The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1901-04-05
A STRANGE.
PHANTOM
In Form of a PASSENGER
Train.
HAUNTS A VILLAGE
In Ohio, on the 3. & O.--lt Is
Wrecked In River Styx
at Irregular In
tervaIs,

The little town of Rittman, o., stu
ated in the northern edge of Wayne
county, on the Erie and B. G. o, rail-
roads, has never made bid for notori-
ETY. or immortality, and yet it possesses,
according to some of its inhabitants,
one thing that very few communities
have or could desire, says the Cleveland
Leader.
A cluster of fifty or sixty houses, Il
! tile works, a salt factory, two or three
stores, a postofilce, blacksmith shop,
church, school house, and railroad de-
pot, mark the place as an ordinary
Ohio village. The extraordinary pos
session of the town is a phantom pas
senger train that is apt to come down
the Erie track from Wadsworth at any
hour of the night, and wreck itself and
evaporate In thin air at the River Styx
bridge, about quarter of mile east
| of the railroad station house.
The Rittman phantom train, as Is
commonly told and believed, had IT'S
origin about two years ago, when the
fast west-bound passenger train on the
Erie, No. 8, was wrecked at the bridge
| over the Styx, and the faithful engineer
was killed at his post of duty. Since
then the apparltion has been variously
seen and described according to many
believers in "spookology." The bes.
authenticated account of this wheeled
phenomenon is given by two well
known citizens of the community. Sew
eral months ago they were returning
home in buggy at about II o'clock
at night, when they saw train COM
ing from the east at a tremendous rate
of speed, and supposed it was train
No. / trying to make up time. Both
men saw the glaring headlight, the
clouds of smoke beiching from the
/ smokestack, and the dim lights steal
| ing through the windows of the passen-
| ger coaches. Just before the train
reached the bridge over the StyX the
shrill whistle of the locomotive caused
their renewed observation. Suddenly
| circles of fire and sparks were seen
! elected from every wheel of the train
and the terrible grinding caused by the
application of the air brakes in clouds
OF dust, smoke and Are, and the con-
fusion of an awful wreck. There were
sounds of Kissing steam issuing from
! the demolished locomotive, the creak-
! ing and swapping of timbers and rods
of iron, and above all the shrieks ana
groans of the passengers pinioned be-
meath the mass of wreckage. This
noise was not only heard by the two
astonished onlookers, but 1t also awak-
ened with alarm many who were quiet
ly sleeping in adjacent houses.
Momentarily spellbound at what they
had witnessed. the two citizens soon
| come IN their senses and hastenpd tn
the scene of the disaster Their feel
ings can scarcely be described when
it is understood that on reaching the
bridge they found everything in nor
NAL condition. No wreaked locomotive
! baggage, mail and passenger car
were there, and no dead engineer and
! fireman, and no mangled passengers
dying The StyX was flowing on with
scarcely o ripple, and the bridge and
the railroad track were intact.
The men hurried to the town and re,
lated their experience, but could in
duce no one to return to the spot thar
night. Since then no one but the very
bravest venture over that portion OF
the track on foot at night. il is fur
! ther stated that mothers find that th
phantom train Is more potent in keep"
| ing waywaTd urchins in doors after
dark than stories about escaped circus
bears.