MYSTERIOUS FUSILADE.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 255, 27 October 1928, Page 15 (Supplement)

MYSTERIOUS FUSILADE.

BAITItBS CtfBAH POLICEL

NIGHTLY, SHOWER ON ROOK.

Tie town of Astißa, Cuba, is taking an intense interest in tie nightly bombardment of the house of Pedro &%»' and the rattle of stones and rubbish on the galvanised iron roof ie becoming as well distinguished as the sharp challenges of the police and rural guarfe ' who aurround the pleee. Identity of the authors of the atone throwing forma the myatety, for, in spits of the dose watch kept on the entire neighbourhood, it Ims been impossible to detect anyone in the act. iyfc fltwt the dioUuhaues waa thought to have been eaoaedby children, but as the grows in volume, and each -ch3d is cazcfnlly accounted for, this theosy has been abandoned. - Naturally, among the euper&tfbious, rumours are rife that the spirits are responsible' and tiiat the house is haunted. All over Latin America and the Philippines are scattered residences reputed to be under the ban of fairies, and in every case the alleged demonstration oftheir presence has been stone throwing. . In the heart of Manila, and almost across the street from the San Lazaro Hospital, is a house which has caused the police a great deal of trouble ever since American occupation. Every few years a rock bombardment, lasting for a month.or more, causes the occupants of thia, house to seek other quarters, and, regardless of by policemen .and .firemen, the authorß have never been discovered. Stones, banana stalks End other rubbish have been launched at the policemen as well. Eventually, an American negro, tempted by the offer of free quarters' madeby the landlord of the place, moved in with his family and raised a sign lettered, The Haunted House" over the door. For a while he was unmolested, but in the end he too was forced to seek another residence. Only once, as far as is known, has the mystery of a house molested by stone throwers been solved, and this happened recently in San Juan, Porto Riwi- For weeks the home of a wealthy resident of the Vedado district had been subjected • to. nocturnal stone showers, during which missiles entered the dining room shattering glasses and mirrors. One of the detectives placed on watch by Chief of Police G. W. Lewis was struck by a stone, and crowds surrounded -the house at night. Finally a negro servant* girl was de- ' tected in the act of throwing the stones i from the inner door of the kitchen, she denied strenuously any connection i: with; those which landed on the roof, r The" ' bombardment, however, eUdeld trith her "arrest and confinement in an insane asylum. For years the theory has been held that similar.stone attacks might be accomplished by the usa of sling shots or catapults which cauld throw missiles in the air'to descen' in a curve after, the maimer of shells shot * from mortars, but no one has ever ueen detected in the act of sach /^evices,