“She was generally after the boys with a broom when they disturbed her.”

An eccentric old woman and some ill-behaved boys were the players in a spooky scenario from the April 30, 1898 Brooklyn Daily Eagle. An excerpt:

“Miss Ella D. Eames, a recluse whose home was at 165 Adams Street, was found dead in her room last night. The deceased was about 81 years old and had lived in the house, which she owned, for over forty years. She was eccentric and her peculiarities appealed to the mischievous sentiments of the boys in the neighborhood, who teased her for the sole purpose of getting her excited. The building is an old fashioned, weather beaten, two story, attic and basement frame house, sadly out of repair and badly needing paint. Miss Eames frequently appealed to the police to drive the boys away from her house, for they not only played in the basement areaway, but threw stones at the windows and frequently broke them. The old woman was known among the boys in the vicinity as the ‘Witch of Adams Street.’

Late yesterday afternoon N.T. Spicer, who lives at 87 Concord Street, passed the house and saw a number of urchins playing noisily in the areaway. Miss Eames was nowhere in sight, a singular circumstance, for she was generally after the boys with a broom when they disturbed her. Mr. Spicer could notice no signs of life on the inside of the recluse’s house and he questioned the people in the neighborhood, who all remembered that they had not seen Miss Eames since Monday. After a brief consultation it was decided to notify the police of the Fulton Street Station and Officer Daniel F. McLaughlin was sent out to make an investigation. He knocked at the front door, but there was no response. Then he forced his way into the house and then to the woman’s room on the second floor. The apartment was stuffy and dusty. When the windows were opened to admit air and a lamp was lit the alien visitors discovered that the apartment was filled with costly property, dresses, pictures and, oddly enough, dolls and toys. The old woman had paid the debt of nature. She was found dead beside her bed and it was evident that she had been preparing to retire when death overtook her.

There was evidence she had not been properly nourished, and it is believed that, although she had plenty of money, she had practically starved herself to death, for there was very little food in the house. The body was taken to an undertaker’s shop on Third Avenue and police took possession of the premises. This morning the police took to the Coroner’s office a number of the effects that were found in Miss Eames’ house. There was $208.12 in cash in the house an bank book from the Dime Savings Institution, which showed a balance to her credit of $2,888.47.

Miss Eames was the last survivor of three sisters who lived in the house. They were all eccentric and were very particular not to allow visits from the neighbors. When Miss Ella was left alone by the death of her sisters her eccentricity seemed to increase. As stated she was very much annoyed by the boys in the neighborhood. She one day caught one of her small tormentors and locked him up in one of the upper rooms of her place. The parents of the imprisoned boy appealed to the police, but when the authorities intervened she refused to allow the policeman to enter the place until they threatened to break into the house. The child was finally released, badly frightened, but wholly unharmed.

Coroner Berger will hold an inquest after Dr. Hawxhurst, the post mortem examiner, has made an autopsy. The indications are that the death was due to starvation. “