The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-02-05
An Emigrant Wagon Which
Nightly Creaks Through
the City Streets.
PolIcn Onicers and Cltlzehp Are Ha I'll ad
in tho Efforts to Uuravel the 1Iys-
terIouA Affair.

and would attract bat little notice wcrs it
not for the hour of its visit, and the extra
ordinary phenomena attending its appear
ance. About two weeks ago the people TO-
siding on Main street. were awakened at tho
hour mentioned by the cseaking of 4 wagon
MS 1t went along, but thought nothing OF
the occurrence until tho thing was repeated
the next night and the night after,
when their curiosity concerning its
GRAND began to be aroused. Several promi-
nent citizens waited on the fourth night,
and when tho wagon approached hailed the
driver, who could be somewhat indistinctly
seen sitting rather back IN the vehicle. No
response was given to their hnil, which was
repeated several times. and at last with
some psremtoriness, determined to solve
tho question for themselves, the men ran
forward and attempted to lay hold OF tho
oxen's hoads, when to thei" utter amaze
ment nothing Was to be found ON the spot
where the moment before the huge team
was to be seen. It was gone as completely
as a shadow before this sun, but twenty or
thirty feet further on was pt essntly seen
wagon and oxen jolting on as compossdly
as ever.
Dumb struck at the occurrence, the men
resolved to thoroughly investigate the mat
ter before speaking OF the puzzlinG thing
they had just witnessed, az they feared the
story would meet with only %incrodulity ard
ridicule. They ran sitter tho wagon, but
failed to overtake it before it WAS swallowed
up in tho night, and we're unable TO find it
again. The noxt night all we're at their
rostS a full hour before the apparition made
its appearance, and the watchers Of the
night before. joined by others whose slum-
bcrs had also been disturbed by it's pas
sage, waited, guns and rsvolvers in hand,
for the coming of tho mysterious vehicle.
1t was seen coming promptly at the
beyond tho first house on the street.
I'M moving along ut Il leisuraiy pace.
The oxen appeared to be very weary and
disnirited, and every nov and thon the
sound Of q whip snapped in the air could be
heard, but no other Sign of life could be
dark figure sat OF the scat, which was
pushed back under the canvas, but Whistler
the driver was 81 man or woman could not
ba decided. Several of this keenost-sighted
declared il to be a man with his hat drawn
Town far over the face. concealing the fea-
,turos, while as many others were quite as
positive that the figure was that of q Wo-
man wearing a dark sun-b0nnet.
But whateveA tho sex Of the driver, the
hhadowy figure paid not tina slightest at
JGuLlOH TO LH9 GIGWu COll0ELcu duu BbauulAE
OH both sides OF the street, but pursued its
way without 80 much lis a turn of the head
in answer to the questions piled it. The
oxen plodded or without sign that they
heard the shouts, and did not pause even
for a moment. Twenty men spranR into
the at eet ss the wagon neaied; twenty
pairs of hRnda we're put out to grasp it's
sides, the harness of tho. team. the team
itself, hut only en-! ty air did they & as,.
There was not even a ttace Of IA. phantom
to be seen at that spot, though it could ba
distinctly perceived diaappea ing in the
distance. In the meantimo that portion
of the crowd that had remained on the
sidewalk continued to call out to thoRe who
had cssayed TO stop the wagon, and, seoing
the mysterious vehicle as plainly as ever,
could not but wonder at the discontinue
displayed by the Others.
These spectators declare that tho wagon
moved placidly through the midst of the
eager hnnds that grasped ut it, and to them
nc renaon Was visible why they could not
have STAYED 1t. """@
Excitement now became almo3t uncon-
trollable. and it WAS impossible to keep the
matter quiet, SO that on tho following night
tho street was med from end to end with a
crowd determined to solve the IN ystsry or
know the reason why. Each man ca sried n
weapon, and across the street WAS stretch ed
ropes, md even a roll of barbed wire at
tached to stout osts, not to be uprooted by
iacit engagement the strange team made
its appearance, and 40 the night was bill
liuntly lighted by the full moon. the white
canvas, with the dark body below,
.vs,. "o As clearly is .pvr snsilasa t thsa
Officers Gray and Connolly atcppcd out into
the street dl; ectly in front of the oxen and
called upon the phantom drive to halt.
The next moment thu men were seen to
stagger back and atretch their length upon
the ground, while tho wagon seemed to
pass directly over their bodies. So gu . was
this crowd that this had happened that IL
volley of shots from half Il hundred guns
we're poured into the vehicle. But without
even u m~olnentary check the team pursued
it's way through ropes and wire rs if they
had been but shadows of the things they
were. Tn crowd ran after the wagon until
it disappeared close to the liver as mystsri-
ously as 1T had come.
In the meanwhile the officers had been
taken up unconscious. but unhurt in any
way. 1t WAS hours before they coulu be ra-
stored tothslr senses. Both were genuinely
frightened out Of their wits. Mr.. Gray
says:
Those that like may continue to investi-
gate the wagon, or ghost Of one, and what
it carries. but they may count me out. /
have nothing more to do with it. for while
I'm not aflaid of anything | can hold on
TO, III admit l IN n very poor hand at taok-
ling the unreal. No. l won't describs what
j saw, for | can't. and besides l don't want
my mind to dwell on it; but III tell you
how l felt. and that was as il I'd stunhlsd
on an losberg in the dark, only the air about
that ghosts team was colder thnn any ics
over saw"
Connolly confirms this statement about
the inaxpreSsible chill that came sweeping
from the apparition, but says that as he fell
back, owe powered by it. he caught a
glimpse of a number Of dead faces in the
wagon, and that tho driver is IA skeleton
with burning eyes.
The ROY es ami wire fencing, which had had
so little effect on tho passage of the phan.
tom, were found to DO unbroken aud in
their original position. Nonplussed now.
and thoroughly alarmed, the citizens re-
solved to watch whence the apparition
came, and stationed some twenty
men the following night just beyond
the spot near which tho team had
been first observed on each occasion,
but failure again resulted. The strict
est watch was kept for the coming OF tho
phantom. but. though all could swear it had
not passed them, 1t was presently senn
travelling slowly down the street just boy M
their post. Where tho wagon goes ia like
Wise 4 mystery az yet unaolved. II simply
dlsappears before the eyes OF the watchers
MS II 1t had never BEEN. III excitement
produced grows hourly. and the msjority
OF the people, even tho eduunted, intelligent
clns", is very nearly convinced that the oe-
oRn have but ons origin, aud that
u supernatural one, though what the object
or moaning OF the apparition il all are