Circus or any of the theaters. There was a bigger crowd about
"Cohnfeld's Folly" than there was three weeks ago when the flames gutted
the buildings from Mercer to Greene streets and did damage away up in
the millions. The wraith was not due till midnight, but the street was
packed with watchers as early as 9 o'clock. The crowd was so dense that
pedestrians with difficulty forced their way through it and twice a
squad of blue-coats descended on the mob and routed it. Five minutes
after the police had retired the street was as impassable as before.
In the midst of the ruins of the big fire a single wall towers away
above the surrounding brick partitions. It looks feeble and almost
tottering and the shop-keepers in the vicinity say that when there is a
high wind it sways to and fro and threatens to come down in a heap.
After dark the outlines of the summit of this wall are very indistinct.
The detail of the wreck could not be made out even in last night's
bright starlight. There is a sheet of tin, however, on the top of the
wall, which was probably a cornice before the fire. Only one side of it
is attached to the brickwork, and when there is any wind it trembles in
the breeze and rattles with an uncertain sound. It may have been that
the sheen of the tin in the starlight or a windy night first suggested
the idea of a ghost to some weird imagination.
There is an old Frenchman living in the vicinity, however, who avers
that three nights ago he saw with his own eyes a lady in white standing
out against the darkened sky on the very summit of the tottering wall.
Her long, flowing robes fluttered in the breeze, and even while he
watched there came a low, wailing sound, and the wraith dissolved into
air. He kept his eye fixed on the spot for a full minute, but the vision
did not reappear, and as he turned to walk away he thought he heard
groaning as of a lost spirit. The sound, he says, made his blood run
cold and kept him shivering the whole night through.
The alleged appearance of the ghost has set the whole neighborhood a
talking, and some of the "old residenters" have recalled a murder which
took place in the vicinity many years ago, when A.T. Stewart lived there
and the street was one of the fashionable places of residence of the
town. There was a wealthy old gentleman of foreign birth who lived in
the street and was quite a recluse. He would pass the time of day with
his neighbors when he met them in the street, but he was never known to
enter into conversation with any one. The blinds were always drawn in
his front windows, and at night there was not a ray of light to be seen
about the house. His only servants were a couple somewhat advanced in
years, who were as foreign and uncommunicative as himself. The master of
the house would be away for months at a time and the neighbors had all
sorts of theories as to his disappearances. Some thought he was engaged
in unlawful business, others suggested that his absence might be
attributed to the supernatural, but those who were less flighty
concluded that he simply went off on periodical visits to his native
land.
On his return from one of these visits, however, the old gentleman
brought with him a beautiful young girl. She was little more than a
child in appearance, and had the soft eyes, olive complexion and lithe,
graceful figure of a Spaniard. She was never seen alive after she passed
the shadow of the old man's doorway. A few weeks later the old gentleman
disappeared as mysteriously as if he had been snatched up into the
clouds. The old couple who kept his home walked away one day and never
returned. There was an investigation, and in a hole dug in the cellar
was found the body of the beautiful young girl. There were no marks on
her body, and it was supposed she had been smothered. The exact date of
this tragedy is not fixed. Inspector Byrnes says that if it ever
occurred it was before his time.
The ghost, if ghost there is, is undoubtedly the spirit of this
unfortunate and nameless young woman. A _World_ reporter watched the
Bleecker street ruins with the crowd last night and was there at the
midnight hour, but never a sign of a ghost did he see. There were those
in the crowd, nevertheless, who thought or pretended to think that they
did. Once there was a rattling sound in the ruins, which caused a
commotion among the lookers-on, but it was only because a small boy had
shied a brick at the old wall. The living spirits boomed the liquor
business in the saloons of the vicinity. A skull and cross-bones over
one of these bars was surmounted with the somewhat appropriate legend
freshly painted:
"In the midst of life we are in debt."
* * * * *
FOOTNOTE:
[1] Transcriber's Note: The original is missing text following this
mark. Both it and a reprint of the same were searched and were printed
in this way.
* * * * *
Transcriber's notes:
Obvious printing punctuation errors were repaired.
On pages 50-51, the top paragraph had a printing problem in the
page gutter. From the letters that were left, the following changes
were made in the text. (Changes noted by **)
Nothing more chanced for the rest of the night. Nor, indeed,
had I long to wait before the dawn broke. Nor till it**
was broad daylight did I quit the haunted house. Before
I did so, I revisited the little blind room in which my servant
and myself had been for a time imprisoned. I had a**
strong impression--for which I could not account--that
On page 51:
nothing in refutation of that conjecture; rather, I suggest
it as one that would seem to many persons the most
probable solution of improbable occurrences. My belief
in** my own theory remained unshaken. I returned in the
evening to the house, to bring away in a hack cab the things
I** had left there, with my poor dog's body. In this task I
was not disturbed, nor did any incident worth note befall
me, except that still, on ascending and descending the stairs,
I** heard the same footfall in advance. On leaving the house,
I went to Mr. J.'s. He was at home. I returned him the
keys, told him that my curiosity was sufficiently gratified,
and was about to relate quickly what had passed,
when he stopped me, and said, though with much politeness,
that he had no longer any interest in a mystery which
none had ever solved.
I determined at least to tell him of the two letters I
had** read, as well as of the extraordinary manner in which
they** had disappeared, and I then inquired if he thought
they** had been addressed to the woman who had died in the
Page 62, "weding-party" changed to "wedding-party": (so merry a
wedding-party)
Page 63: "sad" changed to "said" (and said, in a suppressed tone)
Page 72: "hed" changed to "had" (had ever passed his lip.)
Page 73: "woful" changed to "woeful" (woeful condition)
Page 102: "frace" change to "face" (from his face)
Page 147: "be" changed to "he" (But he kept his title?)
Page 172: "breathd" changed to "breathed" (she breathed heavily)