Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-06-28
GHOSTS OF OLDER DAYS
Early Century Spirits Known
in Washington.
A SnpEPSTTTTOUS Anp
A SUPERSTITIOUS AGE
MANY PERSONS FRIGHTENED BY
TOMB OF DECATUR.
Stories of Beautiful Marcia Burns
and Gen. Van Ness-Reappeared as
Spirits-"Widow"C onnor's Suit.
Did you ever see a ghost ?''

| No. NoT l. nor any one else.
less we Washington school boys of 1885 and
| $50 had established in our own minds two
or three hobgoblin. scarecrow strongholds
| from which no amount of reasoning ridi-
cue could exercise the ghosts There was
| a strong vein of superstition in those early
| days and we boys struck it rich.
| In the first place, beyond the slashes to
, the north of US were Meridian Hill and the
| tomb of Commodore Decatur Already
| crumbling the vault was and the iron bars
| of the two little side windows on the Mill
| side were bent and broken. But We boys
| even when peeked In and were scared
| out of a months growth, could see nothing
! except dimly defined coffin, in which our
| imagination beheld Decatur. who had been
| recently deposited there after his encounter
with Commodore Barron. What a pity
| those two could not have made it up and
| remained friendsl
| Another spot was opposite our school
| house, just east of and adjoining the Pro-
| testant Orphan Asylum, erected and en-
| dowed by the beautiful Marcia Burns
| daughter of obstinate Davy,' so christened
| by George Washington and wife of Gen.
John Peter Van Ness, NJ. c.. from New
| York citizen and mayor of Washington,
| president OF the Metropolitan Bank, &C.
The Temple of Vesta"
|
Gen. Washington and yielded a moiety of
| his broad acres for the national seat of
| government, then died bequeathing the
| rest of them and all his other possessions
| to the Beautiful Marcia who had previ-
| ouSly been gobbed up by the dashing rep
representative from the empire state. She
| must have loved him-at least at first. She
! gave everything over to him, and he built
| himself a ma gnificent mansion on the north
| bank of the Potomac. not stones throw
| from the cottage which had been the birth
| place and home of Marcia, and where she
often took refuge to the day of her death
to brood on the vicisstudes and disappoint-
ments and dissatisfactons of life. She be-
| came devote recluse, and built in ad-
| dition to this asylum couple of churches
and the mausoleum patterned upon the
| Temple of Vesta in Rome. in which she and
the general should lie side by side forever.
THE terrible year of 1892 when the
| cholera seized Washington, was the coun-
! terpart of the slaughter of the first born in
| Egypt. and every household bewailed it's
| dead. Marcia Burns died unnoticed. but
| not of the plague, and left the gay widower
| to his devices and the use of all her in
hertance.
| This Temple of Vesta was a regular
| bugaboo to all the Washington boys of that
day. 1t stood directly on II street, divided
| from it only by a high straight-barred
| black iron fence and a grassy mound sur
| rounding its pil!ared circumference, its
| black iron door reached by two or three
| steps Oh the SAME udTh DROWN stone OF
which the mauSoleum was built
| oh the horrid groans, the dismal signs.
! the shriil shrieks and screams that issued
| from that vault day and night when
! Marcia Burns lay there alone all those
! years from 1896 to 1Si0 All We boys who
dared strove to catch glimpse of her in
the awful habliments of the grave.
Ghosts in the Octagon House.
THE octagon House at that time was
| haunted. Of course it was So was Dick
| Adams old turner shop, on d street be-
tween 9th and 10th streets northwest, few
doors above the corner of 9th, where 1 was
| born and lived for twenty-three years The
! Octagon House was one of the Dickinson
! Taylor many fine mansions.
''CerteS. there are ghosts and ghosts
| everywhere, every old man knows, but
unimaginatiye people cannot see them.
THE way in which Van Ness became
| citizen and mayor Of Washington was this.
| Smitten by the charms of the Beautiful
| Marcia and the broad acres of Obstinate
Davy, the gallant representative of New
| York district began to neglect his congress
SiOnal duties and his indignant constituents.
| And when he accepted some military ap-
| pontment in the District of Columbia mill
| tia that was the last feather. They appeal
| ed to Congress. which quietly relieved him
! from the Office he had held from the year
$500. He was removed on the 18th Of jan
| uary 1903, and settled down in Washing
| ton in the grand and extensive mansion he
] ldu punt, dS Sdlu, SlOrl distance from
Marcas cottage, to entertain and receive
his future constituents.
Gen. Van Ness was involved in long,
| hotly contested cause celebre going on In
| the old city hall in those days. Multitudes
! were unable to get admission. This was
when Marcia had been sleeping ten or
! twelve years in the Temple of Vesta The
Widow Connor was blooming and buxom
| and everybody said he would be fiung-cast
| in heavy damages. Besides the widow
| had a still more beautiful and blooming
| daughter-blue Irish eyes, &c. She was
about seventeen years of age.
Her cheeks were like roses
Her lips much the same,
| Like a dish of fresh Strawberries
smOthered In chrame.'
And her name was Serena. She was al
| together charming, tall, graceful, refined.
highly educated. with big. soulful eyes
and a wilderness of golden hair shot with
| sunbeams. 1t makes the old man feel
| young again just for a minute to recall
| Miss Serena Connor
| The ''Widow' Common and Her Daueh-
| There she was in court every day.
| picture OF precocious young ladyhood
4 of flial piety. Her voice was low and
| musical. and she herself was mild and
| lovely. gentle as the summer breeze
and her enunciation clear as bell
and cultured; her little mice OF feet
| booted, and her dimpled little hands per-
Iectly SlONeu. Wnen the weather grew hot
and the court room GREATNESS she took Off
her hat and veil. and shook out her golden
curls, and everybody said that the Widow
Connor would win her case. She accom-
| panied her mother through all the long
| trial.
THE contention was Gen. John Peter had
won her second mortgage affections, mar
ried. deserted her and broken her heart
She wanted a settlement, a division of the
| property. recognition of her wifehood and
any other perquisites and incidentals the
court could throw in. Until she obtained
these advantages she was going to struggle
with all her widows might to capture a
good big. solid chunk of that other widows
| mite. then in possession of Gen. John Peter
Van Ness.
But she didn't. She failed in her suit
| She and the seraphic Serena disappeared
from Washington, and did Gen. Van
Ness. until he died. in March, 1S47. and
went to rejoin his 'sainted Marcia
II have told this episode in the life of
mayor Of Washington because 1 find no
| book or newspaper has touched upon 1t,
and it should make mighty interesting
reading. In the old days Van Ness man.
| sion faced north. like the White House.
| with the same number, six stone pillars
supporting the carriage entrance. The
building was fwo-StOry basement and at