The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1907-10-19

sPittsburg, Pa.---According to the
; stAtement Of the prisoners and
guards. smurderers' row. in the Al
lekheny county Jail In this city is said
20 be haunted, and the fear of the sup
posed ghosts has so worked upon the
nerves or 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
hiptSelf In his cell some time ago
while awaiting trial for the murder Of
his brother, Is held directly RESPONSE
ble for the orders issued by Warden
Edward Lewis transferring the IA men
occupying cells in murderer's row.
rhCulp's ghost was haunting them,
they declared. "It' had come back,
they said, visiting cell after cell along
the tier set apart for murderers, re.
hearing the murder Of Culps brother
and omittlng none Of its ghastly de-
tdns This happened night after night
following Culp's suicide. and always
between ~ and I o'clock in the morn.
ing.
y Screams OF terror from the fourth
tier OF cells on the south side Of the
old part. OF the jail, where murderer's
row <was situated, aroused the guards
and all the prisoners, says the ". Y.
World. Lights were turned on and a
search made for the ghostly visitor,
butt Of course ut" 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 I'm which Culp committed sui.
eide man who is to be executed In
October, saw the Culp ghost on the
first night II came back. That was ON
the night following the one OH which
the suicide was committed. The con.
demned wretch. who had ben convict
ed Of q most cowardly crime,
screamed for help and when the
guards entered his cell few moments
later they found him covering in q
corner and shaking like a leaf.
He had seen Cup. he said. Culp or
CHIPS ghost had come into his cell
and after awakening him had started
to rehearse tho murder of his brother.
"YOu have been dreaming that's
all" said one OF the deputy wardens.
,reassuringly. Don't you know that
Culp ID dead and buried and even IL he
were alive II would be impossible for
him to have been In your cell? Be.
sides, there are no such things as
gh0sts. You have been having bad
dream. so just lie down aud go to
sleep and don't be arousing the whole
jail like this in the middle of the
night"
But the next night Culp's ghost
came back again. At least, three con-
demued criminals confined In cells
along murderer's row declared that
they saw'"it' distinctly. When exam
ined by the warden they all gave the
same description Of the ghost, the d.
rection from which 1t came, and its
antics In trout of cells along murder
srs' 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 this afforded little satisfaction to
the prisoners, who were either too
frightened to sleep or who were dis
t,irbsd by the screams OF their next
door neighbors.
Other Ghost scares.
Culp's ghost is not the only one said
20 bd responsible for the haunting OF
the Allegheny county Jail For years
the murderers' row there has been
gradually accommodating the reputation
OF Icing haunted.
Did not Mike Ruminiskl, the profes.
sIonal strangler. Gtrangle himself to
death 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 not the notorious Biddle