STORY OF A HAUNTED HOUSE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1743, 29 May 1888, Page 3

STORY OF A HAUNTED HOUSE.

A commodious house, in which not a single pane of glass was to be seen intact, says a Home paper, has, during the last few years, disfigured the junction of Canterbury Road and Manor Grove, Old Rent Road. The house had long been known among juvenile population as “the haunted house.” Many persons thought the house untenanted. The immediate neighbours knew, however, that an old man led a hermit life there, and was the supposed supernatural being occasionally seen wandering through the rooms. This is the story revealed at an inquest on the body of the old recluse:—Many years ago a retired commercial traveller named William Jacques Wright became the owner of the house. He lived there peacefully with his family for some years, and his children married off. About four years ago some one put it about that the house sas haunted. ( Ho sooner did. the rumour circulate than crowds of boys congregated daily, and amused ; themselves by breaking the windows, with stones. As fast as the sashes; were reglazed the glass was broken. 1 Life in the house became unbearable, and Mrs Wright was compelled to seek ; a residence elsewhere, but her husband' had became so attached to the place that he declined to leave it. Since then—for a period of over three years —he has resided in the house alone, and allowed the place to go to rack and ruin. He received few or no visitors, and although there was not a single pain of glass in the windows, he;] seldom, if ever, had a fire. Of late he; was seen less frequently, and on Wednesday he complained to a neighbour, who cooked for him occasionally, of the cold. The woman knocked each day afterwards until Sunday, and being unable to get an answer she; communicated with his friends. An entrance was effected, and the old man was found stiff and cold in bed. Mrs Wright, the widow, stated that her husband was sixty-eight years of age, and she and her children provided him with money. The woman who occasionally cooked for the deceased said he rarely allowed her to go into the house; he took whatever she had for him. at the door. He had told her he should not like to leave the old place. Dr. Ward stated that death resulted from syncope. The body was very emaciated. Deceased had evidently been in bed some days, but he did not think that death had taken place until the Saturday. The Coroner remarked upon the singular nature of the case, the jury returned a verdict in accordance with the medical evidence.