The Wyandotte herald. (Wyandotte, Mich.) 1879-1943, 1942-10-16
Ghost Found in
House, Clearing
Up Old Mystery
It's a Murderer Who Slew
Owner When Caught
Rifiinx Icebox.


DENVER.-Trapped in the 'lhy
attic of a house that children De
lieved haunted, a wispy, nan-
starved man admitted, Detecuve
Captain Childers said, beating "
death the aged home owner anu
then living furtively in a cuboy hoie
Of the house for nine months.
Gaunt and clad in old clothes ueo
together with a rope, the man salo
he was Matthew Cornish, So years
old, once an advertising salesman
in Tonawanda, N. Y. Later, Gap,
tain Childers said, the man asserted
the name was fictitious and declined
to give any other.
The man was captured IN the
small brick house Of Philip peters,
73-year-old retired railroad AUDITOR
who was found beaten to death IN
bedroom last October II.
81 killed him because he caugnt
me Iobbing the ice box" Captain
Childers quoted Cornish as saying.
Investigating children's tales OF
phantom, eerie sounds and ghostllke
lights in the modest home in a quiet
North Denver residential section,
police saw the front door open slow
ly. A pale face appeared In the
opening. The officers ran toward
the door, but it was slammed shut.
Captain Childers and Detective
Fred Zarnow smashed down the
door and entered in time to see
tattered trouser leg disappear into
hole leading to the attic.
Caught by Accident.
Detective Zarnow shot a flashlight
beam through the tiny opening and
saw Cornish covering in the loft,
about four feet square and too low
for a man to stand erect. He seized
Cornish, barefoot and weighing only
rs pounds, by the wrist and dragged
him out.
Captain Childers said Cornish told
him he discovered the cubbyhole by
accident while prowling in the
Peters home last fall, and decided
it would make an ideal spot to hole
up for the winter"
For many days and nights, Cor
nish related, he lived in the attic,
his presence unknown and unsus-
pected by Mr.. Peters.
He had the run of the house for
short periods daily, when Mr..
Peters would visit his wife at hos
pital.
He lay in wait among the spiders
and watched his victim like a spider
himself" said Captain Childers.
He quoted Cornish as relating:
Every night I'd listen at the attic
hole until / heard him snoring.
Then I'd crawl down and go through
the icebox. I'd take just enough so
it wouldn't be too noticeable. I'd
carry it back up to my nest and
eat it.
81 found part of an old crystal set
radio in one of the closets, and a
pair of earphones. / fixed it UP so
it would work.
81 used to shave even, with the
old mans razor"
Cornish told of spying on Mr..
Peters several times as he put
money into a cigar box, but was un-
able to learn where the box was
hidden.
dubbed With Old Gun.
well, this particular afternoon
(last October II, when Mr.. Peters
was killed) I was awfully hungry.
I went down to the icebox and found
a roast. I started eating it right
there, squatting by the box.
81 didn't hear the old man come
in, but suddenly there he was in the
kitchen door. He started for me.
so grabbed up an old rusted gun
which lay on a cabinet. It broke
when I hit him. / knocked him
down."
Twice again, he said, he hit Mr..
Peters when the man regained con-
seriousness.
He fed to his attic hideout and
stayed there for days while police
searched the house. They thought
the door was only a ceiling repair.
Subsequently, Cornish related, he
was able to creep from the house
and forage food by raiding neigh
borhood iceboxes and by prowling
stores.
Several caches of money were
found In the house by police after
Mr.. Peters death.
Mrs. Peters, who was in a hos
pital when her husband was killed,
later returned to her home and lived
there for several months, but she
never detected the presence of the
attic dweller. She now lives with a
son in Grand Junction, Colo.
~ .