The Press., 1901-08-01
Some
Homemade
Bly,. Spooks.
MI. QUAD.

49, ~ ssss ~ ~ rs
1 was putting electric wires into the
house of a gentleman named Endriss,
living in a fashionable street in Lon
don, when one day he invited me into
his library, poured me out glass of
wine and then had a story to relate.
From his statements 1t appeared that
his mother, who was an old lady of Is,
had long been a member of certain
charitable organization, and certain
members of it had secured an undue
influence over her. She was being per-
suaded to buy and deed the society a
certain house and lot valued at about
$1,000, and the sons arguments and
protestations had brought about strain
ed relations. The long and short of 1t
was, I think, that the son did not want
the money to go out of the family, and
he had set his wits to work to invent
some scheme to defeat the old lady's
Intentions. He had got the scheme and
now desired my assistance to carry 1t
out The house stood alone on large
plot of ground and had not been ten
anted for several years. The mother
was a superstitious woman, who was
guided by dreams and omens and had
once seen a ghost, and the son proposed
to knock her project in the head by
producing a haunted house. He want
ed ghosts and COLLINS made to order,
and he believed was the man to put
the job through successfully.
He was willing to pay good price
for a good thing, and after two or three
meetings we came to satisfactory IN
Outstanding. 1t was two story brick
house, with a cellar and an attic, and
the grounds were surrounded by a
stone wall. There were three or four
old trees, with limbs touching the
walls, and the roof was out of repair
and doors and windows were in dilap-
idated state. 1 found the cellar divided
by four partition walls, and the rooms
were gloomy enough to look at. 1t was
an ideal place for spoOks. Down In one
corner of the yard was Toulouse, with
door in the wall opening upon COM
mon, and after spending couple Of
Endriss that l could give him the
hauntedest haunted house ever known
in England. That door opening on the
commons and the high wall around the
grounds gave me an opportunity to
come and 60 and do my work without
much risk of observation.
The Toulouse had a garnet to 1t,
which was dark and damp, and en-
trance to it was effected by a trapdoor
and a ladder, and l took this attic for
my headquarters. Thither 1 carried
my electric batteries and other para
phernalia, and for a week I was busy
running wires and locating spooks. 1t
tested my ingenuity to run wires along
the walls and up and down the trunks
of trees and into the house in such a
manner that they should be safe from
all other eyes, but l carried this mat
ter out very successfully. l had to rip
up the flooring and get into the parti-
tons here and there, but my tools left
no trace behind.
l do not know how Mr.. Endriss
worked it, but one day it was whis-
pered about that the old Duff house
was haunted. A tramp told a story Of
being driven out by strange noises, and
in "a hours it was all over the neigh
borhood. A newspaper had something
to say about it in day or two, and be-
fore the week was out two grocer's
clerks had decided to pass the night
IN the haunted house. I was kept
posted and was on hand at a proper
40 hot
station In the parlor, having candles,
cards, drink and a good deal of cour-
age, but they didn't remain all night
Under the floors Of the upper and low
er halls had placed two fiat pieces Of
wood in such way that they would
strike together when the electric but
ton was pressed. AS those spook de-
fiers sat smoking and bluffing they
heard the sound of footsteps in the up
per hall. They had to imagine that
the footsteps descended the stairs, but
they kindly did so. Then they caught
them in the lower hall and imagined
that an invisible being passed the open
parlor door, and the way those chaps
got out Of that house and over the wall
was sight to see. Their story created
intense excitement, and, realizing that
his property was In peril, the owner
took immediate steps to solve the mys-
terry.
Three nights after the young men
had been driven out the owner and two
policemen took up their quarters in the
house. A thorough search was first
made of the premises, and then the
trio sat down to wait for spooks. In
due time the spooks came. There was
no wind outside. but shortly before
midnight there was gusty wall from
the floor above, a long drawn wall that
seemed to have originated in grave
yard. 1t was only whistle of my in
vention, worked by a valve and
spring, but UP went the hair of the
three doubling Thomases. The wall
was followed by spirit rappings on
the wall, and as finisher there was a
soft, sad music from ghostly lips. The
police only waited long enough for the
owner to suggest that he was sleepy
and wanted to go home and go to bed,
and then the trio made a bolt for the
street. The next day all London was
talking about the Duff house, and peo-
pie came in such crowds and stood
around SO obstinately that 1t took two
score policemen to keep the street open.
That was the send off for the haunt
ed house. The owner was literally
overwhelmed with letters and inter-
viewers. In one month 5000 persons
wrote him as to how to lay the ghosts.
In the same time he had offers from as
many more people to pass night In
the house and solve the mystery. He
was sharp enough to turn all this to
account. When he found that sight
seers were coming from all parts of
London-aye, from towns 30 miles
away-to get look at the house, he
threw 1t open by day and charged Q