Jasper County Democrat, Volume 9, Number 19, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 August 1906 — TED’S GHOST PARTY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

TED’S GHOST PARTY

By CHARLES FREEMAN

Jobu Ellison slowly descended from the carriage aud turned toward the house. He walked slowly and with the bearing of a man utterly dejected. Nettle, watching him from the veranda, dropped her work and rau toward him. “Was it any better today?” slit asked anxiously. Her father shook his head. “The day force went out when they came to work,” he said. “The night force stopped work about 2 o’clock this morning.” “Don’t you think that Ted could help?” she pleaded. “He knows the men so well.” “I told Raymond that I would not have him about the works again,” said the old man bitterly. “Have you broken your pledge?” “I have not seen him since that night,” she declared, “but I do think he could do you so much good, father.” Ellison pushed her aside with gentle roughness and passed on up the walk. Nettle looked after him for a moment, then, with a sigh, followed the bowed figure Into the house. When the big contract had come, there had been much Jubilation. It was not alone that the completion of the contract meant a large sum of money; it was the work that the successful termination of this Job would brlßg. Then Ted Raymond, head draftsman in the pattern room, had asked for Nettle’s hand and had been refused her father’s consent. He had been dismissed, and since then everything had seemed to go wrong. There had been a strike of the workmen, and when the strikers had been

replaced with new men the newcomers had refused to remain in the plant, declaring it to be haunted. The engineer employed to replace the striker had disappeared after the first night’s work, and it was declared that he had been thrown into the furnace. Night after night his phantom form could be seen hovering in the smoke and steam from the stack aud exhaust pipes, and no man dared remain, the fear of the night shift communicating itself to the day force. Raymond always had a good influence over the men, and Nettie felt certain that he would be able to adjust matters, bnt she bad given her pledge not even to speak to him, and she oould not urge him to take up the work. It was late that night aud Nettie was combing her hair when there came a gentle tap on the door, and she opened it to admit her father. She was shocked at the change that had come over him in the few hours since dinner. His face was seamed with furrows and his form stooped with care. “I have been thinking over what you said,” he began without preface as she assisted him to a chair. “I do not want to break my word, but absolute ruin stares me in the face. If Raymond can stop this fear of the supernatural in the men I will take back what I said and accept him as my son-in-law. Will you sepd him to me in the morning?” “Are things as bad as that?” she bsked. Ellison nodded. “Unless I can obtain a permanent force by the end of the week,” he said, “it will be impossible to complete this contract in time.” “And this Is only Tuesday,” Bhe mused. "Ted cun do if.” Ellison went away comforted. Apart from what he termed his presumption, he liked the man with his clean cut incisive manner and quick comprehension. Somehow lie felt that herein lay his solution. The next day there was consternation in the strikers’ camp. The pickets reported that Ted had been made superintendent of the works. They liked him, but also they feared him. That night gave Ted his first view of the specter. He remained with the night shift, and shortly after midnight there was a cry of alarm in the yard, and he rushed out to find the men all staring at the huge smokestack. There In the swirling wreaths of smoke floated the dead engineer's image. Once or twice the specter van-

Ished, only to reappear again, and ftor twenty minutes the men stared. Tbe% as if moved by a single impulse, they! went to their lockers, and an hour later Ted and the old watchman were left alone in the yard. The day shift went to work, as usual, but it was not long before the men grew uneasy. There Were no apparitions in the daytime, but they felt nervous at the thought that the spirit of the murdered man hovered over the works. At the noon hour they talked it over, and when the whistle blew for the return to work they went to the office in a body. They found Ted busy with Borne bits of glass covered with red paint. He looked up as the spokesman entered. “Better make it short,” he said quietly. “I suppose you do not want to keep on working in a haunted foundry.” “That’s right,” declared the leader. “We can’t stand it.” “Think you can hold out through the afternoon?” he asked. “We are going to give a little ghost party tonight. Keep at it until knock-off time comes, and the two shifts will have supper together.” “Won’t that ghost be around tonight?" demanded the leader suspiciously. "It may be all fdollshness, but you saw It yourself last night." “I hope to again this evening,” he said. “That is where the fun will come. Like to be a ghost yourself tonight?” Something in Ted’s manner convinced the committee. The members went out into the yard and advised a return to work. All the afternoon there was an evident dislike of going into dark corners alone, and the engineer shivered every time the draft made the furnace roar, but they all stuck to tie work and shared In the party at 6 o’clock. “It will be dark enough by 9 to have the party,” declared Ted. “When the whistle blows come Into the yard and don’t be afraid.” Just before 9 Nettie and her father came whirling up, and a few minutes later the whistle blew its summons. The men trooped into the yard and gathered about In little knots, whispering to themselves. Presently from the stack there arose a dense white smoke, and almost Immediately the ghost of the dead engineer appeared. With a cry the men drew together, and a moment later Madison, the spokesman of the morning, came toward Ted. “The boys want to know if you are going to keep your word,” he said roughly. “Yqu said you was going to fix that ghost.” “So I am,” said Ted evenly. “I said, too, that I was going to make a ghost of you. Look up.” With a shriek Madison' fell to the ground, writhing in terror. There in the smoke wreaths was his own face. Ted’s face followed and in turn a dozen of the others. Then the light died away aud Ted mounted the steps of the office. “Boys,” he said in a voice that penetrated every part of the yard, “I promised you that I would lay that ghost. I think I have done so. It was a clever stage trick. The strikers are using Jones’ hall across the street for their meetings. You can see that the tower is about level with the stack. When fresh coal was put on and the smoke was heavy it acted as a screen for a magic lantern in the tower. That was all there was to it. When they went up to work the lantern tonight I had the police there to catch them, and my own man worked the lantern for this little seance. One of the men they caught was the engineer himself. He is no more dead than I am. Are you satisfied to go back to work? We have a big contract, and I want to know that you boys will stick.” “You bet we will!” came the chorus, and Ted turned to Nettie. “Let’s go over to the house and have our own celebration,” he suggested.

IN THE WREATHS OF SMOKE FLOATED THE DEAD ENGINEER’S IMAGE.