The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-07-10
The WadsWonh
 Atheneum Was
 Haunted By Ghost Librarians, Past and Pres ent, Could Not Explain
 Footsteps Z SHADE OF 4 MINISTER
 WANDERED AT NIGHT Mir. Gay, Mir. Bates and Miss Hewins Talk of the
 Phenomenon

What has become of the footballs that once resounded in the Wadsworth Atheneum ?'' Maybe you have not heard of the ominous sounds for which the place was noted, the mysterious rustlings, the steps upon the stair way, ,.tIe click of the latch, when there was no human body to cause them. Then there were the sounds of foot steps to the cellar and yet the cellar door was securely locked. In the very center of learning, such things have been It has been said, and believed too. that a certain spirit, the spirit of a minister of the gospel, was wont to leave the frame where his picture hung in the Connecticut Historical Society rooms and wander at night through the lonesome railways.
 Miss Caroline M Hew4ns, M. A., librarian of the Hartford Public Li- brary, Frank B. Gay, curator of the of the watkinson Library, Alfred C.. Bates, librarian of the Connecticut Historical Society. and Alfred P. Cliff ford, superintendent of the Wads- worth Atheneum and chairman of the Northwest School District committee, have vouehed for some of these re- raarkable tAfes, which breathe like a wl1iff of the witch'craft days in our modern civilization. None of the in- in spirits. Yet they have heard the sounds and have been puzzled to in- vent a reason.
 It was in the days when the Hart ford Public Library, or the Young Mems Institute, as it was then called, occupied the northern third Of the Atheneum. The Atfreneum, like all Iy14 fSto T0d and each third was separated from the rest of the building by solid walls. The picture galleries occupied the cen- tral section and the Connecticut His torical SDciety had the southern sec- ton.
 The ground floor of the institute was given up to the newspaper and read ing rooms. The second floor was the library. The entrance to the institute was through door not now existing, that opened from the north side of the front porch of the Atheneum. AS soon as one turned to the north from the porch and entered the institute, there were three courses that he might pursue. He could continue on ward into the newspaper room, he could turn to the right, open the the library: or he could turn to the right down the hallway until he came tn the cellar door. The delivery desk of the library was at the front of the building.
 In those days, Frank B. Gay was library attendant There were times when the readers were few and the stiffness that settled over the volumes was oppressive. At such times, espe- cially when there was no one else about. there would be a click of the latch to the stairway door and MT. Gay would hear some one ascending the stairs. He would go to the de- livery desk prepared for business and there was no business to be transacted. A look down the stairway revealed no sign of man or woman.
 Men reading in the rooms on the first floor often heard mysterious noises. It was always when the still ness was most apparent-when there were no, other activities to distract the attention. Time and again there was a rustling of newspapers on the files Yet there was no breeze and it could not be seen that any of the pa pers were moving. Strangest of all, steps could be heard going down the hallway to the cellar door. They con- tintled down the cellar stairs. An ex- animation of the cellar door showed 1t to be securely fastened
 Night, or the late winter afternoon, was the favorfte time for the myster- lous presence. One attendant became so frigh tened that he was very glad when it came closing time, so that he would not have to remain alone In unwelcorne company. Miss Hew- ins told this. She did not say who the was. MT. Bates was asked about 1t and he said that Charles T. Martin had told him a good deal about the strange noises and that it Was rm~oha61y Mir Martin whp closed up the place. It was the belief that the spirit of a departed soul haunted the building.