This story did not actually take place on the Vineyard, but its actors were Vineyard people and it has a simple explanation which makes it, at least, an established fact on the records of spirit lore.

To the Editor of the Vineyard Gazette:

The following, somewhat in line with the tales of the supernatural recently appearing in the Gazette, was told to the writer, a few years ago, by a resident of Gay Head, and is given for the benefit of others interested in the folklore of the Island.

“I once heard my mother tell of a man who was driving a yoke of oxen home through the woods behind Ram’s Hill. He had been at work all day and was in a great hurry to reach home."

Near the north shore of the island just inshore from Cedar Tree Neck is what is left of the Crying Swamp. Here today is a small cranberry bog, surrounded by swamp bushes just like a hundred similar spots on the Vineyard.

A new printing press is being installed in a new Gazette office. In a few weeks the Gazette will change its headquarters from the old office at the corner of Main and Water streets to the building on Summer Street, owned by Mrs. Horace Vincent and formerly occupied as a Jewelry Store.

It was a few years before the Civil War that the incident here related took place.

A large vessel in the lumbor-carrying trade was north-bound from Charlestown, South Carolina, and thereon a slave had concealed himself, hoping that when Boston was reached he would find an opportunity to gain his freedom.

These were the last survivors of the Vineyard’s most ambitious project. Of course the right of way is an intangible thing at best to any but the owners. And it was sold. As for the streak of rust. Well, a spirit of economy which never characterized the scheme in its heyday finally removed the rails of the first and last railroad on the island.

Mrs. Henry H. Jernegan was the first woman in Edgartown ever to cast a vote for the President of the United State. Mrs. Jernegan’s ballot dropped into the box when the polls opened Tuesday morning.

The vote of Martha’s Vineyard went for Joseph Walsh for congressman, Walter H. Renear for sheriff, and John W. Churchill for state senator in the three most keenly contested primaries Tuesday night. When the votes were counted, Mr. Renear was re-nominated by a large majority, Mr. Walsh had carried the island towns by 137, and Mr. Churchill was ahead in a close vote. Harold Winslow carried Gay Head and Chilmark in his contest with Mr. Walsh. Channing H. Cox became the Republican nominee with the island’s endorsement.