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//'/ 4»»A / / j— x. Z*' \ ■■"» Y Z4? znYX A i \ /’ z/Sk / /,;| / /? £>< z / l r l7\ vs / \ /RRILjBO® L. / / x \J\ J?\ StTU j\ J W ■HE9 [ \ | Z / //\W“Z 4 Vji\ WW \ \ Zy / / IJ \J \ / I tißll |gg \ / / kH I f Bfl l.fTli U4l xO\ Hi/ \ ) ■ h— J k X' \ A ■--•-■ \/ L?totilW x ]l \ \ CPS4=4W t<7z^z<^ :J / z JS \ \ V .=? ij==? z^t z 'M^wfiH-er-'- z > =y / y f *""■ ■————^—^— Im*" I How Mrs. Mary S. Townsend Built Her Mansion Especially to Escape a Hoodoo, Only to Be Driven Out by (t Spooks!” THERE aren't any ghosts, and yet this is a ghost story. It wouldn't be one except for the fact that lots and lots of people think there are such things as ghosts And in this connection you are advised to read an article which will appear in this magazine next week. It is written by a very great, scientist. Indeed, and explains illiim- Inatlvely the Insurmountable diffi culties which any ghost would have to encounter to provide Itself with clothes or bones. Every ghost ever known has either had clothes of some sort, or a skeleton. The ghost in this story had very good clothes, hence the pertinence of this para graph. Mrs. Mary Scott Townsend Is one of the very foremost of American society leaders. She was formerly Mary Scott, of Erie, Pa., a niece of "Tom" Scott, of Pennsylvania Rail road fame. Her family was very wealthy—worth ever so many mil lions. Mrs Townsend’s beautiful man sion on Massachusetts avenue, Washington, long spoken of as the "Townsend Palace," has a deserted and melancholy effect—(We are ap proaching the story). The front doors and windows are boarded up, the two magnificent antique statues which flank the outer steps, and which are worth thousands of dol lars, are boxed in, and the great gar dens surrounding the house, with their huge elms and masses of rho dodendrons show signs of desertion. The palace is abandoned, and it is doubtful whether Mrs Townsend will ever again occupy it. Whim? Well, that’s what some say. What do the others say? Well, they say that the most extraordinarily tena cious and popular spook that ever was known had a lot to do with it —a spook that stuck to its own roof and moved with It when everything else In the house that it formerly occupied was taken to the scrap heap! a. > < 'WK \ Yx *> ]\ jQMslllr ,' ,' - - —4Y 2 Y WWz "^F/Y^ I yv lsL_l YdMr X/ / / ?Y3t< IIUSL! 4 “When Mrs. Mary Scott Townsend retained the old mansard roof to escape a hoodoo, she didn’t know that th«* ghost went with it!” P W 23 B 0 ff 23 1 B Io l <iyff i % y jbj m j IpL I p p/> | The butler, the housekeeper, the parlor maids, the chef—all the servants in turn saw the spook and threw up their jobs.” But how did It get a chance to move with Its roof to the Townsend palace? That is the very remarka ble story now to be unfolded. When she was a very little girl, Mary Scott once Interviewed a witch. Among the other pleasant things, she learned from this oracle was that If she should ever undertake "to sleep under a new roof,” she would within the following year die. This cheerful admonition took such a hold upon the girl that for many months she hardly slept at all. and In all the years which followed, she r .refully refrained from sleeping un der a "new roof.” Some years later, when she mar ried and became Mrs. Townsend, she tired of Erie and sighed to live In Washington. Her husband was per fectly willing, for there Is no place in the world where millions count for so much as they do at the na tional capital. Mr. Townsend had plans drawn np for a veritable palace and the site selected was that occupied by the old fashioned residence of old judge Hillyer. Negotiations for the purchase of the place were rapidly concluded and workmen set about demolishing the Hillyer dwelling, when Mrs. Townsend directed her husband to stop the work. "I'm so sorry, Dick," she said, “but we shall have to give It all up. I forgot about the witch!” Then followed an explanation of the Incident before referred to, and though Mr. Townsend did his best to convince his young wife that the witch's warning might safely be dis regarded. he had little success, and finally decided to humor his wife's misgivings. Nothing was done on the work of destruction for several days and the To -nsends looked around Washing ton for a place to purchase, if his wife wouldn’t sleep under a new roof, the only thing to do was to buy an old place. But was It? Why wouldn't thev I ulld their palace as they had Intended and simply P>’t in an old roof Instead of a new one? That very idea occurred to Mrs. Townsend one afternoon while house hunting, and she at once suggested it to her husband. “The very thing." assented Mr. Townsend, “weTl just retain the old mansard roof of the Hillyer house and set it <m our new place." And that is what was done. The old mansard roof rests to-day exact ly where It originally was, covering the middle part of the Townsend palace—though of all the rest of the earlier structure not a stone or beam or plank remains. In this way, superstitious Mrs Townsend was enabled to sleep under an old roof, and thus to outwit the hoodoo with which she was threatened, and so phased was she with herself over the ruse she had worked, that It may be said that she slept well. That is for a while. Hist! Listen! Little did Mrs. Townsend know when she bought the Hilyc-r place that, a tragedy had been enacted under that very roof which