Evening capital and Maryland gazette., 1912-11-01
YOUTH OF CITY IN
HALLOWEEN FRANKS
Ghosts StaIked and Walked on
Mythical Night.
BOYS AND GIRLS THRONG STREETS
Held Full Sway for Hours and Some
Engaged in Stunts That Caused
Injury.

Last night ghosts stalked and walk
ed the streets and mystic spirits held
sway. 1t was the annual feast OF All
Saints, more commonly known as
Halloween, and the one night in all
the year, when everyons believes or
makes believe in "spooks" ghosts
and pshychic phenomena and observes
the occasion by celebration in one
way or another.
And, as usual. the police officials
loosened up the line a bit, with the
result that the youth of the city, wear
ing false faces and other grotesque
costume, paraded the streets or sew
eral hours and had their real innings.
There was the usual din of noise by
horns, and the beating on tin pans,
not to mention the provocation to a
number of householders upon turning
out this morning to find the gate of
the side alley missing, and rubbish
distributed all over the front porch
or in joorways.
And there as one or more in
stances where the mirth-making lads
overstepped the bounds and courted
accident in one way or another. Over
on State Circle about 10 o'clock last
night. a gang of lads who had been
lettering about mischievously drag
ged three-inch pipe, about 20 feet
in length, from the gutter. in front of
the plumbing establishment OF Charles
A. Howard, and stretched it across
the thoroughfare. An automobile or
team coming along might have been
completely wrecked and their occd-
pants killed or seriously injure d, but
for the timely discovery of the obje ct
by persons passing along the Circle
and rolling the pipe back into its
place.
In the small frame building near
by, formerly occupied by the dental
parlors of DIR. Gordon H. Claude, the
boys deliberately pulled open the shut
ters and cast bricks through the win
dow panes. Similar destruction of
property was perpetrated in other
sections of the city.
Otherwise the observance of the
mythical event was of the good-na-
tured order. Crowds of boys and girls
paraded the streets until late at
night. The riotous mirth that used
to characterize the ghosties' night, is
no longer feared. Mischievous boys,
of course, still ring door bells and
sprinkle ones front pavement with
litter, but the more violent showers
of flour and rice which they hurled
over unsuspecting pedestrians on this
mystic night have been abolished by
safe and sane general public.
Many doorbells often are "pegged"
and made to ring continuously until
the householder relieves the situation.
The schoolboy still salutes his lady
love by hurling at the window of her
home handfdls of hominy or tapioca
to remind her that the pixies are
abroad and to beware lest they be-
witch her. Tapioca and hominy are
in demand in spite of the high cost
of living, as the most safe substitutes
for gravel or tapping at the windows.
The old tried and true Halloween
tricks are the ones that make most
merriment each year. Paring an
apple without breaking the pairing
and tossing it tree times around one s
head and over the left shoulder will
reveal the initial of ones sweet
hearts name when it falls on the
floor. A little Imagination is neces-
sary to decipher the letter sometimes,
but Imagination is plentiful at Hal
lowe'en. Bobbing for apples and bit
ing the apples hung on strings are
old-time tricks as amusing as the
testing of the future by popping nuts.
The old saucer trick is again in favor,
and especially prepared saucers of