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

i rHtA At'le TT idG ksFu 1AltAtl-1 - NAf~
| priesthood. but growing laxer ard axes,
/ had fnaliy fallen under the displeasure
( OF his bishop. After That h. threw Up bis
calling and moved into this house. u be-
( came the scandal and plague spot ~ the
neighbOh00d. Finally the nan fell 81. He
| rapidly grew worse. and when the fever
/ was on him. he rsysd and cursed and
prayed by turns His evil past rose Up be-
I fore him. ara the night he died he te-
/ lieyed himself back IN tne years Ct his
| innocence. He was in the seminary once
again. He commenced 10 intone one Of
| the solemn Gregorian chants he had learn
Cd there. The people gathered IN the
street before the house ard heard the
melody float out OF the room above. At
| last his voice broke IN the middle OF a
measure. and he grew calmer. Then be
covered among the sheets aud pointed a
| trembling white finger before min. He
! said he saw a procession OF monks and
/ priests and holy men. and the vision mad
dened him by its rebuke o. MS own life.
[ The shrek he gave just before lie died
was fr!ghtful. The colored attendants
I huddled together aorrc:-stricken, then
turned and left the dead man IN the stu
( chamber and fed with the instructive
/ dread Of death. Stumbling oGt into the
night.
1t was difficult TO find any one TO pre-
Z pare the body for burial For q long time
[ TO one would venture near the house.
Rumors OF moving lights seen IN the win
( dows were rife. A cOlcred man who was
walking down the lane in the rear OF the
/ house about a month after the man s
death declared that n shrek came from
. The windO as from a soul in agony, and
( that he distinctly heard the slow meas
lure Of the chant. He fed in terror and
aroused his neighbors. All OF them We're
I firmly convinced that they saw through
I the open window the dim light Of can
Gles. the somber hoods Of monks, and
Z the white SUPPLIES Of priests II you
ask the n about IL they will tell you the
story with batcd breath. But they don't
1 like 10 speak Of 70. They move about
/ here as II they were under the Influence
Of some terrifying idea l was lying on
/ the grass down there che afternoon last
summer reading a book when the sound
| Of voices reached my ear. / looked up
lazly and saw two colored men walking
over the hill. As soon as they caught
sight Of the house a spell seemed to come
over them. They broke out into a strange
| cultural chant, nonotonous, but with an
! eeris cadence in II. They kept this up
until they disappeared from view, all the
while casting furtive glances at the
! house.
Another Grewsome House.
Another one OF our show places IS in
| Alexandria, near the river. II was I'M
known as a haunted house until a few
! years ago. when family from Washing
ton moved in and told strange stories OF
it, They awoke in the middle Of the night
| and saw a light I'm the other room. They
! heard mems voices raised in angry alter
cation and a wOman's shrieks. The ten
ants OF the house at first thought some
trick was being played on them. They
Investigated, but as soon as the door OF
their room was opened the light went ont
and the voices subsidized. They went back
70 bed and tried 10 sleep. The light re-
| appeared. The rest OF the night they
sat up, half frightened out of their wits,
In the morning they told of their expert
ence. AS none of their neighbOrs had
ever heard anything mysterious about
the house before, they were slow 10 be
lieVe il and were inclined to look upon Il
as fairy tale. Finally it reached the
ears of an old tugboat captain who had
| been living here for years. He shook his
| head and said that there was perhaps
some truth In the story, tragedy had
occurred there years before. Ii seems
that the wife of a rich cotton grower In
Alabama fell in love with an itinerant
gambler and ran away with him. They
came here and took this house. Years
went by, and at last the Albanian came
| to Alexandria. hearing that his faithless
wife was living here. Time had changed
him. His hair was white and the heavy
eyebrows shading the sharp gray eyes
were snowy. Soon after his arrival he
went 10 the house of the guilty pair and
killed them both.
1T was terrible tragedy. For a long
time the house was stunned. until the
memory of the crimes committed there
faded from public mind. The experience
of the couple from Washington revived
belief in its haunted character, and he is
brave man who would dare go in there
Under that lonely porch TO those gloomy
rooms after nishtfall."
The whistle of an excursion boat piped
out shrilly, and its rows of lights soon
moved away in the darkness. a schooner
lying in the river with its cluster Of Ian
terms doomed up dimly. and the river re-
fiected the wan light of the crescent
an owl was heard the colonel said: You
see that boat drifting lazily out there?
Well, that reminds me of another ghost
story. The captain of an oyster schooner
got into quarrel with his mate and in
lit of rage killed MIN and then threw
his body into the river. The deckhands
were mortally afraid 10 speak of the muir
der, for they feared the captain, but they
said that within week after the dreadful
crime he sprang overheard one dark night
and was never again seen. The boat was
'hoodooed' from that time, and finally
went to pieces down below the old -four
mill wharf.
1.-The phantom schooner as we call the
old hulk, is one of our fixtures in the
spook line. 1t is poured into the ear of
every receptive stranger. We generally
wait until we get him 10 the waters edge,
where the scattering lights and the black
river form fitting scenario, then We IN
pack the most ghostly of our ghost
stories"
JOSEPH JAMES MURPHY