Boczarski did not have a head for business. And since he had interests in his head all the time, sadly his life was over for him.
When the night is moonless and windy, you’d better not take Bernardyńska Street. It is especially advisable you should walk well clear of the Sobieski Palace. Not only can hymns and sounds church bells be heard from the nearby brewery – obviously empty at this ungodly hour – but there is also something strange, mysterious and terrifying going on in the palace itself…
Stairs are creaking, doors are slamming, windows are opening all of a sudden, and footsteps can be heard in the dark corridors… “See, Boczarski’s back,” say the oldest residents of Bernardyńska Street, nodding knowingly.
Who was Boczarski? When the Radziwiłłs brought the palace to ruin after years of using the place taken over from the Sobieski family, they sold the buildings to a Lublin lawyer, Dominik Boczarski. Boczarski decided to have a windmill built within the walls of the building. A tower was erected and windmill wings were placed on top of it. But they were fixed horizontally. No wind could propel wings positioned this way and Boczarski went bankrupt..
The desolated palace was bought at an auction by the Brzeziński brothers who established a steam mill there. But Boczarski did not forget about his palace, and when he died, he started appearing there at night. And for many years, anyone who went bust in a spectacular way was said to have “made a deal like Boczarski with his mill”.
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