The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-02
Old TINE TAVERN TALES
SOME GHOSTS OF NEW ENGLAND
IN THE OLD COLONIAL
DAYS
sPooK THAT SCARED NOBODY
Sir Charles BuxtOn's Temporary Es-
cape From 81 SignbOard-The
Ghost That Spoiled the
Mariners Dinner.

OhOSC 1n1G SDO1ieU the
Mariners Dinner.
Just as the spooks of Indian chiefs and
Indian maidens are frequent visitors at
modern spiritualistic seances, So they
We're a very popular brand of ghost in the
old Colonial times. Ghosts Of Indians
who had gone to the happy hunting
grounds with something on their minds
are always cropping up in the legendary
lore of the ante-ReVolutionary days. 1t
was pretty bad thing, says the New
York Sun, in those times for house TO
get the reputation of being haunted, but
If house did get that blight upon it
the chances We're very fair that some
defunct Indian had something to do with
St Just why deceased red people We're
then and are now so popular among the
ghost raisers is a problem in the SUPER
natural that has not been solved.
And there is another popularity common
to the modern and the Colonial Indian
spock. Both apparently were sheer,
chattering idiots. To be sure the stand
ard of intelligence revealed by all ghosts
in their communications through spirit
ualIstlc seances is rather below that
which prevails in the average home for
1ncurables, but there was in the old
time, and there is now, a particularly
hopeless strain Of ilnbecility in the IN
dian ghost, which puts him almost in
a class by himself.
When the Indian tribes of New Eng
land had nearly reached the vanishing
point the few survivors We're wont to
make the village taverns their lounging
places. Not only We're there rich Veins
of pay dirt to be found in the tavern
garbage barrels but there was even a
chance, by doing all odd job now and
then, of getting swig of red eye. For
this reason an Indian or half-breed
lounger Or two became a recognized fea-
Iure Of the Colonial tavern in the latter
part of the eighteenth and the begin
ming Of the nineteenth century. Per
maps that is one reason why Indian
ghosts also took to taverns At all
events the Colonial tavern ghost popula-
uon was largely made up of red men,
and marvellous is the record Of foolish
ness IN word and deed that they have
left behind them in the old-time tavern
tales that have come down to our day.
In that gold mine Of Colonial incident
and Colonial life portraiture, Mrs Alice
Morse Earle's Stage Coach and Tavern
Days. just published by the Macmillans,
There are frequent references to the
tavern indian, and the tavern IndiGn
ghost also figures IN her pages
For instance, in Reuben Jencks' Black
Horse tavern, down in Rhode Island,
there was an Indian ghost who was dis
tlnctly above the average of his tribe.
although he, too, was an inconceivabIe
1901 and quite record breaker as a
ghost liar, which is saying a good deal,
Tor lack of veracity is one of the scan
daIous weaknesses of pretty nearly all
ghosts. But, after all, he had a good
many rather decent characteristics He
haunted one particular chamber in
tie Black Horse, tavern, and this apart
IN ha
as the Indian room. OF course travellers,
peddlers and traders who went over the
road frequently knew all about the ghost
and knew which room he did his devil
ment in Naturally none of them liked
to sleep in this Indian room, although it
was not so much because people were
AFRAID of the ghost as because he was
such nuisanse When they wanted to get
a little rest. For it was one of the pc
cuHarlt1es Of this particular ghost that
he never scared anybody. Whether 1t
was because he was benevolent and didn't
want to, or whether he wanted to and
couldn't, at all events his presence never
seemed to bother anybody
He had a habit Of ttr.ving his hand
in the sleepers hair and dragging the
mead up from the pillow, while with the
other hand he f1Ourished a tomahawk in
The air. But even this ry pointed atten-
ton never seemed to Iou e anv other feel
ing in the victim than one of being both
cred by an asinine prank when he
wanted to sleep. What made the people
OF the Black Horse especially resent the
presence Of this impotent dodder-headed
old ghost was that the reason he gave
Tor 'hant1ng" it was such a fool reason.
1t seems that a little way down the
road from the Black Horse there was an
other and a rival inn known as the Pine
Tree The ghost when he was in the
mesh had been hanger-on at the Pine
Tree, and took to the grave with him
such a grateful memory of the kill
deViI' and applejack DRINKS he had
amassed there from time to time that he
determined too turn in and "hant'' the
rival Black Horse out of existence This
was regarded by the proprietor and
patrons of the Black Horse as a sheer
piece OF 1mpudence. They did not recog-
ME the Pine Tree as a rival to begin
with, and then the idea of being 'ebant-
cd out of business, especially by a ghost
that was utterly impotent when it came
TO soaring anybody, was a little too pre-
poSterous. The ghost seemed to realize
that his mission was likely to prove q
failure, so he adopted a more vigorous
line OF tactics. Mrs. Earle tells of his
performances in this more aggressive
torm of 'hanting." and tries TO put him
In as good light as possible.
10 Mrs. JencFs, reposing in state
among her abundant goose feathers. on
the high bedstead came one night the
spectre, pulled off her nightcap, seized
her by her long hair, dragged her down
stairs and out of doors, painted fiercely
TO the roots of the great cedar at the
gate, all the while muttering in broken
English of avenging an insult to his
race"
Mrs. Jencks casually mentioned this
little night adventure to her husband,
and the latter while taking q, very mod.
crate interest in the insults TO the
ghosts race, did believe that there might
De something in the buried treasure
line connected with the pointing to the
roots of the cedar So ne dug a sroalI
cave about the cedar with no result
Ihen the ghost gave Mrs. Jencks
another midnight call and this time
pointed to the roots of a particularly
me apple tree. So the husband dug IN
me apple tree, and thus he, from time
10 time, got away With a good part of
MS orchard, when he denounced the
spook as a liar and gave no more heed
TO his antics. This, however. did no+
prevent Mrs. Jencks from going On
treasure hunts bV herself a1,,7o,G