The Washington herald., 1913-03-02

that il they chose they likewise could
tell OF strange happenings.
1t Is satisfaction, where things appa-
ritiOnal are concerned to have daylight
and public testimony to help in ironing
Judgment Happily. this IS not alto
gether lacking in the case Of the ghosts
of statutory Hall. For more than a gen.
GRAFTON past the guides of the Capitol
have called the attention of wondering
visitors to the strange echoes and other
acoustic phenomena of this remarkable
room. There is something positively I'M
Canny about tnem-for example. the dis
tnCt audIbility of the lowest whisper
uttered a long distance away. if speaker
and listener respectively stand on GER
tain marble blocks indicated to them.
Similar sounds OF footsteps haunt
other parts of the Capitol. Years ago
a member of the watch. on duty at
night, became convinced that some liv-
ing persons who had no business there
were hiding. perhaps for some dishonest
purpose. within the precincts of the
building Accordingly. he provided HIM
self with pair of rubber shoes. and.
taking no light. stole softly through the
corridors. with the idea of capturing the
supposed intrudeTs. Time and again he
got the footsteps cornered in place
where there was seemingly no possibility
were heard from another direction. and
could never be overtaken.
There are. moreover at least four
well-authenticated specters that haunt
different rarts of the Capitol. One of
these is that of a tall military-looking &
gentleman. dressed in a frock coat. with
long mustache and goatee- On many
an occasion he has been seen at night
walking about the corridors beneath the
IL
Clasped behind him. and with AZ aspect
of extreme melancholy. Always pacing
up and down. as if waiting for something
or somebody. he vanishes when ap.
preached, like a magic lantern picture.
Ghost Close. Door.
The Senate wing has a similar ghost
but in this case the phantom has been
satisfactorily identified. 1t is that nj
Gen. John 4. Logan: and. IL the stories
told are true. at exactly half an hour
after midnight. every night in the year.
he comes out of the room Of the Com
mittee on Military and Militia. beneath
the Senate chamber opens the door slow
ly. closes it silently behind him, and
proceeds with noisless tread along the
corridor to the westward his long
black hair. great mustache. and broad
brimmed felt hat make recognition of
him beyond possibility of mistake.
The negroes who come there in the
early morning hours to clean up-hefore
daybreak in the winter tlme-are dread
fully afraid of meeting the generals 3
ghost. and so. at once upon their ar
rival. they turn on all the electric lights.
They aver that the place. which is in
the basement, Is aiInted also by one of
their own number, an old white-haired
colored man named Osborne, who died
several years ago. He is never actually
seem but the sounds of his brush and
pail, with the 'slosh' of spectral water.
can often be heard from dark corners.
as he scrubs the marble floor his indus
trious ''spook" continuing the work which
in life he was accustomed to perform.
Some of the sthange noises of the
Capitol are doubtless attributable to
cats, which in the winter time invade the
huge building, finding warm refuge
there. wandering about the corridors.
and often making night hideous with
their yOwlings, enormously magnfied
acoustically by the echoes. But these
are just ordinary tramp pussies. There
is. it is averred, a demon cat that
haunts the Capitol. though fortunately
it is rarely seem. Its last recorded ap-
pearance was in 1897. and. previously to
that in 1862, when it was shot at by a
watchman. And no wonder. for this
fearful grimalkn, of no more than COM
mon size when first espied. swells to the
of small elephant when an
attempt is made to corner it.
The famous OctaGOn House, go called
by reason Of it's shape, stands OH the
northeast corner Of Eighteenth Street and
New York Avenue. 1t was occupied for
a whilc by rresi'ient Madison and his,