlemen IN d0uDiet and
hose.
Now. there" said the colonel. point
jas Co a portrait Of a lady sitting In a
garden, "Is q picture with a curious his
tory. IL is th3t Of an ancestre-s II mine.
She Lady Ca'harine. o. the time Of Anne
She married Sir Harry Nauce-a penHiless
uDblem1u-asaiust her parents wishes
and came 10 Virginia with him. They
built this house. The governor Of she
province fell ia love with Lady Catharine
and threw her husband into prison on
some prcteXt or other, but when he found
his advances hopeless. he released him.
81 course there was a challenge. The
place Of meeting was that biz Of open
ground you see through the window. At
the time set for the duel, Vance was very
low with a sudden heart affection and
tossing In deIirium. His wife determined
20 take his place. 50 she rugged herself
in Sir Harry's clothes and at the appoint
Cd time was on the ground.
Fought Her Husbands Duel.
uized. There was an exchange Of shots
and both the governor and the Lady Cath
arine were wounded. Unfortunately the
governor was not dangerously hurt, but
the lady had received her death warrant.
The men about her cid not discover the
deception until they carried her into the
house and heard the delirious means Of
Vance from above stairs.
THE next morning Lady Catharine Gied
and they buried her in state with pomp
and observance as became her rank. When
her husband partially recovered from his
illness and the shock Of hcr death he had
this picture painted, and through all the
changes OF fortune that the house has
since endured il mas remained in that
place. After NaHce's death superstition
gradually grew up about it. On the lady's
birthday-the 18th OF NOyember-it
is said that she can be seen with her
black robes drawn tight about her and
her pistol in hand. The negroes stand in
mortal fear OF the place. You couldn't in
duce one Of them to build a fire I'm the
hearth there for love or money on the
night Of the 18th Of November.
But that Is only one OF the ghost
stories We have about here. This neigh
horhOod can boast Of many of them. and
/ have often wondered that no one has
attempted TO put them into literary share.
In a locality like this nothing that adds
interest and variety to life can afford to be
overlooked. The eternal craving for 70
nance, l suppose, leads each succeeding
generation to sit reverently at the feet Of
the fathers and listen 10 the weird tales
out of the past. In this way body OF
ghost lore has accumulated, and little by
little it has acquired the sanctity of be-
lief. To question any item OF it would be
heresy of the blacklist sort. To the small
boy especially it is sacred.
Not one yOungster in ten would dare 10
pass that old house on the hill yonder
after dark without quickening his steps"
''HOuse of the Bloody Hands,,
The place the colonel had referred TO
OF a hill. two stories in height, screened
with ivy, and girdled with piazzas. A
rambling line of barns and outbuildings
lay at some distance from it. and to one
side stretched a garden wearing a forlorn
and neglected aspect The bricks were
black with age, the diamond-shaped
panes in the windows were curtained with
cObwebs, and the battered shutters were
hanging helplessly by their hinges
Odd place, isn't it? The shadows In
those rooms are somber enough, heaven
knows. II is a strange fact that, no mat
ter how bright the sunshine elsewhere
The rooms of that old pile are filed with
shadows as weird as those you see in the
pictures OF Elihu Nedder. We boys used
10 call ii the House of the Bloody Hands
In tie early sos a young planter liv-
Ing near here fell in love with the mis-
tress Of this manor-hOuse," continued the
colonel she was a pretty little thing
OF the wild rose type, all color and per-
tune and sweetness. They were sitting
one evening in that old room II was au-
tumn, tradition says. The girl was idly
lingering an antiquated harpsichord. while
The evening light was reddening the west
tJn windows and the fire OF the early au-
tumn was playing on the ancestral por-
traits that lined the walls At dusk her
lover left her and the girl seated herself
At the harpsichord again. playing a love
song softly 10 herself. The servants were
passing and repassing and the voices of
the farm hands could be heard in the
distance.
The window opening on the porch sud-
denly slid noiselessly up and a figure muf-
fled to the ears-that much at least the
servants could testify to-stole rapidly
across the ROOM and swift, cruel hands
sought the girls throat. Before assist
auCe could reach her she was dead and
her assaiiant gone. After that the heart
broken family moved away. Many Of the
neighbors say that al twilight any one
lettering by the woodside down there can
see the room just as the lover saw il last,
the yellow harpsichord and the ghostly
figure bending over the keyboard, The
story, until a few years ago, was relig-
i0usIy believed IN by the negroes. but /
reckon the decay OF the healthy old su-
YersjitOns mas touched this story aS il has
Touched so many things that used 10 make
life interesting and picturesque. The
rooms are in a fair state of preservation,
The WdIusCOJing is SIM dimly visible, and
the carving has not been entirely oblit-
Grated b. the Tavases Of time. You see
Il has not been dismantled altogether"
continued the colonel. as he pushed back
The door. even the 'hobos seem afraid 10
remove one Of those slff-backed chairs.
This room with the boarded-up door is
where the tragedy took place The color
Cd people OF the neshborhood have bar
rcadcd The entrance 10 keep the liant
from walking.
Cannot Rent The House.
no attempt IS now made to rent the
house" resumed the colonel. The last
tenants moved IN about five years ago.