MORE STORIES Exorcism denied: Sentencing set for 13-year-old in slaying -- April 2, 1987 More than one Gallagher ghost may haunt mine near Leadville -- May 26, 1991 Ghouls that labor -- October 14, 1889 Shooting at ghosts -- May 7, 1876 Cultists may follow drug routes into state -- September 15, 1989 Ghostly stories liven up history of Colorado with eerie, tricky twists -- October 31, 1988 Moviemaker's tale is stuff from which horror flicks sprout -- October 26, 1986

Gallagher's Ghost, subject of an inquiry May 12, brought some answers.

David R. Parry, director of the Lake County Public Library in Leadville, wrote that there were not one but two Gallagher Ghosts.

Another answer came from Norma Newquist of Fairplay, who shared a story that Leadville native and nursing home resident Dick Peyton told her years ago.

"This story of Gallagher's Ghost is just as he dictated it to me."

" ' . . . A certain Sen. (Joseph P.) Gallagher came to Colorado and to the Leadville district where he had heard so much about silver production.

"He was not an old man, and what money he had, he invested in a mine which was a good producer then. He would go down to the mine and work all day like the rest of the men. . . .

"One day while going down in the cage, the gate broke, and he was decapitated. To this day, there are men who work this mine, now called Gallagher's Mine, who swear that every morning they see him coming down the hill across the road from the mine, carrying his dinner bucket in one hand, and under his other arm carrying his head. . . .' "

Peyton said he was in a group being escorted by "a friend of ours called John," on a tour of several mines. The subject of Gallagher's Mine and Gallagher's Ghost came up, and John asked the visitors if they would like to speak to the ghost.

"On arrival at the Gallagher shaft, John advised the folks to stay some distance from the collar of the shaft as the ghost was known to be temperamental. Some of us who were acquainted with the story thought this was very funny, but the visitors were very serious.

"After the visitors had gathered around the shaft, John called down into it in a very loud voice, 'Hey, Gallagher.' No sound but snickers from the group. Again Johnny called down, 'Hey, Gallagher. How are you doing?' Again, nothing but laughter from the group.

"Then Johnny leaned over and called down once more in a very loud voice, 'OK then, Gallagher, no more beer for you!'

"Just at this moment there came a shrieking noise that could be heard for miles, and the visitors . . . scattered in all directions. It took us 30 minutes to gather up the party, and then not a one of them would get close to Johnny for the rest of the tour.

"The explanation is known only to a few of us. The Gallagher Mine is one of the few covered shafts, and on top of it is a metal tower with a shiv wheel. In this tower is a window made of metal, hanging on one hinge. Rusty and beaten up, it made a rasping sound when moved. . . . An updraft of wind hit the shaft at just the right time and started the old metal shutters swinging back and forth. The grating of metal on metal is what caused the shrieking sound."

Parry says the Lake County Public Library has a source "which probably tells as much about Leadville's 'Gallagher Ghosts' - for there were actually two - as you'll find anywhere."

The source Parry refers to is a series of articles by Leadville historians Don and Jean Griswold that appeared in Leadville's Herald Democrat over six years. The Griswolds also wrote a history of Leadville, The Carbonate Camp Called Leadville, published in 1951. They live in Wheat Ridge.

Parry enclosed two articles by the Griswolds that discuss the Gallagher Ghosts.

"The reason a Gallagher Mine could not be found on a 1913 UKSGS map is, as the first article points out, Gallagher Mine actually refers to a group of mines," Parry said. "And as the first article states, the first Gallagher Ghost was named for the three Gallagher brothers who owned the Mikado Mine where the ghost made its first appearance. "The second 'Gallagher Ghost' was named for state Sen. Joseph P. Gallagher, killed in a 1900 explosion in the Moyer Mine in California Gulch about 2 miles east of Leadville."

The Griswolds say the Gallagher brothers, Charles, Patrick and John, located or purchased five claims, "then had become famous by selling the five claims in 1878 to the St. Louis Smelting and Refining Company for $250,000, the first six-figure mine sale in Lake County. . . ."

In 1887, the company was reorganized as the Mikado Mining and Smelting Co. W.R. Chadbourne was general manager.

"Although the five claims were individually patented," said the Griswolds, "collectively they were called the Gallagher Mine because of the original owners."

Several "haunts" hung around this group of mines up to the late 1880s, according to the Griswolds. Miners suddenly would come upon a wispy figure shimmering in some dark corner as their candlelight struck it.

"Later, storytellers said the ghosts had been man-made figures painted on the walls by schemers wanting to frighten manager Chadbourne, who allegedly was a believer in spiritualism. . . ." The plot apparently was fomented by stockholders wanting to get rid of Chadbourne, who preferred reinvesting profits in the mine to paying large dividends.

The shenanigans didn't bother Chadbourne, but did frighten the miners who, claiming to have felt clammy hands on their shoulders and hearing weird voices, asked for their pay and left.

Gradually, belief in the Gallagher Ghost was concentrated in the Mikado Mine rather than in the group of mines. A number of unexplained fatalities took place in the Mikado.

The Griswolds also tell of the ghost of state Sen. Joseph P. Gallagher, said to haunt the Moyer Mine.

Gallagher had been working in the Moyer about two weeks when he was killed in an explosion Feb. 1, 1900.

Some of the weird happenings in the Moyer were attributed to the deaths of a dozen Italian workers who were crushed in a cave-in "in times gone by." Their bodies never were dug out. In many of the incidents the Gallagher Ghost was seen.

"As years passed, the tales about the Gallagher Ghost of the Moyer waned, while those of the Mikado endured," the Griswolds wrote.

"Were there really two Gallagher Ghosts, one on either side of Iron Hill, or did Sen. Gallagher's ghost filter through the hill from its southeastern extremity near the junction of California and Nugget gulches to the northern rim just west of Adelaide Park to join his compatriot spirit of the Mikado?"