Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-01-06
The Made Over White House
Is an Exceedingly Beauti-
Q full Place.
COST MONTHS OF LABOR
But Even Yet Some are Not
Satisfied.
SOME GHOST STORIES CALLED up
Said That Wrath of President Adams
and Misty Form of "BIack Jack"
Logan Haunt the Place-stranae
Shadows Are Seen.
(H. j. Mahin.l

who attended the reception at the
White House Thursday say it is a
most satisfying executive mansion in
the features of grandeur and elegance.
But some people are not yet satisfied
for no matter how much money may
be expended it is still impossible to
provide the White House with that
hall mark of distinction-a historical
ghost. The corner stone of the dear
and venerable editce known to all the
world as 1.-THE White House, was laid
nearly a year earlier than that of the
capitol, Washington being present.
Seven years later, only a few weeks
, prior to his death, he and Mrs. Wash
lngton made a tour of the then almost
completed Presidents House" 1t
may well be believed that he left upon
it and within it the benediction OF his
presence, for no blood has ever been
shed and no crime ever committed be-
meath its roof.
| Capitol Phantoms.
For more than fifty years it has
| been whispered among the employees
/ OF the capitol that the ethereal pres.
ence OF John Quincy Adams has fire.
! quently been seen at night in the
speakers room, in which he uttered
his dying words: This is the last of
earth; | am content This room is
| now used by the clerk of the house
and on the wall is large marble slab
! to the memory of Adams. 1t is also
said that "Black Jack" Logan, intan-
/ gible, yet plainly visible, strides along
the corridors between the house of
representatives and the senate cham
Der. In the grounds in the neighbor-
hood OF the grotto a ghostly yisitant,
military in bearing and attire and
wrapped in cloak of bygone foreign
| fashion, has been encountered at night
by two generations of Westinghouse.
! 1t is the spectre of some British off,
Ger who was concerned in that wan
ton outrage the burning of the CAPT
/ toll.
White House Deaths.
It is a remarkable fact that of the
three presidents the country has lost
| by assassination none received in the
White House the bullet that laid them
low nor drew his last breath within
it's walls. Two presidents, after short
periods of service, died there, but in
the pneumonia that terminated the
i career of William Henry Harrison and
the acute Indigestion that caused the
death of Zachary Taylor there was no
suggestion of foul play. Mrs. John
| Tyler, for many years an invalid, died
in the White House in 1912, and the
| gradual decline of Mrs. Benjamin Har-
rison from robust health to protracted
l illness and subsequent death in the
/ White House is yet fresh in the mem
DRY of the public. Other deaths there
were those of twelve year old Willie
Lincoln and the nonogenarian, John
i Witherspoon Scott. On the lives of
none of those persons was there any
shadow of guilt nor in their hearts
any wrongs to be avenged, and none
i has ever returned to disturb the peace
of the later occupants of that dwell
ing, which never loses it's hold on the
interest of the public.
Shadows Beneath tho Columns.
However, it has been maintained
J that the daily course of the sun causes
strange shadows to appear about the
columns of the main portico. 1t is
averred that five years ago, just prior
to the death of Mrs Nancy Mckinley,
these shadows formed an unmiStake-
able likeness of that excellent woman.
About two years ago these shadows
, displayed a new shadow-that of a
human arm and hand with bent fore
: finger, upheld in an attitude of warn
ing. 1t appeared every day for nearly
fortnight and was displaced by a
silhouette of President McKinley-so
the story goes. This, a startling like
: ness while it continued visible. with
the changing of the suns position was
metamorphosed into a portrait of
: Queen Victoria, wearing crown.
These shadows are always most plain
this time of year, the winter months.
None have yet appeared that seem to
) have any significance in connection
with President Roosevelt, and it is
needless to say that he would pay no
attention to such if they were discov.
: cred On the Friday morning proceed.
: ing the death of President Mckinley a
: large bird of black plumage was OBJ
: served to alight on the eagle that
5surmouuts the flagstaff on the White
: House During the few minutes that
0 it occupied its airing perch a spy glass