Omaha daily bee., 1883-01-18
GHOSTS OF THE HAlL.
Strange Sights Witnessed on the
Reading Road,
Traius Stopped by Phantom
Sentinels Who Vanish in
the Darkness.


the DarBGeSB.
Philadelphia Record.
The opginemen OF the Reading rail-
road rep .rt strange things from tho
| Schuylkill valley, about Port h nnedy
station and Rogers ford. Witches,
ghosts and COLLINS are said to haunt
the country at night, stopping irsius
oy waving spirit red-lights across tho
track, frightening the train hands
with their ghoulish cries, aud even at
times squatting like imps Of darkness
on the rear platform. When the
nights are dark and stormy the fright,
ened shrek of the engine, as
is darts through the darkness,
like q great fire.eyed cyclops,
Ct ,en arouces a spirit from the very
ceuter of the track. Engineer David
Lowe, who left Philadelphia yesterday
If .crnoon with his train, tells a most
wonderful story # what he recently
saw at Rogers Ford. Hia sturdy en-.
CINE was making thirty miles an hour
as tie train swept away from Potts
town through the bliudng snowstorm.
TIE wind chased tho flying express
ike mad, catching up clUu Ia Of snow
flakes, and sweeping them in a hun
dred fantastic shapss through the
midnight air Ike shrouded spirits,
to which the shrill scream Of the tenn.
pest seemed TO supply a supernatural
voice.
"rhe night" said the engineer, "vas
as dark as II mountain OF coal, and l
and my fireman, William Miler had
to keep a sharp 10 3kout al ead. lGrad
heord of ghosts on railroad tracks, but
| had never seen any. Ia fact, |
don't believe In ghosts, or spirits, or
any thing of that knc ard ldon'J way
thet what we saw wga "a ghost. II know
it wasn't a ghost, butt wa. very qneor,
and l tell you it made mo fec, m'2h'y
funny Too NOW was wEir.ing M in
front of US, and it w0s Impossible
to see the track very far ahead,
Ali al ouoe we saw y red tight, a good
ways off in the darkness. 1t d.dn'l
seem to ba right on the track, bat {
little to one side. We slowed down
and ran ahead cautiously. When We
had gotten within a few yards of thu
light it WAS swung across the rails, anC
something like a woman dressed ii
white stepped on tho track, W.
thought there had been an accident ant
stopped the train. Before We could
get out OF the cab, however, tho fig
ure, light and sill disappeared. Where
We could never tell. 1t just seeme'
to vanish. We're we frighlened2 We'll
you see, the storm and the ghost.lik
: things made by the drifting snow, tn
dark night and this mysterious apps
rltion were calculated to mako us fe'
!. very uneasy 1t Was about the strans
y est thing l ever saw in my life, and
.. man in a locomotive cab sees son
. very queer sights"
. The Port KeSsedy Station ghos
= which has for sttne time been excl
y ing the curiosity of some CT the ira
!! men and tho terror of others, il b
lieved in by more than Il of Il
rugged old engineers. 1t is said
20 be the spirit Of d tramp who was III
!, over by q train in that locality ov,
ten years ago. Plenty of Raad!l
!. employees will swear to having set
this phantom. Some Of them ha'
shot at,it, some even have Knocked
on its ghostly head with g cordwo,
stick, but The bullets went throu!
the spec.rs without injuring it, al
g. the club only seemed to beat the o.
Il ginoer ChSrles WEIGH reports
having seen this ghost Oh Christm
nigh, and others have encountered
since,
The engineer has since been on Il
lookout fJr it again, and last Saturd
~ night it appeared on the track just b
tY Low Port kennedy station. For
no moment he thought il wss n real m
4 of flesh and blood. In a second
- hand was on the throttle bar, and t
~ brakes were put down, but not in til
e. to prevent the train from runni
re over the mysterious track walk
la The fireman thought they had kill
Iot a wa,f.rer, although there was
shock. Although the engineer v
no sure it was the ghost, which could I
or be harmed even if a dozon trai
of should run over it, the conduct
III and some CT the hands went back
by find the body. There was nothi
Or, there, and although everybody laugh
at the engineer when he told them
al was the ghost, they agreed that I
a affair was awfully strange.
90, Among the other persons who hs
at come in contact with this return
nj spirit Of the desd tramp Is Brskem
Tor George Nelson, who tells a thrill
story Ct his encounter with it on n
lot Years eve, He emptied both chs
of beers Of a double barreled gun direc
ng In its face, but it only laughed ,
of hoated away On the wings Of the no
" ing wind There and other stral
ted stories are the current gossip of
re- Thirteenth and Callowhill streets
he ton, and night men VINO pass by
MS Port Kennedy station u thror
Rogers Ford keeps sharp look
md for the ghosts Of the rail.
Noryoouapass. debility and