The Ely miner., 1907-10-18

Pittsburg, Pa.-According to the
statement of the prisoners and
guards, murderers' row, in the AL
legheny county Jail in this city is said
to be haunted, and the fear of the sup
posed ghosts has so worked upon the
nerves of the condemned prisoners
that the cells of the entire row have
been vacated and the prisoners re-
moved to another section of the jail
The ghost of w. A. Culp, who killed
himself in his cell some time ago
while awaiting trial for the murder of
his brother, is held directly RESPONSE
BILE for the orders issued by Warden
Edward Lewis transferring the IA men
occupying cells in murderer's row.
Culp's ghost was haunting them,
they declared. TT" had come back,
they said, visiting cell after cell along
the tier set apart for murderers, re-
hearsing the murder of Culp's brother
and omitting none of it's CHASTITY de-
tails. This happened night after night
following Culp's suicide, and always
between II and l o'clock in the morn
ing.
Screams of terror from the fourth
tier of cells on the south side of the
old part of the jail, where murderers
row was situated, aroused the guards
and all the prisoners, says the N Y.
World. Lights were turned on and a
search made for the ghostly visitor,
but of course 'it" was never found
An hour or two always elapsed before
the terrified prisoners could be calmed
down and silence reigned once more
throughout the big county jail
Prisoners Ghost Visits Cell.
Only one prisoner. a condemned
murderer occupying the cell adjoining
the one in which Culp committed sui
eide, a man who is to be executed in
October, saw the Culp ghost on the
first night it came back. That was on
the night following the one on which
the suicide was committed The con-
demned wretch, who had ben convict
ed of most cowardly crime,
screamed for help and when the
guards entered his cell few moments
later they found him covering in
corner and shaking like leaf.
He had seen Culp, he said Culp or
Culp's ghost had come into his cell
and after awakening him had started
to rehearse the murder of his brother
you have been dreaming, that's
all" said one of the deputy wardens,
reassuringly. Don't you know that
Culp is dead and buried and even if he
were alive it would be impossible for
him to have been in your cell? Be-
sides, there are no such things as
ghosts. You have been having a bad
dream, so just lie down and go to
sleep and don't be arousing the whole
Jail like this in the middle of the
night
But the next night Culps ghost
came back again. At least, three con-
deInned criminals confined in cells
along murderer's row declared that
they saw 1T" distinctly. When exam
sned by the warden they all gave the
sanae description of the ghost, the di-
rection from which it came, and its
antics in front of cells along murder
ers' row.
This went on for several nights, al
though extra guards were placed along
the fourth tier. The guards them
selves declared that they saw nothing,
but shis afforded little satisfaction to
the prisoners, who were either too
frightened to sleep or who were dis
tur bed by the screams of their next
docl neighbors.
Other Ghost Scares.
Cl:lp's ghost is not the only one said
to be responsible for the haunting of
tbs. Allegheny county jail For years
the murderers' row there has been
gradually accommodating the reputation
OF being haunted.
Did not Mike Ruminiski, the profes-
sional strangler, strangle himself to
Geath in his cell in most ingenious
manner shortly before the date set for
his execution, and did not he come
back? That was during the time of
Warden John McAleese.
And did roS the notorious Biddle