The southern sentinel. (Winnfield, La.) 1883-1910, 1884-10-24
THE PULLMAN GHOST.

The Story Told on n Railroad Tram 0y
Commercial Traveller.
"Altoona! Twenty minutes for sup.
per"
The man with the shiny plug hat and
linen buster smiled, shifted his seat
sprinkled the stole with tobaccO-juict
and continued;
"Gemmen, am commercial traveller,
am. One of set of ROSTERS more
sinned agin than s;nnin', but not easy
to fool mot much.
.'Gemmen, twelve years ago las!
March l had occasion to run out to
Chicago for the great grocery house oil
Sorghum, Lasses Il Co., whom you've
hecrd on, of course. No? You sur
prise me thought everybody knew 'em.
Established in '32-never made prom
Use they couldn't keep, nor sold goods
Is wasn't up to sample. Bin with 'em
nigh onto twenty year, till misfortune
overlook 'em and they had to 60 out o
business.
..But to continue. Returns had bin
mighty slow an l was goin' out West
to hustle things. 'Iad crops them
Western chap, told me. bad manage
ment, I say Nobody ever neard Of
Sorgum, Iasses u Go. weakenin' on
tier paper.
GAS left at a moments notice / jess
dumped few collars an things into q
satchel and wired to Jersey City for q
lower on the express. 1t didn't take
me long to fix for. the journey. lou
bet your life we chaps don't fiddle-fad-
die much with baggage. Samples is
bother enough. / just made the train
an givin' my name, got short u. h. :
from the conductor.
The car was not a new one. Peo-
pie didn't put on SO many airs in trsv-
elm then an didn't insist on havin'
gilt grape vines myanderin' all over
III top of the cyar. Times wuz hard.
and the p. +. {. wuzn't bildin' towns
TO order out West nor putin on new
cars every week as they does now.
Il found my berth, skinned off my
coat an, vest an pants an climed in.
Nothin' perticler happened till Just as
l guessed we might be leavin' Altoona,
q hani parted the curtains of the berth
with sudden jerk Lie. an head
pceked through the opening. A slngu-
lar face, too. ALFRED drowsy as wuz,
it skeered me. Thin, rough. gray hair,
short, thick nose, a heavy jaw ali a
black patch over one eye. He stared
at me for minute or so without speak
in an then growled out in q hoarse
whisper: 'Cresson fourth. telegraph
pole east of water tank-north side of
track in the ditch.
The curtains dropped, l heerd moth
ing more, n'isupposin' somebody had
made.a mistake in the berth soon
dropped off agin. How long I slept
couldn't tell yet might bin q hour,
il might q bin a mint when that there
identical lace cum right atween the
curtins agin and the very same gruff
voice. guess q little more gruif per-
haps -growled out as afore: sCresson
fourth telegraph pole from water tank.
North side of track-in the ditch, an
then skipped.
This time it sorter made me mad,
30 stuck my head out o. tho berth an
saw-jess nothin; on the lazy nigger
mournf'ly blackin' boots in the passage.
/ was surprised aud put out. Thought
some nrastical joker was tryin' to have
fun with me. So l Jess took cork
screw out o. M bag an waited to crack
him over the knuckles when he laid
hold Of the curtlns. / waited an wait
ell. an almost gin up the hope Of hayin'
. whack at i'm. when all at Onct the
figure had seen before shot right by
the berth. Isprung out. but he seemed
to s0rter hoat back to the rear Of the
cyar. There he st cd, sorter suspended
in the air like, an pointed long, bony
finger at the side of the coach. ssyin' in
the same hoarse whisper, low, but
mighty aistinct the one word: There.
rushed forward, Lut my grabbin' ham :
held nothin but the empty air.
Now ! amt what you might call .
drinkin' man or l might = thought 1
had 'em. Staggrrin' for'ard to where
the niger wux > operatin' on the boots
| asked him where we Wux.
:. jess outside . Cresson, boss, said
the darkey.
1.-The remark. the sperrit. or what
ever it wuz made. cum right back TO
mo. 'Didn { you notice nOthfn' in the
cyar?' asked him, sort o. stern.
No, sab. said Mr.. Niger. bat .
sort of flickerin' expression in them
google eyes Of his'n made me think he
lied. turned in agin, but couldnst
sleep no more that night tried ~
pump the conductor, but couldn't ret
uothin' ont Of him. though saw ri4ht
OF he knowcd more than he keered to
tell. To make : long story short I
won't to Chicago, collected some Of our
accounts-we had heaps of bad debt
that year-and went back to New York