Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1890-03-20
GHOSTS OF TAMARACK.
Spectral Forms Go Stalking on The
Hill.
Airy Forms Tha. Inhabit The snow-sheds.
A HeadlesI Man in The Yards at Summit
superstitions That Awe The Railroad

superstitions That Awe The Railroad
Knights
$50 down through the shed and
flag the supply train" was the order
conveyed to brakeman by his supe-
rior the other day ION the HILL"
while the train lay in drift OF snow.
Look out for ghosts at Tamarsck,"
calculated one of the snowtighters
who had been trying to snatch an hour
of rest.
The brakeman smiled grimly.
There was no defiance in the look
that he gave, but it was easy to dis
Germ bit of fear.
The mention of Tamarack was the
signal for general conversation upon
Che subject of spoOlSs. There is more
or less superstition among all mankind,
and railroad men have their share of
it. Yet there are no Drawer men in the
world, and no occupation where fear
lessness is demanded to a greater ex-
tent. 1t is quite often possible TO inn
press with spool story the most val
liant of engineers who would face the
boldest risk with no thought Of fear.
Nothing natural could daunt him, but
the supernatural causes him to quail.
Tamarack is the dread and dismay
OF more than half of the trainmen on
1.-THE hill" 1t is neither city, village
nor settlement but merely a side-track
with the necessary switch in the dark
she'd four miles above Cisco. The
name is coupled with many dismal
memories OF engineers, tiremen and
brakemen who have been killed in
collisions through the carelessness Or
inadvertence of those whose duty it
has been to attend the switch. 1t is
said that no less than fifteen men have
thus met with fearful deaths in the
dark shed at this point, six having
been killed in n collision there some
eighteen months ago.
Now, when trains approach the spot,
in the dismal shadows of the timbers
seem to Turk the ghostly forms OF
MANNED and crippled men, spectral
bodies clad in robes of white, wander
ing souls returned to haunt the scene
OF their disbursement from the flesh.
Many sturdy men refuse to be con-
WINGED that it is fancy that outlines the
dreaded forms. Men who are not
superstitious in anything else quail be-
fore the very thought of Tamarack.
Everything about the spot conspires
to impart a feeling of terror in the
minds of those beset with superstitious
fears. Even by day the shed is dark
nearly throughout its stretch OF eight
miles; the studding has become black
and grimy from the smoky belchings
of the locomotives, so that even the
occasional ray OF sunshine that strays
through crack in the inside of the
shed murks the gloomy air.
"You can call it superstition" said
q strapping fireman who was listening
to the talk, 'but there's ghosts there
sure, for | know men who've seen EN-"
The brakeman who lad to make the
tour of the sheds stepped out unnoticed,
al know a conductor on freight"
continued the big fireman, who
wouldn't pass Tamarack without lock-
ing his caboose for thousand dollars.
/ braSed for him three months and we
passed that switch once week during
all the time.
":Come in here and don't leave mo
alone. cried the frightened conductor. !"
"'But must set the brakes.
"Oh, damn the brakes he said as
he caught me by the arm and hauled
me into the caboose. Then he shut
the door and locked it, and / couldn't
get him TO look out of window until
we'd gone mile"
Jim McMasters, conductor OF the ro-
tary pillow train, listened to all this.
81 amt got bit OF superstition in
me, but there are lots of men who
swear that there are plenty of ghosts
on the hill.n
Several OF the men twisted them
selves into position where they could
face McMasters. Trainmaster Agler
had ordered that the rotary must work
that night and rs it was regarded as
dangerous work by night the ghost
stories did not put them in very
cheerful frame of mind. But Jim pro-
ceeied:
Now there's Ed. Murray. We all
| know that he isn't superstitious any
more than / am. But Ed swears he
saw ghost "a the yard at Summit one
night His train had just pulled in
and he started down the track with his
lantern. Ahead stood a locomotive
that sent stream OF bright light from
the headlight along the track so that
| he could see as plain as day. Right
| ahead he saw headless man standing
on the track 1t was just as PLAIN as
ever man saw anything. The ghost
| wasn't one of these white things with
| wings either 1t was dressed like any,
7 body up here and wore a heavy rough
overcoat. Murray looked at the appa
| ritiou several times 10 make sure.
| There it was and no mistake. II power.
! fully built man but without head. Ed
was paralyzed. He got over to the
station as quick as he could. The
headless man began to move towards
( him down the track but in n moment
disappeared. Ed was too frightened
! to watch very closely and couldn't tel
in what direction the startling appa
rition had gone. He wasn't in hurry
to get out of the station. IL ever you
see Ed Murray he'll tell you that he
saw that headless man and that there.
/ no doubt of it,"
Presently and while ghosts were
still the subject OF discussion the
brakeman, who had been sent pas
Tamarack opened the door of the
gloomy car.
..He never went at all" exclaimed
one of the men.
The brakeman swore that he had
! actually fulfilled his orders, but none
OF the boys believed him. But no
body seemed to blame him for mo-
passing Tlmarack on that dark ant
stormy night.