The Indianapolis journal., 1885-05-27
A HAUNTED HACK.
A Ghostly Tragedy Which Is Nightly Enacted
in Hack-Reminder of Hideous Crime.

A Ghostly Tragedy Which Is Nightly Enacted
in Hack--Reminder of Hideous Crime.
Denver News.
Hack No. 80 has gained an unenviable noto-
riety arising from the well authenticated fact of
its being haunted. There is some dark mystery
surrounding it which the present owner and
driver, Sam Magee cannot explain. The super
natural appearances always occur at o'clock in
the morning. and are about related to a
Rocky Mountain News reporter by gentleman
who rode in the hack on Tuesday night or more
properly Wednesday morning. His story is as
follows: II engaged the hack to take me to the
house of some friends on Broadway, near the
bridge across Cherry creek, where there was to
be a wedding anniversary.
There was nothing particularly noticeable
about the hack or its interior. 1t was nicely
upholstered, and comfortable and cozy as one
could desire. Filled with pleasant antcipations
of the social enjoyment before me, l scarcely
realized the distance of two miles or more ira
versed, and was quickly whirled to my destina-
tion without any occurrence more than usual
transpiring. The evening, as had anticipated
was one of the most pleasant ones l had ever
spent, and the aours few quickly in dancing and
social enjoyment. and it was probably 1:3O
o'clock in the morning when l was ready to
leave. The carriage was waiting at the door
and bade good bye to my friends and was
driven off. We had travelled down Broadway
for perhaps half mile when felt cold shud-
der and an uncomfortable fear and became
aware of the fact that was not alone. Sudden
ly bright unnatural, ghostly sort of a light
flied the interior of the vehicle and frozen with
horror, l became the witness of a scene which It
curdles my blood even to relate There on the
seat opposite was the form of beautiful wo-
man bent down on the seat and over her. and
grasping her by the throat with one hand and
with sharp pointed dirk in the other, was
man whose features were almost demoniacal
with rage. Paralyzed with horror, / saw him
plunge the knife thrice into her bosom and a
crimson flood poured over the cushions and to
the floor of the hack. piercing scream
rent the air, the door of the vehicle was thrown
open and the body of the woman thrown out
the light vanished, and all was still. sat
trembling in my seat, almost frozen with fear
and not daring to move. Before l fairly recov-
cred myself the carriage halted, and / found
myself at home. Through the long night the
scene had witnessed haunted me, and sleep
was impossible. do not believe that l will
ever ride in hack again"
The gentleman who told the above story is a
we'll known business man of Denver, who is
known to be of the strictest integrity and relia-
bilty, ana whose word is good as his bond.
The hackman, upon being interviewed, at first
denied there any popularity about his hack
but, upon being confronted with the story told
by his passenger, reluctantly admitted the fact
that his hack was haunted. He could give no
explanation OF the phenomenon, which he said
occurred at precisely 2 o'clock every morning
He had bought the hack about year ago from a
man who had gone East He had made numer-
Gus inquiries. but beyond the fact that he was
told by an old resident that several years ago the
body of beautiful woman was found near the
sidewalk with several stabs through the heart.
and the murderer was never found, he could
learn nothing. The impenetrable mystery
shrouding the affair will probably never be
solved The whole matter would be a good
one for scientists or spiritualists to attempt to
explain.