The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-11-01
OREGON YOUNGSTER
MAY Be POSSESSED
Articles of Household Furni-
ture Dance JigS When Boy
Comes Near.
FRANKS OF INVISIBLE
POWER ARE MYSTERIOUS
Strange Occurrences Not In
common i'm Portland
Family.

PORTLAND. Or. oct 3l--lt is de-
clared by alleged witnesses that second
exhibition OF the unknown force which
turned the contents OF a Marshall street
house topsy- -turvy Thursday occurred
Saturday in a lodging house TO which the
elevcn-year- old boy mentioned in con-
ncction with the former exhibition had
been taken.
After the first occurrence. when
dining table. chairs chnawarc and
kitchen utensils moved like things alive
and deiicd all known laws OF nature, ac-
cordlEg 10 many spectators. the mother
OF the child is said to have been notified
by the owner o. the Marshall street
premises that il the boy had been re-
sponsible she must take him away,
Saturday morning the mother took her
child to the lodging house, and in the
afternoon another exhibition similar to
the first Is declared TO have occurred.
The child's name is Ernest 1larps. He
is n son of Mrs. Annie tlarps and grand
son of j. c. Sanders, both families haV-
ing lived ut Saxon. Iron county. Wis.
when the boy was born.
Furniture Acts Foolishly.
In the first occurrence, cXerted by no
raised itself on TWO legs and iell OH
IT'S side, An old fashioned sofa snug
against the wall moved from It's place
and careened on its side. The cuckoo
clock on the wall shook like spasm and
turned almost completely around, stopping
at 2:50 o'clock, Dishes on even sur
faces stood up on edge !nd rolled to
the floor In a thousand pieces. Heavy
platterS on cdgo or the sldcboard crashed
10 the floor every piece of china in the
house, upstairs and down. lmpcllcd by
the uncanny. unexplained thing, rolled or
jumped TO the floor. In half an hour
everything In the house was out OF
keller.
While the wreck downstairs was most
I'm evidence fIn did not
escape \ table on which rested n big
lamp upturned in a Jiffy. Morris chair
keelcd over, table CHAIRS bounced up and
down or leaned back against the walls
Most peculiar of all the antics brought
about by the invisible force were the spas
modic jumps OF tca-kettlc and a cof-
silS half fun OF water insisted on rising
on edge, skating across the stove and
falling ON the floor. They would not
stay put and forced the Sanders family
to forego supper last night both kettle
and pot scuITying across the stove to the
floor as often they were placed over
the fire.
Boy Medium Undismayed,
Little Ernest Harps, the lad, termed
medium and blamed for all the havoc,
walked about the house and saw IL all
undlsmayed. When he passed the tele
phone which reposed on small shelf
the phone topplcd and as he walked by
two chairs foot apart they crashed
together with a resounding thud To
keep the phone in place a chair was
braced against It, Soon thereafter tho
boy coursed through the hall and both
phone and chair fell 10 the floor.
Don't pick things up, grandma. he
said to Mrs. Sanders they will only
fan down again
Great as was the havoc. it was not new
10 the Sanders family or the cevcn-year-
old who is said to have the peculiar
power within him. Only around The cor
ner from their present homo the Sanders
experienced a similar plight and were
forced 10 seek new quarters. their for
mer landlord. II is said. paying them
half months rent 10 move. AZ 223 Sew
cntccnth street, where they lived until
TWO weeks ago. plaster jumped from ono
wall TO another and shot through WIN
dows. wreckng four rooms of the house
as we'll as demollshlng every breakablc
dish.
For every pot and kettle in the Sanders
household there Is SLranG story, every
knife and fork had It's own experiences
every piece of furniture. no matter how
big, figured In the days mystery. And
thc boy blamed for IL all is not a yard
and a half high. He is subject to spasms
suffering the last attack last Sunday.
chat Is all his people know about the
mystifying affair, and they express ic-
norance of the cause OF the oddity. "The
devils In him, said his uncle Ernest
has always been strange" said his
grandmother. 1T was an electric
storm" said the boys mother.