The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-06-09
A GHOST SEEN
~ BY A WALL EYE.
Being an Account Of the Only
Recorded Visit Of the Angel
Gabriel to Staten Island.
'what do crosseyed people see9'

AeoAy AtNAO ibh hONNAS tAoS h
centre of the reception room table. He
was very young, but he was also very wide.
and. the reporter, being aware that in the
zoology OF doctors width and wisdom go
hand In hand, had not the shadow Of q doubt
that he would DO able to settle the question
forever.
you mean this as a joke said the young
doctor, and the look at the ink bottle in
creased to immensely. you mean II as a
joke, but it is a most seriou problem and
i shall treat it accordingly. Now, cross
eyed people think they see just as we do.
whereas in reality they do not. While
we surgeons all know the reason for 'this
distorting Of the normal vision. as none
of us agr e, we have decided never to talk
about 1t.
1T might not be wise for you to give
the source OF your information the doctor
added, and he followed the reporter from
the room, taking the profound lcok with
him. though the little rusty ink bottle re-
manned behind seated in the middle Of the
table. 1T might cause unpleasant feel
ings among the profession. You see, there
are older men and tboy might fee just a
lttle-well, to tell the truth, we surgeons
are just as human as other men, and some
of the old fellows might feel jealous II they
knew"
Here the young DOCTORS modesty caught
cold and a severe attack Of coughing fol-
lowed.
"Of course, l never like to set my word
against a minister or a DOCTOR said an old
lady whose organs of vision have the APP
pearance Of playing tag across her nose,
when the words Of the young doctor were
reported to her. Hes studied and I'm
sure he must know what he's talking about,
but at the same time my yes are in my
head and I'm sure that ! can see with either
that I've a mind to.
Now, il / put my mind or my straight
eye and look straight ahead l can see only
from that chair to the corner Of the mantel,
barely TO the corner. When l put my mind
on my crooked eye l can tell you every
single object on the mantel. If that amt
seeing different with crooked and straight
eyes then I'd just like to know what it is.
when l go suddenly from a dark to a
light room ! often see double at the same
time. It's very confusing sometimes, for
/ ave to put my mind on one OF my eyes
before l am able to decide positively what
l am about.
Il had a cousin who became crosseyed
after a severe illness and for some time
she was compelled to keep n eye covered
when walking along the streets. Why?
Why. il she didn't she would like as not
be stepping over things on the opposite
sidewalk and falling into the cutters under
her feet.
she had two distinct visual angles. and
the doctors all said she would have tro uble
until she learned to suppress the n Of
the crosseye. She never did learn. poor
thing, for she died the next year. While
she lived she had a bad time whenever
she tried to TAKE a walk abroad.
Their there was an old negro woman
who lived with a family OIL Staten Island
in what is now the village of Oakwood.
She was wall eyed and she said that she
could see ghosts with her crooked eye.
Il don't know what it amounted to, but
l know the family stood very much in
awe Of the predictions she used to make
from signs that she said she had seen with
her wall eye. All the young people in the
neighborhood made a practice of going to
see her TO have their fortunes told because
she pretended to be guided entirely by
what she saw with her ghost eye,
The last thing she saw with her wall
eye was Just the week before she died, and
the whole island was talking about 1t for
months. 1t happened just when l was
growing up.
"As | was driving down from Richmond
TO the lakewood neighborhood that very
morning with my mother | saw the whole
thing. III never forget the way Old Dor
oas-that was the name of the old negress
IN never forget the way she screeched
and screamed and the W people talked
about il for months after.
at that time there was n school teacher
over at Tottenville named William Ben
jamin Fannin. He was a tall, rawboned
fellow, with a long beard, and for some
reason of their own the school children
gave him the name of Water Bullfrog
Fannin. You know how nicknames stick
to some folks. Well, Water Bullfrog stuck
TO that man until folks forgot he had any
other name.
He was a Moravian, at least his mother
and aunts with whom he lived, were and
his father had been one of the pillars of the
first church built on Staten Island. Water
Bullfrog fell in love with a young widow
over toward Oakwood, who was about the
gayest of the gay.
dShe was a Southern girl who had mar
ried a Staten Island man, and that it is how
it happened that she had a negro TO nurse
her children. 1t was only a few months
after her husbands death that Water Bull
frog Fannin began to court her, and pretty
soon all the people living along the Rich
mondroad were on the lookout every Satur-
day morning to zee him when he passed
on his old gray mare Sellm.
Rain or shine, hail or snow, every Satur-
day he travelled down that road inc re-
turned late Sunday afternoon. In the
spring, just when folks were beginning to
speculate when the wedding would come
of, Water Bullfrog stopped coming and it
was rumored around that Mrs. Wright
she was the widow-had a beau from New
York.
Il saw him once myself, and he surely
was a fine looking man and just dressed
to the top Of the style, all in white. They
said he had come from the South and had
knocked Water Bullfrog out of sight with
the widow.
1T wasn't more than two months before
the Southern man disappeared and Water
Bullfrog and old Selim began 70 travel along
the Richmond road again. There was Just
one change, and everybody noticed it the
first morning.
Whereas previously the trip had been
made without 30 much as an extra handker-
chief, Mr.. Fannin now carried a we'll filed
CARPET suck hooked on the bow OF his saddle.
Pretty soon the rumor got around that the
carrot sack contained a suit Of white linen,
and Tom and Dick Hopkins. the twin sons OF
Mrs. Wright's nearest neighbor. pointed out
a certain clump of heaven trees near the
head Of the lane leading 10 the widows
home. where they said Water Bullfrog
changed his clothes before presenting him
ealf m hl. raw i.by ipNn