Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1893-02-24
THE COMSTOCK GHOST.

at was years ago when every mine
ON the Comstock was laying on as
many men as could be worked--from
the Utah on the north to the Justice
on the south. 1t was nothing out of the
way then to see new man or two in
the dressing-room. and nothing much
was thought one night, when we were
changing to so down ON the o'clock
shift, for new man to report to the
time-keeper. Mostly men We're put
on with the morning shift, but this
man gave his name, Tom Askew, and
that was the name of one of the new
men given to the time-keepcr. He
was youngish, smooth-faced man,
Cornish by his speech, though he
talked but little. | saw nothing of
him after we left the dressing-room,
for | was in the gang who were clean
ing out the 1,S00-foot level, which
had been flooded. and he was sent
down with the gang who were re-
pairing the pump-rod near the in
cline stump. The water in the incline
stump was nearly boiling, and as the
timbers We're all slippery from the
flooding it was a nasty and dangerous
place to work.
when reported off at o'clock the
next morning Tom Askew was miss
ing. The station boss who had
charge of the stump gang told the
shift boss that about ) o'clock in the
morning Askew had asked if he might
go to the cooling-room on the station
above. and. as he was Il new man,
the boss thought he might be sick
from the heat, so had not wondered
about his not returning to work
The morning shift were told to make
search for the missing man, and at
10 o'clock the foreman reported to the
superintendent that new man, Tom
Askew, had fallen in the incline stump
on the night shift. If they got the
water out of the incline they might
find enough of his boiled bones to
hold an inquest on. The foreman
had just naturally supposed that
Askew was in the stump because they
could not find him. The man was
not IL member of the Miners
Union, so nothing much more
would have been heard of
poor Tom Askcw if Tom
himself had not reported on for work
on the o'clock shift that afternoon.
This was the sure-cnough Tom. for he
had brought letter to the foreman a
couple of days before, who recognized
him. The real Tom could not do
much to clear mp the muss. He said
he had been ordered by the foreman
to report on the night before. He
had gone to his clearinghouse to get
some sleep, and at about o'clock of
that evening a man had come to him
and said he had orders from the fore
man to tell him not to report until
the next afternoon. The man who
gave him this order was youngish,
smooth-faced Cornishman. Ofcourse.
there was a big fuss for while try
ing to find out who the man cooking
in the stump could be. But there
were big developments and plenty of
accidents in those days and the other
Tom Askew was soon forgotten.
1.-Two on three weeks after that the
men on my level had something to
talk about that drove all thought of
the other Tom out of their heads. for
the ghosts that are in every mine
We're getting mighty troublesome in
ours. and particularly on our level.
I've had more book-learning than
most of miners, and while know well
enough there are ghosts. don't be-
| IN, 81 he
ing rooms, or ON the station when the
men got together for their meals.
The men talked heap about strange
noises. and shadows, and tools that
were changed from their places. All
these things could be explained with
out going to the ghosts for it,
.Well, we We're running crosscut
from the main north drift on our level
and most of the firing was left for me
to do. You know that when you are
ready to fire blast all the men but
one working ON that face go to safe
place and the man who remains make.
the shot.
Il know we'll enough that none %
the men on my gang wanted to be left
alone in the face of that cross-cut tc
do the firing, for the ghost had actu
ally been seen on an upper leve
lately, and there was a good deal of 4
scare all over the mine. That cross.
cut was not a very likely place to b,
left alone in even with no ghosts about
1t was in about forty feet, and as i
was started off from very near the
end of the main drift there was NJ
passing of cars or men TO keep yol
company. Back about hundred fee
from where our cross-cut started, {
winze had been sunk from little
chamber cut off from the drift. Tha
winze-a winze is just shaft SUM
from some Level underground, instead
of from the 81 fface-thc winZe, | wa
saying. was eunk before my time o,
that level, out the old windlass still
stood OVER the mouth. and | had ofte,
noticed the bucket hanging just OF
the level with the sill with the rop,
nearly all wound up.
son the night | am telling you o
[ happened to be the last of my gam
as we went into our crosscut, walking
single file along the drift, holding
)nr candles in our hands. As w
passed that Wine happened Go no
tee that the bucket was lowered OIL
OF sight, and from the looks of TIN
rope was hanging about fifteen fee
4