MYSTERIOUS FUSILADE

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 November 1928, Page 4

MYSTERIOUS FUSILADE

BAFFLES CUBAN POLICE. The towA of A-ntilla, Cuba, is taking an intense interest in the nightly bombardment of the house of Pedro Roig, and the rattle of stones and rubbish on the galvanised iron roof is becoming as well distinguished as the sharp challenges of the police and rural guards who surround the place. Identity of the authors of the stone throwing forms the mystery, for, in spite of the close watch kept on the entire neighbourhood, it has been impossible to detect, anyone in the act. At first the disturbances were thought to have been caused by children, but. as the fusilade grows in volume, and each child is carefully accounted for, this theory has been abandoned. Naturally, among the superstitious, rumours are rife that the spirits are responsible and that the house is haunted. All over Latin America and the. Philippines are scattered resi-

dences reputed to be Under the ban of fairies, add in every case the alleged demonstration of theii- 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 over since American occupation. Every few years a rock bombardment, lasting for a month or more, causes the occupants of this house to seek other quarters, '' and, regardless of patrols by policemen and firemen, the authors have never been discovered. Stones, banana stalks, and other rubbish have been launched at the policemen as well. Eventually, an American negro, tempted by the offer of free quarters made by 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 Rico. For weeks the home of a wealthy resident of the Vedalo 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 detected in the act of throwing the stones from the inner door of the kitchen, but she denied strenuously any connection with those which landed on the roof. The bombardment, however, ended with her arrest and confinement in an insane asylum. For years the theory has been held that similar stone attacks might be accomplished by the use of sling shots or catapults which could throw missiles in the air to descend in a curve after the manner of shells shot from mortars, but no one has ever been detected in the act of using such devices.