Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1895-06-22

FAMOUS SpOOKS OF THE TOWN ON
THE BIG MUDDY.

1t may be true that conscience makes
towards of us all, but with the ignorant
and superstitious conscience is not u cir
cumstance when compared to n vivid
imagination The greatest coward Oh
earth is the person who secs i'll every
dark shadow, in each deserted house and
around every dismal building the rest
less spirit of some departed sinner whose
crimes will not allow him to enter
heaven, who is doomed to wander around
this earth until Gabriel's trumpet is
sounded, who must hover near the scene
of his former misdecds until the last
day
The place by popular consent most
adapted to ghost WandcrinSs and the
place most fruitful III the production of
the bona fide article is naturally the
graveyard The drearicr, gloomier and
more mournful the aspect of the grave
yard the more ghosts. But tho real be-
lever in. spooks and spirits does not
deem it necessary to go among the tombs
and graves Of the dead to find IL spirit.
Ghosts are numerous. They can be
found in all sections of the country.
There is not village nor n deserted
country house nor Il railroad bridge but
has it's ghost. But the ghosts are not all
confined to the country by any means.
There have been several i'll Kansas City
that have gained extensive notoriety on
account of their many visitations,
~, ,F %l,n ,,:tx L, NOV,
are wont to disport themselves are still
eyed with suspicion and looked upon
askance by the inhabitants of Belvidere
Hollow, Hicks Hollow and other por-
tions of tho city thickly settled by the
descendants of Ham.
The oldest, the original ghost that is
most vividly III the memory of the su-
perstitious and is most often the topic
of Srewsomc whispers among the people
mentioned, walked the levoe between
Main street and Broadway 10 years ago.
One winter S night, tho story goes,
man was lying in wait for an enemy
Oh the levee In his hand he clutched
a ponderous double barreled shotgun
loaded with nails and slugs He saw
man walking down the levee, In the
dim, flickering light he thought he rec
ognized his enemy He raised his gun,
fired and hurried away. The next day
he read in the papers that his brothers
body had been found on the levee, hor-
ribly mangled and torn. The murderer
WINGED, but kept his secret. Then the
dead brothers ghost began to walk. Ev-
cry night, ut the same hour of the
shooting, it could be seen on the levee.
Each time it would walk straight to the
spot where tho body had fallen. Then
the ghost would fall, go through death
struggle and disappear. 1t kept this up
for years, and there are those who say it
does it still
The second healthy, we'll developed
ghost disported itself in tie ruins Of the
old Santa Fc Stage Coach company's Of
flee at Second and Main streets in 1886.
So generally known did it become that
often large crowds would congregate and
await the appearance of the nocturnal
visitor. Early one evening young man
who wished to investigate a little went
into the ruins. When he emerged from
them an hour later, he found Il large
crowd standing on the opposite side of
the street, near the Jail, watching for
ghosts Some one i'll the crowd, thinking
that the young man had been playing
ghost, threw brick at the Investigator,
striking him Oh the head He fell sense
less with a gaping wound in his head.
The Santa Fe ghost has not been seen
since
In 1887 there was story atloat that
at 12 o'clock each night ghostly cable
train glided down the incline between
Walnut and Main streets and disappear
ed into space. In the grip car, guiding
the train, was the ghost of gripman
who had died short time before, after
having been insane for some time, the
result of grief over the fact that his train
had run down and killed a pedestrian.
Crowds congrcgated at the junction
nightly to see the strange sight. For the
most part they went away disappointed
although there was plenty who declared
they had seen 'it y
Another story, III which ghost was
never seen, but which smacked strongly
of spooks, was the Conway murder on
East Eighteenth street, between Oak and
Locust, in 1888 Mrs. Conway, young
woman, and her little girl We're beaten
to death with Il coupling pin. The muir
derer or mur(lerers were never caught.
Suspicion pointed toward two men, but
there was no evidence Both of them
afterward died horrible deaths-one of
the glanders and the other of cancer.
The ghost of the victims never walked
openly. but that section of the city was
given a wide berth by the true believ-
ers for many months afterward
Last, but not least, We're the ghosts of
Clark and Jones' the men hung for mur-
dering Nine Wright i'll 1898. These
ghosts matcrialjzcd in the jails one at
Independence and one in Kansas City.
The scare lasted for some weeks, and
the negro prisoners were thrown into
state of terror by any strange sounds
One night, when the Jail was i'll state
of comparative quiet, drunken pris-
oner, who had Just been brought i'll, had
an attack of ''jimjams BY some
strange coincidence he was placed i'll
the cell once occupied by Clark, and the
prisoners soon located the groaning OF
the unfortunate man The negroes, not
knowing that the cell was occupied, sup
posed that the noise was made by de-