Newspaper Clipping of the Day

Via Newspapers.com

When someone dies in mysterious and sinister circumstances, you often see a ghost story in its wake.  For example, I present this story from the “Brooklyn Eagle,” September 3, 1878:

The usually placid town of Gravesend is in a foment of excitement in consequence of an apparition to horrify the boldest and hardiest of men.

The mysterious and sensational occurrence has for several days been the subject of much discussion and speculation. On the night of Friday last, shortly after 10 o'clock, Bartlett McGettrick, a flagman employed by the Prospect Park and Coney Island Railroad Company at the crossing near the Gravesend Town Hall, was startled by bearing his name called by a female voice. He started in the direction whence the sound proceeded. It led him toward the residence of the late Mrs. Maria L. Hubbard, who was mysteriously poisoned with strychnine several months ago. Only the stars were visible in the dark sky at the time; the place was lonely and deserted, and the flagman made his way cautiously over the railroad track. The house where Mrs. Hubbard lived and died is a neat frame cottage, two stories in height, with a deep porch and broad piazza, Tree embowered and surrounded by clinging vines, shooting creepers and rustic flower beds, it is altogether a pleasant place. 

As the watchman approached the house he discovered in the dim starlight a female form on the piazza.  Glancing closely at the woman, the horrified watchman discovered that the face and figure were those of Mrs. Maria L. Hubbard. Form and feature were both familiar to the trembling McGettrick; he had known her in life and had followed her body to the grave in the little village churchyard. The house of the deceased woman being near the crossing where McGettrick is stationed, he had frequent opportunities to converse with her, and it is supposed that she in some measure confided to him the story of her domestic troubles. 

When the flagman saw Mrs. Hubbard's apparition he was frightened almost out of his wits. He is a devout member of the Roman Catholic Church and he fell upon his knees, crossed himself and uttered a hasty prayer. According to his own story, Mrs. Hubbard called him again when he arose from the sidewalk, and with a sweeping gesture, beckoned him toward her. With ashen lips and trembling knees, he obeyed the ghostly summons.

Getting nearer the ghost, he saw that she wore the calico wrapper that Mrs. Hubbard was in the habit of using every morning. There was no doubt in the mind of the flagman that the poisoned woman's spirit was before him. She accosted him in a hollow but kindly voice.  McGetttrick was so smitten with fear that he hardly dared look at the ghost.

He says that supernatural light gleamed from her eyes and that her face was as pale as death, while the habiliments of the grave were near her on the piazza, as though had just escaped from the sepulture. McGettrick says that Mrs. Hubbard inquired about his health and asked him some questions concerning the death of a dog a few weeks ago. She is believed to have intimated that the dog was poisoned. She had some further conversation with the flagman, the details of which he absolutely refuses to divulge.  He says that he will tell the story at the proper time, and that when he does divulge the secrets of the conversation some startling revelations may be expected. 

While McGettrick was conversing with Mrs. Hubbard, ex-Justice of the Sessions Andrew McKibben, and a barber named Bauer, who lives nearby, were passing the house. They saw the ghost of Mrs. Hubbard and heard part of the conversation. Suddenly, as they drew nearer, the apparition seemed alarmed, resumed the grave clothes, and vanished in a cloud of blue smoke. This is the story told by McGettrick, and is corroborated by the testimony of McKibben and Bauer.

Some of the Gravesend people are inclined to believe that there was something supernatural and portentous in the apparition of Mrs. Hubbard, and that new developments may possibly occur in the case. McGettrick, as might be expected, was greatly alarmed. He has not the least doubt that the ghost was that of Mrs. Hubbard. Early yesterday morning he arose and went to church. He heard mass, confessed his sins, and obtained some holy water. He is in great trepidation lest the spectre return any night and carry him off.

Although there was a great deal of justified suspicion directed against Mrs. Hubbard’s husband, her murder was never officially solved.  I’ve been unable to learn if McGettrick ever revealed the “secrets of the conversation” he had with the obviously restless spirit.