Rensselaer Republican, Volume 19, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1886 — A HAUNTED SHANTY. [ARTICLE]

A HAUNTED SHANTY.

BY W. H. S. ATKINSON.

lam a full-fledged man, now. There is Dot the shadow of a doubt about the matter. Any question in regard thereto would be forever settled by a conple of little fellows who follow ine around the house and yard, addressing me twenty times in a minute as “papa.” Even if this did not suffice, the generous sprinkling of white hnirs upon say head would tell their own tale. But, just about twenty years ago, I really was not quite sure whether I was a boy or a man. Iwas 19 years old, and, although blessed with the tegs and shoulders (upd I might add whiskers) of a man, I carried about with me tbo head of a great overgrown boy. And when I eny that I had a„ boy’s head, do not imagine that it was a dull boy’s head; my cranium enclosed a brain —a most fertile brain, I assure you, for devising mischief. I had the misfortune- to be born and raised in the village of Whippoorwill, the - aleepiest place, par excellence, in Western Ohio. The ehnnge from the dull routine of country-life, to which wo could look forward, was an annual visit to the fair at Mndvillc. the County Seat. The only thing, out of the ordinary, which existed iu Whippoorwill, was Sammy Wagstaff, who was popularly supposed to have “a tile loose,” and who undoubtedly rata a little •off;" while the only crtnt which had transpired up to the time of this chronicle, And which seems to me worth recording, was the disappearance of pretty Jennie Chester under a clond of disgrace. I mention these things, not that they particularly effect my story, but because they will in part explain tbe reason why I attach some importance to the only excitement of my younger days. But stav—in recording these slight deviations from our ’‘trivial round,” 1 had well-nigh forgotten the most important piece of stock-in-trade for Whippoorwill gossips, the “show” place of the township. Two or three miles trout the “center” was a deserted house, Known as the Red Shanty. How it derived its name I cannot say, nnless its old boards, blenched by years of wind and rain, had at one time been painted red. It was a queer-looking building, standing in the middle of a held. It consisted of three stories, the lower one brick and the upper ones of wood. The windows of the first two stories were boarded up securely, but those of the lop floor- let in whatever light could pierce through a generation of dust. The place wus believed by all orthodox citizens of the township to be haunted, and not even the owner could he induced to go within forty rods of the Bed Slianty after dark. What gave rise to the superstition? no one seemed to know, and I knew no more than the rest, but, with the rest, I shared iu the general feeling that there was something "uncanny” about the Bed Shanty. Now, among the Hoosier citizens of Whippoorwill, I was considered rather a smart boy. although I must confess that most of my smartness ran tef deviltry. On account of this smartness, whether real or imaginary, my father determined to make me something more than a farmer, and sent me when about 19 years old to Mudville to learn telegraphy. In due course of time I was appointed night operator at Whippoorwill siding. Now, without the lecture that my father bestow-cd iipon me. I know tha t a telegraph operator on a railroad should quit all snch devil's tricks as 1 had been in the habit of indulging in, and 1 eertainly did 6ober -down. Indeed, the surroundings of my daily, or rather nightly, duties were not very exmiles irorn the village, and the telegraph •cabin was fully half a mile fron niv house, except the Bed Shanty, which I could have hit with a stone from the door of the cabin. .-I had been nt. the siding about two months, when, as I sat in front of the cabin on a fine September midnight, I most distinctly saw a light shining from one of the upper windows of the Bed Shanty. It burned for two or three minutes and then went ottt. It was certainly very strange, because in all my life no one had ever lived in that old house, and, as I passed it in the evening on my way to work, I had noticed it barred and boarded so long as I can remember. - I thought about the light all night, and when I was relieved iu the morning I said nothing, but took a walk around by the Bed Shanty. Its appcainnye was unchanged, und there was not a sign of its being inhabited, so I came to the conclusion that my eyes had deceived me. The pext night I looked in the direction of the haunted house several times, but saw nothing. The third night I watched agaiu and mo6t certainly saw a light, and furthermore, heard a door closed. I am afraid I was rather supen&itious in those days, and I didn’t like this Bed Bhanty business at all. _ The following day I met several of “the boys” aiid we all Strolled down to the haunted house, when I told them of what I bad seen and heard. Some of them proposed going through the place then and there, to see who or what was inside. But others of us, including myself, suggested that ffhoata and “snch stuff” kept out of the way in the daylight, so that an assault just then would be useless. Besides, I had a bold scheme of my own to propose —a plan which (I thought) would at once be a huge joke for all the boys and particularly satisfactory to me. Indeed, I know that, altbouah I did not care very much about the strange light I had seen, it .was my inordinate love for a joke-or an adventure which put the idea, which now ocenpied it, into my head. I proposed, to a select company of youths, nothing less than the destruction, by gun- ~ powder or dynamite, of tbe notorious Bed Shanty! .' : ; ~~ I knew that if the plan was generally ventilated in the village it would be seriously, and probably, effectually opposed. Once the place was destroyed, 1 imagined cobod v would kidk very hard. So we resolved to keep tbe scheme among our halfdozen selves, and I was appointed a committee of one to secure powder and otherwise jferfect the arrangement for the ex-

