Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1898 — Did He See a Ghost? [ARTICLE]

Did He See a Ghost?

The suicide of the famous demlmondaine Herlinda Martinez, alias La Popocha, wlill be remembered. The SWman in question had attained a certain notoriety above the generality of those of her class in Mexico, owing to a certain chic, dash and elegance In dress. Her house on Puente Quebrado street was the scene of nightly revels. She deprived herself of life by shooting herself, owing, it was said, to the death of a young man to whom she was sincerely attached. The furniture of the house was of considerable value and was her own property. As she died intestate, the house was closed and sealed by order of the court, to prevent any of the articles being removed, until such time as it is determined who are the unfortunate woman’s heirs.

Owing to the house having been so long closed and to the tragic manner of “La Potpocha’s” death, as well as to the wiM orgies that used to take place there nightly until dawn, the belief has spread In the neighborhood that the house is haunted. Many aver that after midnight every night a woman in deep mourning, with disheveled hair, and a ghastly wound In one of her temples, Is seen to cross the street quickly, holding a (pistol in her right hand. She glides through the wall.of the building into the interior of the house. A gendarme nightly takes up his stand in the patio, and the other morning the one who had this duty was found dead at his post. His death is attributed to fright at the sight of this midnight specter. He was, however, troubled with heart disease.—Mexicar Herald.