Evening star., 1936-11-01

to a girls school with the stipula-
ton that prayers be said daily to lay
the ghosts. Another went to the ex-
treme of having haunted bedroom
torn out and a large bathroom In
stalled in its place. It was recorded
from time to time in the newspapers
of the city that at least IS houses at
various locations would not rent be-
cause they were haunted. The ghosts
of Washington are very real.
MO GUIDE book will take you to
these haunted places. You have
to know the people who have lived
here year after year. The transient
official population comes and goes.
The social whirl catches the eye. The
city has its charm of cultural op-
portunity. Yet even today there is
city within city. Tourists and gov
ernmentals come and go. But thou
sands of men and women and chill
dren know this city as home. They
have lived here through many changes
Of administration. They observe the
Official city comparing the essence Of
each regime and the characteristics
of its people. They make up the resi-
dent city.
For many families, so, rs and 100
years or more are the spans of their
Washington living, and the stories Of
the old days here are handed down
from father to son. after the fashion
of the tribal legend, each tale CATCH
ing and preserving the feeling behind
the event and the characteristics of
the hero. Here the ghosts of WASH
ington nnger and their stories make
up kind of national saga running
back 300 years.
The placid Potomac River, which
gives such beauty to the city, is
treacherous stream. Swimmers Of
today are warned. Small craft SAIL
ors know its devilish cross currents.
Plunging over rocks in a narrow gorge
at Great Falls, north Of the city. it
widens out around the Three Sister
Island and drifts on to the Bay.
Do you recall that Capt. John Smith
was a familiar figure in these parts
in an earlier day? That he hunted
and fished and trapped in the marsh-
lands and woodlands where the Dis
trict of Columbia now stands? And
that to him must be credited the
earliest of Washington's ghost stories?
AS early as 1903 his records tell that
the moaning and sobbings that arise
during storms around the Three Sis
ter Island are the voices of three In
dian girls, trapped on the island and
drowned in the high flood waters Of
long-ago Spring time.
AS time went on, three men-and
only three-had seen the possibilities
latent in the wilderness along the Po-
tomac. BY 1864 the District was
farmland, partly cleared, and owned
by the famous three-and one of
these, Francis Pope, had built his
house where the Capitol now stands,
prophesying a splendid city to come
into being on that site, and naming
his estate Rome" with prophetic vi
sion, while neighbors laughed and le.
named Goose Greek" whicp ran
through his acres-calling it The
Tiber."
COMMISSIONERS coming to buy
ground for the new city, as ma.
tional life accelerated, found 81 farm.
ers in the vicinity by 1890, with the
three main properties still intact GOV.
ering the present site Of the District
Duddingtop Manor, first house built
in the new Washington; the farm Of
Motley Young, and that of David
Burnes, which includes All land in the
vicinity of the present Corcoran Art
Gallery. And here the real ghost
stories begin.
The house called Duddington Man.
or, of to bad start, was built 2 feet
over the line of one of the proposed
avenues Of the new city. This en-
croachment so enraged the city archi-
tect, L'Enfant, that, it is said. he had
the offending structure torn down in
the night-an action which brought
much trouble in its wake and caused
his troubled ghost to wander about
the scene for many years.
"Davy" Burnes' beautiful daugh.
ter Marcia married John Van Ness,
Representative from New York and
quite person In his way. John and
Marcia, when their daughter was
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