•..; j, %■ ... i.-.r i.e.siU-.*..* .. • . y LJLStII,*My father being tho proprietor of a stone quarry in the township, it wae not a very difficult matter for mo to procrire, in a quiet way. a quantity of blasting powder. I had seen them blast stone, and knew how to lay a powder, (rain, but I wag absolutely ignorant of the laws of resistance, and knew no more than the man in the moon what quantity of powder would be required to demolish the Bod Shanty. , None of ua, bold wreckers that we were, dare go very close to the haunted house in the dark, and I could hot leave my cabin at night, anyway. It was Anally arranged that I should fix the charges of powder and lay trains to a small grove of trees, a couple of hundred yards distant, from the lied Shanty, from tho shelter of Which some of the boys should, at midnight, start the explosion. . : i Two or threo evenings later I deposited a matter Of forty pounds of powder, in half adozen smnll heaps, around the ill-fated house. Then we slowly laid trains of powder from those heaps to the grove, and theq, after giving final directions to my first lieutenant, I went to my duties at the telegrnph cabin, to await ns patiently as I could Ihe “greatest display of fireworks ever witnessed iu Mud County." About 11:40 tbe limited mail from the west, enrrying mail and express only, was due to pass my cabin. A freight from the east, if on time, would be side-lracked at Whippoorwill to allow the express to pass. Sometimes, however, the freight was very late, and in that case would bo side-tracked at Muldoon's Crossing, nine miles east of me. On other, but very rare occasions, the freight would be just a minute or so late, and then I sometimes was obliged to stop tbe mail train fqr a * few moment's. Anyway, by 11:50 everything would be clenr of Whippoorwill, and I could watch, unhindered, tho demolition of the Bod Shanty. On this night, at 11:15, I received a message from the train dispatcher, saying that Freight, No.. 19 would bo side-tracked at Muldoon’s Crossing, and to show Number 4 (the mail) a clear road to that point. Accordingly, I set my target signal at “line clear,” and awaited tbe mail. I had hardly set the target when I noticed six or eight men coming from the direction of the Bed Shanty. They could not bo the boys; I was quite sure of that, because no one in Whippoorwill would go so close to the haunted house at that time of night. Nearer they came, and in a few moments a crowd of masked and heavilyarmed men stood before me. “Are yon the operator?” asked the apparent leader, ••■'—-■ I nodded assent. I think my tongue was too large for my mouth just then. “This target is set so as to give a clear road to the mail train, andßhe will not have to stop here?" Again I nodded. Ewell, just you fix that target so she will slow up. D’ye hear?” I heard but I didn’t obey the fellow. I was certainly a little superstitious, but I was no coward where live men were concerned. I did not know what these fellows meant to do exactly; but I guessed they meant robbery, v aud knew by their appearance thaj they would stop at no amount of bloodshed to accomplish their designs. So I made no effort to adjust the target for them. The leader took a step forward, and. laying his hand upon a big revolver, said: ; “Now, boy, I want you to have this signal fixed so that the train will slow up. When she is pretty near to the cabin, and before she quite stops, signal her to go on. D’ye understand? Do this and you’ll be solid. If you don’t, why, by God! I’ll send you to Kingdom Come inside of thirty seconds! Hurry!” But I did not move, and I verily believe that a chamber of that big revolver would have been emptied through my skull had not one of the gang interfered. “Oh, lot the cub alone,” said this fellow. “I can set the target. You fellows can spare me. A couple of you take that young rooster and put him where he can’t be seen or heard for awhile, and then attend to your business. I’ll be operator for tonight.” In a few more minutes I was taken down to the Bed Shanty, where I was securely gagged, bound hand and foot, and tied to a door frame on the upper floor. It was impossible for me to move or speak. Now I knew the secret of the lights and noises at this horrible old house. It had been the rendezvous for a week past of a bold gang of train robbers. At first I lay there wondering if they would succeed in their designs on the train, and it was several minutes before I recollected that in less than an hour tbe Bed Shauty would be blown up by tho very gunpowder which I had myself set that evening! Not a sound or a sigxrnl could I make'—my only chance was that some of the boys might go up to the cabin, and, finding me away, let the explosion go until another night. I heard the. mail train whistle as she slowed-npr—-then 1 heard her short, shrill whistle as she started up again. Doubtless tho robbers had been successful in boarding the train. After that all was still for perhaps a quarter of an hour, and then I heard, through the night air, the voices of the boys as they prepared to start the explosion. Well, I just counted myself a dying man, and thoughts of jll kinds ran riot through my brain. Distinctly through the Still, elear atmosphere, although it must have been 200 yards away, I heard a match struck, and in another moment —perhaps the most awful moment of my life, I heard a tiz—fiz—fiz, saw the reflection of several lurid flashes, and then all was still. V' 7 ~

