The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1905-08-30
4 WEIRD STORY
About a Fine Mansion at New
Port, Which is
SAID TO BE HAUNTED.

Strange Figures Have Been Seen in aHd
About the Garden and the .Heuse.
Strange Noises Have Also Been
Heard is all Parts OF
the Big House.
The William Waldorf Astor house
on Bellevue avenue haunted?
Impossible! Ridiculous.
This is the query and some OF the
answers that have been floating about
the Summer colony at Newport this
season, says the New Yors American.
The idea that one Of tae Bellevue
avenue mansions, which has had as
tors and VanderbiltS for its occupants,
could really be haunted" like an
old-fashioned New E gland country
house, and locked at sskance by al
passers- by, seems past belief.
Yet such a tradition is attached to
''Beaulieu, the big brownstone ana
brick house that stands just south CT
the famous marble house owned by
Mrs. o. 81. P. Belmont.
The taking Of 'Bsaulieu" early IN
July by the Thomas F. Washes OF
Washington, lately OF Colorado, re-
Yived ell the mysteries and traditions
that cling ruuno this house, which is
one OF the Oldest OF the mansions on
lower Bellevue avenue.
It hiss long been quietly told on
shaded verandas in Newport that a
''hoodoo" hangs over what is common
" called the Walirof Astor house.
Death, misfortune, loss OF riches sno
other calami5ieS have befallen the long
succession OF residents On this estate
during the past forty years.
F. Z. Barre6a, who built it in 1862,
then the finest house in Newport,
made 8 fortune almost in a day in Ihe
guano business in South America and
lost his money and his house almost
as quickly:
the quarter century that followed
before the property was bought og
William Waldorf AStor, the 'Barreos
Palace" as it was then called, had
new owners and renters who came and
disappeared in successive seasons, al
most as rapidly as dwslle1s in a city
tenement.
When Mr.. Aston bought the estate
it was thought that then at last the
''luck' Of the house and it's occupants
would be changed. That was about
1890. But the sAstors occupied it only
three or four seasons and then went
abroad. Soon after that Mrs. Astor
died at Clive6en, England.
ECLIPSE OF TIE BR1cE FAMILY.
The Senator B1ices leased it for sew
eral seasons, bringing with them their
$4,000 a year chef, a big retinue and
all the other eyider css OF os5entatiouS
wealth.
Then Senator Brice dieG-hjs re-
puted millions proved but an illusion,
his family droppe1 from sfluence al
most to penurV.
This and Mrs. Astors untinely
death revived the story OF the hoo
doc" that hung over the occupants OF
the ''Barreda Palace" which the pres
tige OF an Astor could not wipe out.
Mrs. Potter Palmer next occupied
the house during the Summers OF 1893
and 1900. She entertained lavishly
and brought her social campaign to a
climax by the wedding OF Julia Grant
and Prince Michael Cantecuzene OF
Russia.
This ceremony, performed within
the walls Of the 'Barreda Palace" was
one OF the most spectacular functions
ever seen in America. 1t was like q
royal wedding In Europe.
Representatives Of al the European
courts were present in the gold lace
uniforms and costumes OF their coun-
tries.
Yet, while the public was being
dazzled BY such brilliant displays, 1t is
said that Mrs. Potter Palmer, cool
headed, practical woman Of the world,
as she was, trembled within the walls
OF the old palace"
The ghost Of the Barredas, it was
limited, had returned, ard was haunt
ing the halls and rooms OF it's old
home. al
Mis-. Potter Palmer, it is said, 80
ways felt a shiver as she went thrcuhe
the big dark 'front.' hall, after t
guests had gone. Every door opening
out Of it had to be locked at night, as
well as every door that she passed on
the way up to her sleeping room.
For noises were heard at night like
the rustic Of silken skirts, as II the
unbidden guest OF the past were pass.
ing in and cut the roons and halls and
opening and closing doors.
The climax came one night soon af-
ter the Grant wedding, when Butler
White was putting out the lights on
the lower floor.
In half darkness, he saw an appari-
tion, in white ball costume, with a
Spanish nantilla thrown over her
hesd, as il she had stepped from q
heated ball room out upon the lawn
and been suddenly chilled BY the light
air and mist flowing in from the sea.
THE BUTLER FELL IN A swoON.
The figure in white glided In
through the closed doors, swept past
the terrified butler, with a silken
rustic and passed up the broad stair
case. The backward glance given as
she ascended the stairs, while the
nantilla fell from her head, revealed
q face OF dark Spanish beauty. That
much Butler White saw, then fell
Frustrated on the hall floor.
Two footmen, hearing bis fall,
rushed up from the basement and
picked up the butler. They said he
looked like dead man as be lay there
with arms wide cutstretched, hands
clenched, and white, set face upUurnec