Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1912-10-18
WASHINGTON MYSTERY HOUSE
octason, Where Dolly Madison Set Up

octason, Where Dolly Madison Set Up
Court, Scene Of Romantic Tragedy
Don't let anybody tell you the story
of the old Octagon house in Washing
ton after dark-you'll have to sleep
with the light on all night II you do!
Why, it's the kind of a story that will
send all manner Of delicious, indef1n-
able little shivers and thrills over you
at 10 a. m. on sunshiny day.
Octagon house is where Dolly Madi-
son, the fascinating, set up her Demo-
cratic court Of the republic when the
British burned the White House in
1914. And as if that were not romance
enough for any house to claim, there
are ghost stories galore, two more or
less well-authenticated underground
passageways, a secret stairway and Sc
cret doors opening out of blank walls.
Here is a really old-time mystery
house. From it runs a secret passage
way, now walled up, to the White
House itself, and for this, the story
goes, Dolly was responsible.
AS runs the story, the clever and de-
lightful Dolly, really the first mistress
the White House ever had, with that
queer psychological twist not uncom-
mon in the feminine mind, knew in her
prophetic soul that in time the defeat
ed British would want another test of
prowess with the valiant little Repub-
lie of the New World. When such time
should come, she figured cleverly again,
the White House would be a point Of
attack and she wished to be prepared
for secret fight. She knew the Ty-
loes, who owned Octagon house, very
intimately. Hence, the secret passage
way.
But when the time for her anticipat-
ed flight came something interfered
with the prearranged plan. The Brit
ish came, torch in hand almost to the
door of the White House. Dolly lin
gered long enough to gather her price
less silver and to cut the Gilbert Stuart
portrait of Washington from its heavy
gold frame before she fled by the south
portico and sought shelter with friends
in Virginia, whence her husband had
preceded her. Some months later she
returned to Washington and then it was
that the Octagon house became the
home Of the presidential family.
The strange troublous times in which
the house was built-it was a building
while Washington was president-must
have had some share in determining
its mysterious construction. The ar
chitect was man Of renown, DR.. Will
liam Thornton, who designed the capi-
tol, and aided Jefferson years later in
the plans for the university of Virginia.
The house is full of secret doors and
even now, wide open and to be inspect
ed by anyone who elects; there is a
tunnel leading out under Eighteenth
street. Where the destination may
have been none Of this generation can
say, for most of the land in that part
Of the city has been changed by filing
in. Communicating with this under
running from the basement to the third
floor and either the second or third
landings are reached from it through
secret doors. The baseboards and chair
boards on the blind side run far past
the doors before being cut through,
and after all these years the joining re-
mains so nearly perfect that none but a
quick eye detects the slightest appear
ance Of an opening, for there are no
keyholes, hinges or knobs.
The unique arrangement Of the house,
which is built in octagon shape on the
outside and with rooms surrounding
the circular hall, with spiral stair
way running from basement to roof,
and all the rooms connecting-someo Of
them by secret doors, to be sure-is
such that had an arresting party en-
tered, anyone familiar with the house
or even passably clever might have es-
capped quickly and quietly. Quick
egress also was provided for from what
was once the dining-room through a
secret door into a closet and out to the
street through a easement window.
Such are the actual facts. The ghost
ly personages who gather there consti-
tute another story.
Way back in the history of the Ty-
loe family, so runs the romantic tale,
there was a beautiful daughter Of the
house whose love affair with an officer
to his majesty the king Of England
brought her nothing akin to happiness.
Despairing of ever being able to marry
him, and vexed by opposition and re-
peated disappointments, one night