, 1889-04-18
THE MINERS GHOST
HO v the Murderer Was Dis
covered.
A Thrilling Description OF q
Specter's Awful Fight.
A Detective Tells tho story of . Ghssuy y
Crime Of BygOne o.
Times. ..

II 6nW RuOot, eHtu an Oiu uetectNc,
who, with number Of the men on the
night detail. was sitting in the chiefs
Office, waiting for ''something tO turn up"
BET IL was innocent. II it had been
the guilty party you'd never got an eye on
II" laughed one Of the others, who made
the ''old un" the butt of his wit.
The sally was enjoyed by th. party, but
the gentleman ~ho had seen the ghost ex.
pressed his feelings only by ~ sneer. He
was asked to tell bow the apparition hap
pened under his observation, the reasons
for it's existence. where IL existed. and to
relate whatever else he thew about II that
would be of interest to bis auditors.
you all remember the boarding house
on Con n er cial street kept by Red Pat
Riley" said the old detective. who was as
ready to tell the story as h,s audience was
tn hpur 10.
"Was that Mr.. Riley Who kept the no.
trlp" asked the youthful Vidocq, giving
| three.carat imitation Of the music OF the
once popular song.
The ulanc- that WIS darted at him would
have pierced vital spot in AN ironclad.
| but it. fell haru,tessly on the irrepressible
| tbief.cbas-r.
.ln Red Pats boarding house was
seen the hrst ghost that ever made San
| Francisco its h-adqusrters, said the story.
| teller. 'lD those days IL ghosts wanted
jobs they could have had 'em by the score,
AZ regiments o men steL ped bri.sly into
town IN the morning and were carried to
the MorRue early in the evening. Red
Pats house was the repd zvons nj the
newcomers, and many hard tight was
| fought there. and the HIGHT of many man
went out in the brawls that were Of fire..
| Quept occurrence"
| "Wh-r- did You read tbat?" asked the
irrppressibie "Sounds like an extract
from DR.. DOnneil's speeches"
"One night miner was killed in u room
10 the bourding.house." continued the old
man, who gave no sign of having heard
the interruption. "he was found with a
bowie.kn,te in his breast. Every cent,
every grain of dust had cen taken fro
him, and he lay so poor IN clothes that II he
city buried him at dead loss. u ~as the
ghost of that miner saw. The very mkt
night after his murder the man who pot
the room aroused the house with Ills
shripks and was found In coovusions on
thu floor. When he recovered he told =
story tnat raised the hair OF his hearers.
Red Pat had said nothing TO him of the
murder. Bnd the man knew nothing Of the
circumstances. Ha told Us ne was awak-
rned early in the morning by the
sounds OF talking. and sat ~ iu bed. All
was dark. and be thought the noise came
from the next room. Ibe truth came TO
him suddenly; the speaker was In the
room with him, and he could see II
shadowy outline in the almost iupenetra-
ble dark Bess The talking ceased and all
was still tor awhile. Then he heard tho
noise Of u struggle, q cry. and the sound
OF o fall. These proved TOO much for the
man and he lost consciousness.
RED Pat SAID he thought one of his
rivals Was putting up u joo on him. and
was sent 10 investigate the ghost. i went
to the boarding. house and asked If any
one uad known the murder d man. A
looking, said he had come from the mines
with him. and thought he knew more
about him than anyone in town.
Would you know his gbost?" a. krd
1.-The young fellow Dlanched, and
thought he would fall, but he recovered
his composure and said he Thought he
would If he saw it, but hoped 1t would
never appear to him. Then | asked him it
he would stay all night in the room with
me and help me on the case. He appeared
disconnected. but finally said he would.
and about 10 o'clock we went to the
| chamber where the miner was killed. We
had some liquor with us, and my compan-
ION drank IL good deal Of It, In AN hour
be seemed 10 drunk that he was quite
helpless. and fell forward on the table,
| where he went to slerp. think ] began
10 dOze myself, for when ! awoke some
one was talking. The lamp gave out
good light, out could not see the person
whose voice heard. Then looked toward
the bed. Some one was lying on it, and
vas almost paraly lyxed when ! recog-
1 ~ 1rDh
man. | pulled out my revolver and raped
with it ON the table, but il did not attract
the attention OF the apparition on the bed.
| | shook my companion, out he was too
drunk, evidently. to sit up. Pointing the
gun ut the tiuure on the bed. WAS about
to rise when be began speaking He spoke
of his fortunes ut the mines; said some-
| thug about there being enough TOR both.
and that. divided. the money would make
them rich, Then be bade some one good
night and turned around az ii to 70 to
nleep.
"All this saw as plainly as see every
'usu here, snl only the time that hss
| passed sipce that night mas blot d out
| tho exact words he used as he lay
trere. | again tried to arouse my COM
panion, and at last he "a: up. But he did
p3t seem to se6 me; his eyes were fastened
on the table and he seeued to DO deep 10
thought.
Suddenly the figure on the bed moved.
Il seemed engaged in desperate struggle
with something. The legs were draw n np
and extended aud the clincbed hands
seemed TO beat the air Not word was
spoken; the terrible conflict went on ip
silence. AZ il by 4 mighty effort. the ap-
partition got on its feet anu on the door,
where the weird fight continued. The
man seemed to be in the grasp Of strong.
athletic foe. whose bands were ON his