continued to
float along at a short distance away until Stephens became frightened
and whipped up his horses until they flew at a two-minute gait down the
road, the object following at some distance until quite away from the
scene of its first appearance, when it disappeared like a cloud of
vapor. There are dozens of authentic stories of the ghostly
peculiarities of the Betts ghost which are new and peculiar.

It appears, since the destruction of the Betts homestead, to have taken
up its quarters near the highway, and here it appears to people who have
generally scoffed and laughed at the former stories. That it is
bullet-proof does not need testimony, located, as it is, in a section of
country which has for years been noted for its fearless men--such as the
Duskys, Downs and others of national fame as sharp-shooters, scouts,
etc., during the late war. None of these men have succeeded in "laying"
or putting a quietus to it. There is a story that a couple of men had
been murdered or disappeared in this vicinity, and that the ghost is the
uneasy spirit of one of these men, but there is no real evidence that
anybody was ever killed there.

There is no doubt that Calhoun County has a mystery which neither time,
bullets, courage nor philosophy can either drive away or explain. It has
come to stay. If you meet a Calhouner just mention it, and he will tell
you that the "Betts ghost" is a county possession which it will gladly
dispose of at any price.

TOM CYPHER'S PHANTOM ENGINE

(Seattle _Press-Times_, Jan. 10, 1892)

Locomotive engineers are as a class said to be superstitious, but J.M.
Pinckney, an engineer known to almost every Brotherhood man, is an
exception to the rule. He has never been able to believe the different
stories told of apparitions suddenly appearing on the track, but he had
an experience last Sunday night on the Northern Pacific east-bound
overland that made his hair stand on end.

By the courtesy of the engineer, also a Brotherhood man, Mr. Pinckney
was riding on the engine. They were recounting experiences, and the
fireman, who was a green hand, was getting very nervous as he listened
to the tales of wrecks and disasters, the horrors of which were
graphically described by the veteran engineers.

The night was clear and the rays from the headlight flashed along the
track, and, although they were interested in spinning yarns, a sharp
lookout was kept, for they were rapidly nearing Eagle gorge, in