The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-10
THE ROWLAND DRY GOODS co.

One time the ruStlins ard the foot steps so startled a man and a boy. who were reading in the newspaper room, that they darted from the Duslf- ing in terror and did not stop running until they reached the post office. Miss Hewf1s is authority for the fr11ta of this incident, and it is votsched for by others who have often heard Of ff Miss Hewfns often heard the rosees and was at loss for a sa1sfsc1ory explanation
 Superintendent Clifford is a. hale and hearty individual, who Is not subject to fit of nerves" His words cor roborated the strange stories of fhe others Many nights he slept in the building, and, when everybody was supposed to be in bed and he was sure that there was nobody e1se in the building, he would hear fhs steps.
 Mir. Gay, Mir. Clifford and Forrest Morgan, the veteran scholar and the assistant librarian of the Watkius0n Library, were talking about the spir- its the other day in the Watkinson Library. Mir. Morgan, who dfsagress with Governor Baldwin about the Fis- tory of the Warwick Patent and does not easily gulp down statements, un- less they are substantiated by pretty good historical data, was inclined fo doubt the truthfu1ness of the sfrenxe
 
 MT. Clifford insisted upon the pres ence of the noises and the exisfence of the ghost story. Mir. Clifford said that sounds of people walking on Atheneum street could be plainly heard in the building and he thought into the building. He had to admit that the noises did not sound as if they were. on the street, but that they were close at hand.
 MT. Clifford's explanation suffered a collapse when Mir. Gay said ttssC there were noises before there was any Atheneum street. MT. Gay. rather than be accuesed of believing in spirits, incriminated himself bT ad~ mitting that he occasionally slept on his job, and 1t was when he was the sleepiest that he heard the noises the plainest. MT. Gay said that as long ago as when Frederick B. Perkins was librarian of the fnstitute, and that was before the existence of Athensurn street, the sounds were heard. Afr. Perkins has testified to hearing them.
 Miss Hewins said, that whatever the cause of the alleged spirits. they were now laid" They do not trouble the inmates of the library any more The explanation that she gave waa akin to that of Mfr. Cliford-outsfcz causes She said that the Tafrways in. the Aetna Life Insurance Company building on the north side of Atf1e~ neurn street were so arranged that the sound of stepping was brought into the Atheneum. The cessation of the sounds she laid to the closing of
 Mir. Bates, when seen. had Htfls that he could say of his own observa~< tion, but he had heard a great deaI of the spirits from MT. Martin Mr. identity of the ghost. It was shs generally accepted belief that fhe spirit of Rev. Thomas Robbins de- scended from the frame, where his picture hung on the>walls of the Con- necticut Historical Society's room, and wandered at night.
 Rev. Thomas Robbins was at one time minister at East Windsor. From 1S44 until 1854 he was the librarian of the Connecticut Historical Society. Why he should take a particular Hk- ing to the institute and should pass through the solid walls and walk the stairs of the institute, rather than re- main in his own quarters, is a nnys- tery.
 In 1892 the. building was altered from the walls. the lady attendant spoke to the porter and urged him t0 be particularly careful cf the portrait of Rev. Thomas Robbins. The porter smiled, knowing the story Of ths ghost The white-hafred old gsntls- chair, with his books and r1anuscr5pr on the table, looked too sainf1y to bs a ghost and the community knew naugft of his life, save that which was free from taint. AS the porter lifted the painting from it's f1anginss. The old gentleman, books, table, and a11. tumb bled in a rump1ed mass froan ths 5 frame to the floor You may see hfrrv reframed, on the society rooms wall There have been no spirit footfaIIs since 1892.