The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-09-06
GHOSTS IN THE
 NATIONAL CAPITAL Not Less Than Fifteen Cases
 Reported ARE WELL AUTHENTICATED Weird Happening About the Corridors and Premises of Public Build ing at Washington-Demon
 Cat Returns.
pm the Washington Herald.


 States capitol, not less than b well au- thenticated ghosts infesting it, says the Los Angeles Times.
 Some of these capitol ghosts are of more than ordinarily alarming character. The Demon Cat Is said to have made its appearance again, after many years or absence This Is a truly horrible appa- rition, and no viewless spector such as the invisible grimalkin that trips people up on the stairs of the old mansion which President Madison and his wife Dolly occupied after the White House was burned by the British. The feline spook of the capitol possesses attributes much more remarkable, nasmuch as it has the appearance of an ordinary pussy when first seen, and presently swells up to the size of an elephant before the eyes of the terrified observer.
 The Demon Cat, in whose regard tes- timony of the utmost seeming authentic ity was put on record nearly half cen tury ago, has been missed for many years One of the watchmen in the building shot at it then and it disap- peared Since then, until now, nothing
 
 or two of the older policemen of the capitol force still speak of the spectral animal in awed whispers. Their work, when performed in the night, requires more than ordinary nerve, inasmuch as the interior of the structure is literally alive with echoes and other suggestions of the supernatural. In the daytime, when the place is full of people and the noises of busy life, the professional guides make a point of showing persons how a whisper uttered when standing on certain marble block is distinctly audible at another point quite distance away though unheard in the space be- i tween.
 A Mysteriouc Footstep. A good many phenomena of this kind are observable in various parts of the capitol, and the extent to which they be- come augmented in strangeness during the silence of the night may be con ceived. The silence of an ordinary house is oppressive sometimes to the least su- perstitous individual. There are unac- counta ble noises, and a weird and creepy sort of feeling comes over him. He finds himself indulging in a vague sense of alarm, though he cannot imagine any cause for it. Such suggestions of the supernatural are magnifed a thousand fold in the capitol when the watchman pursues his lonely beat through the great corridors, whose immense spaces impress him with a sense of solitariness, while the shadows thrown by his lantern gather into strange and menacing forms.
 One of the most curious and alarming of the audible phenomena observable in the capitol so some of the watchmen say, is a ghostly footstep that seems to follow anybody who crosses Statuary 4I,a, l,a11 the chamber of the House of Repre- sentatives, that John Quincy Adams died. Whether or not it is his ghost that pursues Is a question open to dis pute, though 1t Is to be hoped that the venerable ex-President rests more quiet ly in his grave At all events, the per- formance is unpleasant. and even grew some, for him who walks across the his toric floor while the white marble stat utes of the dead statesmen placed around the wall seem to point at him with out stretched arms derisively. Like the man in Coleridges famous lines, he
 Walks in fear and dread,
 Because he knows a frightful fiend doth
 close behind him tread.
 At all events, he is uncertain lest such may be the case. A bold watchman at tempted not long ago to investigate these footsteps. He suspected a trick and de- termned to make his investigation on scientific principles. He bought pair of rubber shoes, with the aid of which he proceeded to examine into the question. In the stiffness of the night he made business of patrolling that portion of the principal government edifice. and, sure enough the footsteps followed along be- hind him. He cornered them; there was no possibility for the joker to get away. But moment later the steps were heard in another part of the hall; they had evaded him successfully. Similar exper- iments were tried on other nights, but they all ended in the same way.
 Old Catalogue's Money.
 About 15 years ago there died in Wash irgton an old gentleman who had been employed in the Library of Congress for more than 35 years. The quarters of this real book collection while housed in the capitol were distressingly restricted, and much of the cataloguing done by the veteran mentioned in sort of a vault in the subcellar. This vault was crammed with musty tonnes from floor to ceiling, and practically no air was admitted. It was wonder that he lived so long. but when he came to die he did 1t rather suddenly. Anyhow, he became paralyzed and unable to speak, though up to the time of his actual demise he was able to indicate his wants by ges- tures Among other things. he showed plainly by signs that he wished to be conveyed to the old library. His wish was not obeyed. and it was afterward learned that he had hidden about s6OOO worth of registered United States bonds among the books in his subcellar den. It is said that the ghost of the old gentle man haunts the vaults looking vainly for the missing securities.
 The gentleman referred to had some curious traits, though he was by no means a miser, such as the keeping of every burnt match that he came across He would put them away in the drawers of his private desk together with ex- pired street car transfers the latter done up in neat bundles with India rubber bands. Quite an intimate friend he had named Twine. dwelt during the working hours of the day in a sort of cage or iron in the basement of the capitol Twine's cage was of iron wire, and inside of 1t he made a business of stamping the books of the library with mixture made of alcohol and lampblack. If the observation of casual employees about the capitol is to be trusted MT. Twine's ghost is still engaged at intervals in the business of stamping books at the old stand, though his industry must be very unprof1table, since the governments lit- erary collection has been moved out of the capitol.
 Ghosts are supposed to appertain most appropriately to the lower regions. inas- much as the ancients who described them first consigned the blessed, as well