Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-01-14
& Soldiers Yarn.
Minneapolis Tribune.

| was al ola 4 OEE w l4Jlan, on OOVGc-
nor's Island, in New York harbor.
over twenty years ago. I was a SER
geant at the time, married, aud with
my young wife had been living IL. a
small house on the lower end of the
island, but the commanding officer
concluded 10 tear it down, and / was
told to select the best rooms Of the
nOn-commissioned officers quarters
In the then unoccupied fort. What
with nay usual military duties and the
fatigue Of moving and placing things
to rights l was pretty well tired out
when night came and slept like 5 log.
My wife was worn out, too, but did
not sleep so sound as not to be
disturbed every night by what she
called ''the funniest noises, that
sounded just like thunder" but I paid
| but little attention to her, thinking
that it was only the noise of passing
steamboats, or the wash Of the water
on the shore. It might have been
two weeks after ! had settled down
that one night I awoke suddenly
from sound sleep with that peculiar
feeling Of dread Or uneasiness upon
me which arises from an unknown
cause and has been experienced by
nearly all of us.
'Jehn, DO you Lear it now9" asked
my wife when she discovered was
awake; ''it sounds like some persons
ST work below"
Listening for a short time, [ racog-
nized familiar sounds, and had I not
been positive that the doors were
| TCoI-o5 Nth tho bows boy,oe;,,~s ~, =
nail in ray room, 7 would have sworn
that the batteries were manned by
experienced gunners. The quick
tread Of the men as they dragged the
guns in, the ring Of the hammer, the
handling Of the shot that lay piled in
readiness for use, the return of the
IRON wheels over the rails as it was
run out Of the port, was perfect IN
every detail, only lacking the woods
Of command and the report Of the
piece to complete the illusion.
AS [ listened the uproar increased
IN volume until it was impossible for
us to near each others voices without
raising them to q high pitch. The
guns were served with what seemed
incredible rapidity, and the very
walls, massive as they were, trembled
under the heavy artillery in continual
motion, while the balls were rolling
from one end to the other, striking
the sides with heavy tbuds. Unable
to stand this state of aft airs any long
er, [ arose, and, lighting my lantern,
took the keys, along with a loaded re-
volver, and, descending the stairs as
lightly as possible, reached the doors. |
The noise at this point was, if any
thing, more deafenIng tkan when I
left nay room.
Cautiously inserting the key into
the lock [ cooked my six-sbooter, and |
throwing the door open auddenly, |
with raised lantern and weapon pre-
scented, entered the nearest easement |
to find it uu0ccupied' save by the grim |
old gun and the shot stacked ia their |
usual places. It was the same in
every battery I entered. Not a foot |
print disturbed the thick dust upon |
the floor, nor was there fngermark
upon either the gun or shot. The |
tompions Were ia place and no carri-
age had travelled over the rusty rails. |
COMPOUNDED even still more than I |
was before, [ returned TO my room, |
and was disturbed no more that night. |
The racket, however, commenced |
again the following night, and was
kept up, with slight intcrmission, for
a month. My account of this singu
lar disturbance was met with Jests
and laughter from my f9llow-soldieTs,
which they modified, it is true, when /
I corroborated it by my wife, but then
only so far as to declare That It was
g scheme on our part to get removed
from uncomfortable quarters to one
of the new quarters thea about com
pleted.
Nettled at their tauhts, I vowed
that If ever the noises commenced
again I would have other witnesses
to them, and | did not have long to
wait, for about one month after, was
awakened by the phantom gunners.
This time passed out over the draw
bridge, and, going to the mems quar-
tiers, awakened sergeant by the name
Of Smith-poor fellow! he served with
me twenty years and is now in the |
Insane asylum at Washington-and |
much against his will, made him &C
company ne to the scene. After
standing listening to the racket until |
Smiths face was as white as sheet |
and he was trembling from head to
foot threw open the door. Smith
always declared that for moment he
saw the ghostly crew at their places,
but could detect nothing, nor could
I ever discover any cause for the dis
turbance, although I was often awak-
ened by the nightly drill of my invisi-
Die artillery men.
Some months after leaving the is
land I learned that during the Mexl-
can war an artillery company drilled |
with these guns some time before they |
left for Mexico and that they were |
nearly all killed in battle. I suppose
it must have been freak of theirs to i
have their reunions In these easements
and practice with their old friends, |
the guns.
Wanted to be H0spitabIe.