The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1883-03-07
GhostIy Track Walkers.


GhostIy Track Walkers
The enginemen of the Reading
Railroad report strange things from
the Schuylkill Valley, about Fort
Kennedy Station and Royer's Ford.
Witches, ghosts, and goblins are
said TO haunt the country at night,
stopping trains by waving spirit red
lights across the track, frightening
the train hands with their ghoulish
cries, and even at times squatting
like imps of darkness on the rear
platform. When the nights are dark
and stormy the frightened shrek of
the engine, as it darts through the
darkness like great fire-eyed cy-
clops, often arouses a spirit from the
very center of the track. Engineer
David Lowe, who left Philadelphia
with his train yesterday afternoon,
tells most wonderful story of what
he recently saw at Rogers Ford.
His sturdy engine was making 80
miles an hour, as the train swept
away from Pottstewn through the
binding snow storm. The
wind chased the flying express like
mad, catching up clouds of snow
flakes and sweeping them in hun
dred fantastic shapes through the
midnight air like shrouded spirits,
to which the shrill scream Of the
tempest seemed to supply a super
natural voice.
DARK AS A MOUNTAIN OF COAL.
"The night" said the engineer,
''was as dark as mountain of coal,
and / and nv fireman, VIM. Miller,
had to keep sharp lookout ahead.
/ had heard of ghosts on railroad
tracks. but | had never seen any. In
fact | don't believe in ghosts or
spirits or anything of that kind /;
and / don't say that what we saw
was q ghost. / know it wasn't
ghost, but it was very queer, and l
tell you it made me feel mighty fun
nv. The snow was whirling up in
front of us, and it was impossible TO
see the track very far ahead. All at
once we saw a red light, a good ways
off in the darkness. 1t didn't seem
to be right on the track, but little
to one side. We slowed down, and
ran ahead cautiously. When we
had gotten within few yards of the
light it was swung across the rails,
and something like woman dress
ed in white stepped on the track.
We thought there had been an acci-
dent, and stopped the train. Before
we could get out of the cab, howev-
er, the figure, light and all, disap-
peared. Where, We could never tell.
1t Just seemed to vanish. Were We
frightened? Well, you see, the storm
and the ghost-like things made by
the drifting snow, the dark night and
this mysterious apparition were cal
culated to make US feel very uneasy.
1t was about the strangest thing
ever saw in my life, and man in
loco motive cab sees some very queer
sights"
The Port Kennedy Station ghost,
which has for some time been excit-
ing the curiosity of some of the
train men, and the terrors OF others,
is believed in by more than one of
the rugged old engineers. tits said
to be
THE SPIRIT OF A TRAMP
who was run over by train in that
locality over ten years ago. Plenty
of Reading employees will swear to
having seen this phantom. Some
of them have shot at il, some even
have knocked it on its ghostly head
with cordwood stick, but the bull
lets went through the scepter with
out injuring it, and the club only
seemed to beat the air. Engineer
Charles Welch reports having seen
this ghost on Christmas night, and
others have encountered it since.
The engineer has since been on
the lookout for it again, and on last
Saturday night it appeared on the
track Just below Port Kennedy Sta
ton. For moment he thought it
was a real man of flesh and blood.
In a second his hand was on the
throttle bar and the brakes were put
down, but not in time to prevent the
train from running over the nyste-
rious track walker. The fireman
thought that they had killed. way
farer, although there was no shock.
Although the engineer was sure 1t
was the ghost, which could not be
harmed, even if dozen trains should
run over it. the conductor and some
of the hands went back to find the
body. There was nothing there, and.
although everybody laughed at the
engineer when he told them 1T was
the ghost, they all agreed that the
affair was awfully strange.
Among the other persons who
have come in contact with this re-
formed spirit OF the dead tramp is
brakeman George Nelson, who tells
a thrilling story of his encounter
with it on New Years eve. He
emptied both chambers of his dou-
bic barrel gun directly at his face,
but it only laughed and foated away
on the wings of the bowling wind
These and other strange stories are
the current gossip of the Thirteenth
and Callowhill street station, and the
night men who pass by the Port
Kennedy Station or through Qoyer's
Ford keep a sharp lookout for the
ghost of the rail.-Phila. Record.
An Arxensaw man, whose brother