Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1903-02-07
NATIONAL PHANTOMS
GHOSTS THAT HAUNT THE UNITED
STATES CAPITOL.


Like most repositories of good stories.
the ancient man who has spent dec
AIDES as guard in the capitol in Wash
ington did not yield up the fullness of
4 his Rarratory riches without a struggle.
i Its unpleasant to be made a mock
OF by the skeptical,' he protested. do
i you believe in ghosts, young mann
/ "If answering in the affirmative be-
/ gets an interesting tale, do" returned
/ the writer.
'Weli, surfing on the premise that
| you do believe to some extent in the
supernatural, l will admit you to my
| confidence" resumed the old guard,
| and here goes for the authentic yarn
/ of the spooks that haunt the nations
1 capitol:
| I'm the long, monotonous watches of
the night innumerable are the spooks,
| hobgoblins and the eerie, vapory
things which glide from the shadowy
hooks and crannies of the intangible
nowhere to people the capitofs vast
| stretches of darkness. OF course you
know of the extraordinary acoustic
freaks which obtain in many parts of
breathed word at one particular point
is audible at another scores of feet dis
tant? Yes. Now, at night these acous-
tic spirits simply go mad. Where they
| by day were pygmies they expand into
| giants, and whistle, a sudden sound,
football, resolves itself into a pan
demonium.
Weird. terrifying noises beat upon
the eardrums of the watchmen as they
pursue their lonely patrols though the
seeming miles of corridors, and then
the spooks, the shades of the nations
great, the astral bodies of those that
toiled in obscurity for the nations good,
dodge the watchmen's step, some
grand and awful in their speechIess
dignity, some creeping humbly about
in apologize silence. some laughing.
some sobbing, but all of them horrible
| horrible
| The old man paused to muse.
DO you know he said, breaking
into his own reverie explosively, FEB.
% is a date dreaded by many of the
capitol night guards? 1t was on this
day, in 1S4S, that John Quincy Adams
died in the chamber of the house of
representatives, now Statuary hall,
where the exact spot is marked by a
brass tablet. Promptly at midnight
on every anniversary of his death the
shade of John Quincy Adams appears
in sort of phosphorescent glow over
this brass tablet Oh, dozens of guards
have seen it Erom time to time as well
as /, and l can refer you TO many of
them for affirmation of my assertions.
"Once over the spot the shade begins
to geSticulate. after the manner of a
member addressing the house Then.
all OF a sudden, the fine face becomes
distorted and agonized, the gracefully
waving arms fall convulsively, and
down sinks the shade with all the
movements of an expiring man. Then
the phosphOrescent glow fades away,
and the ethereal effigy dissolves.
But, although lost sight of, it's pres
ence is still made known by the 'clump,
flop, clump, Hop of invisible foot
falls departing down one of the long
vacant corridors.
Stranger than this is the ghost of
the entire congress of 1S4S, which ap-
pears in vigorous if spooky session ev-
cry once in awhile in Statuary hall, the
old hall of representatives, as 1 have
previously remarked. Inaudible, but
spirited, are the debates; energetic to
the bursting point of yehemence are |
the silent political discussions. Pro-
vOked by a doubling Thomas, a men,
Der of the capitol night watch several |
years ago made affidavit that he had |
seen this ghostly congress in session. |
Yes, he was a sober man and true.
'fThe shade of General John A. Lo-
gan is frequent visitor at the capitol. |
Almost every alternate night at half |
past IL o'clock this ghost materializes |
at the door of the room occupied by |
the senate committee OH military and |
militia. Silently the door swings open, /
and out steps the looming and lumi- |
nous presence, to stalk in stately dig I
nifty away into the swallowing gloom. |
This is a favorite phantom with the |
guards. Its conduct is exemplary.
''Then there is the shade of Vice
President Wilson, who died i'll his room
in the senate end of the capitol, you
will recall. Its peregrinations are few
and desultory When it does come,
there is always an expression of con-
Germ and self absorption in the ghostly /
face. The movements of the vapory
body are restless and hurried.
All OF Lne older members OF the
night watch are well acquainted with
Vice President Wilson's apparition and
never fail to salute it, although, truth
to tell, the shade remains haughtily in
different to their Difference. This spook
rarely fails to put in an appearance
when the body of a dead legislator or
statesman of national renown is lying
in state in the capitol.
Deep i'll the subcellar vaults spooks
of lesser magnitude revel in hordes.
Immediately beneath the hall of rep
resentatives every night is to be found
a tall, erect, gaunt specter, whose iden-
tity has remained mystery for years
in spite of unceasing efforts on the
part of the night witch To Incnver |