The explosion was a failure! Thank Heaven I was safe! Alas! I was by no moans safe. I was tkariking heaven too soon, altogether, for in a minute the Bed Shanty was enveloped iu flames. It had taken fire, aud tbe old place, being as dry as tinder, was flaming away like a coal-oil torch. Death was coming to me in one of its most frightful forms! Of the two, I think I would have preferted instantaneous death by an explosion to being roasted alive. ? I wondered where the boys were, for I could not hear them. They bad probably decamped, afraid of being caught firing their neighbor's property. Surely, then, 1 thought, the flames would attract some of the folks living in the neighborhood. Doubtless they would be mound soon, bnt 1 suppose seconds seemed hours just then. At lajjtj'When I was gelling uncomfortably warm, and half-choked with smoke, I heard footsteps on the stairway, and into the room burst the man who had already saved my life once—the fellow vrho., had undertaken to arrange the target signal when I refused. - He quickly whipped the gag out of my month. “Young fellow,” said he,. “I think I have done you one good turn, already; swear to give me a show at getting away, and I will do vou another.” “I swear," I replied, rather readily. Then h« unfastened me, still leaving my hands and feet tightly hound, and carried, me down below. He laid me down in the field, beyond the reach of the burning sparks, and as he disappeared he remarked: “I saw the flames, and didn’t want a roasted man on my conscience. Now, remember, you cannot identify me or. any of the gang.” Soon, half a dozen farmers and others I stood around me, Mid to them I told Ate J whole story. '' " i= ““

| It was a “close call” for me, and I doubt whether, If I had not received that severe lesson, I should-* have been a gray-haired man ot 38—and hlso, I may perhaps add. superintendent of the railroad on which I j started as night operator. One thing is • absolutely certain: I was lastingly cured of my love for jokes and adventures. The train-robbers were most; of them, captured and imprisoned, bnt the man who saved me from roasting 1 have never seen since that dose call in the Bed Shanty.