she had been at such pains to preserve. Nor did she know that, according to the most advanced spiritualists, the roof is the most important, part of a dwelling place, and that a spook cares for nothing else so long as it has a roof over its head. Yes, twenty-flve years ago, a ter rible thing happem-d in this same Hillyer residence. The Judge's daughter, Bessie, whose path of true love did not run smooth, took rat poison and died. For years afterwards, it is said, the ghost of the unfortunate Bessie Hillyer haunted the place, but when the place was sold to the Townsends not a w 1 was mentioned regard ing it. "They are going to tear the build ing down, anyway.” the owners prob ably figured, “and with the buildintMT gone, the spook will have to look* for another home.” If the Town sends heard of visitations of the •'Hi’m sorry, ma’am,” said the third butler, “but „„ self-respecting butler cm. .tend THAT! H’in «. J. o.tuuuc, A not a b,t Ilke a respectable h’English ghost!” «*• mt» r Bxl 1 i I O M t GFifikirii C W v fcz I P WII if 1H t •■. ■ — ■ '' '- Y' : “A- .... Wil .MwW'wt wmC z i «r "fe'- B w 1 ■. ■ s ' ' \' it ' ■ - > A \Ak '..,' /■ &M s utf M l Jg£ ' W >'?W I //? p /yxy O y> I Ys / z' I—\. 1 — \. / I r- \ A y'''' " 7/ L \ /i\ / *7l / 'l\ *■>? —-«—I I Aa /I / l \ / ) \ \ t A/ / I \\ / / \ z u \ ; ?ailss\ \ i\ i / \ Zl\ z/1 \kllssk \ / \i\ r/n / w \( / ( <z / ////// WM 1 ' I U ' ' / i y / / {/ \Y \5 XI 4< -e ‘One aay, it u even said, Mrs. 1 ownsenci her sen encountered tne four queer ghosts, and then she tied from her mansion.” ■" r.V. [A. zO - WOW i« n - spectre they undoubtedly argued to the same eiiect. When they finally decided to retain the old mansard roof, it never occurred to them that n ver «' ro °f might abide poor Bessie Hillyer’s uneasy spirit! Some months ago. one of the par lor-maids started upstairs in answer to a summons from Mrs. Townsenil. Half-way up the flight of stairs she saw a young girl in a gray dress. Being In a hurry, she would prob ably have taken no notice, but her attention was attracted by the fact that the young woman (a stranger to her) was attired in the fashion of a quarter of a century ago. (You see, she had clothes.) She observed, too, that the oddly costumed girl, bore a sad and mournful expression. Respectfully stepping aside to let the girl pass, the astonished servant nearly fell the length of the stairs when the girl magically vanished from view. She simply “wasn’t there any longer,” as the awed maid described the incident. “Well, all I say, Matnle,” was the only satisfaction the frightened maid got from the housekeeper, “is that you'd better keep your mouth shut about it, for if the Mrs. should hear of It, she’d fire you and everyone else who was foolish enough to be bothered by such silly hallucina tions.” Mrs. Peter G. Gerry, formerly Ma thilde Townsend, Daughter of Mrs. Mary Scott Townsend— Who Hat Had Such a Time Between a “Hoodoo” and a “Spook” —AND BELOW— The Townsend Mansion—the Roof of Which Was Retained From the Structure Which Formerly Occupied the Site Because Mrs. Townsend Was Afraid to Sleep “Under a New Roof.” A day or two later, however, tht third butler had an experience which Induced him to hand in his reslgna- “Hl was just cornin’ up the second night of stairs, mum,” he explained to Mrs. Townsend, “when hl seen no less than four of these bloomin’ spooks, mum. amarchln’ along the landin’. One of them, mum, carried a little drum, another a wash-board, the third, a telephone, and the fourth a bloomin’ jug! It was ’orribly hun canny, mum, and somethin’ Hi’m not at all used to, you know, mum, and Hi 11 simply ’ave to give notice, mum. that's all.” Wh 0 the four ghosts might be, no one Is able even to suggest, although Washington has long been celebrated as a city of haunted houses. In her day, poor Bessie Hillyer was very popular. Perhaps her ghost is equal ly fortunate, and the presence of the four spooks observed by the third butler may be accounted for In that way. This was the first Mrs. Townsend heard of the visitation of the ghosts and she paid little attention to the matter. But one by one they came to her, the chef, the pantry-man, the parlor-maids, the coachmen and the other members of the household retinue and recounted their hair raising experiences, and it began to get on her nerves. She dismissed the complaining servants but she couldn’t quite as easily dismiss from her mind the stories they brought to her. And then a few months ago, Mrs, Townsend beheld the spectre with her own eyes. It was in the daytime. She was going upstairs after lunch when she saw the same quartet that the butler bad described standing on the land ing above, and they carried the ar ticles the butler had specified. She raised ber lorgnette to gaze In dignified surprise at the Intruders, but, while she was .looking directly at them, the figures faded away and disappeared. Then she realized that she had seen the ghosts! Inquiries were at once made and the unfortunate history of Bessie Hillyer came to light The connec tion between that tragedy, the old mansard roof and the spooks was obvious—tc those whe believe in such tuings. Anyway Mrs. Townsend has left Wash agto-'. Her most intimate friends, iron one of 'whom, this story wa- obtained, believe that the combination of gh st and hoo doo has been too much f or her, but othsr ntimate friends say that she merely went away because she got lonely.