April 16

An Actor's Ghost on an Army Post

Joint Base Lewis-McChord is an amalgamation of McChord Air Force Base and the Army's Fort Lewis, near Tacoma, Washington. But back in 1927, it was just Fort Lewis. In fact, it hadn't even been that for long, since originally it was designated Camp Lewis.

The Red Shield Inn as it appeared in 1919
via HistoryLink

In 1918 construction started on the Red Shield Inn close on to Camp Lewis. It was run by the Salvation Army as an accommodation for the families and friends of the thousands of soldier staging through the camp in WWI. The 150 room inn was completed in August, 1918, three months before the war ended. The traffic through the post had fallen off by 1921, however, and the Salvation Army no longer had reason to maintain the inn. It was transferred to the Army Quartermaster Corps for the fee of one dollar. It continued to be run by the army up through 1972, when it's use as transient quarters ceased, due to fire and safety concerns.

In order to save the historically significant building from demolition, arrangements were made to turn it into Fort Lewis Military Museum, which it officially became in 1973. But all wasn't entirely well. In fact, if the stories are true, the Major-General commanding the post was led to call for an exorcism!

The story came out in April 16, 1987 edition of the Fort Lewis Ranger (at that time, the Fort's official paper). Something odd was going on in the museum. There were cold spots, unexplained sounds and alarms that would go off for no reason. Ever since the late 1920's people claimed seeing the sad (some said angry) ghost of a cowboy roaming the hallways. Things came to a head when guards reported seeing the ghost leave the building through a closed and locked door.

The ghost was said to be that of a silent movie actor who had been murdered  in his room at the Red Shield Inn in 1927, while The Patent Leather Kid was being filmed on the base.

Barbara Bower, the museum director at that time, told the Fort Lewis Ranger, "Things weren't getting done. Everybody was talking about the ghost. Something had to be done."

At some time between 1977 and 1980, Major-General Richard E. Cavazos supposedly authorized an exorcism. According to the legend, three Catholic priests performed the ceremony, and the ghost wasn't seen again. 

The problem is that the museum's current director can find no record of an exorcism ever being done, according to the Northwest Guardian, the post's current official paper.

Could there even have been a murder? After diligent research I could find no mention of one. I did find something odd, though. All the actor's in the film had filmographies going past 1927, save one.

Could this be John Kolb? via Tacoma Public Library

There is no record of actor John Kolb beyond 1927. Indeed, he only appeared in one film after The Patent Leather Kid, and that was a minor uncredited part in Three's A Crowd. The two movies were released days apart, so his minor bit in Three's A Crowd could have been filmed prior to his work at Fort Lewis. Unfortunately I have been unable to find out when and where and how he died. All records of him seem to vanish after 1927. Could Kolb have been the ghost?

I have seen The Patent Leather Kid, but have been hard pressed to find any stills from it. There are a few in the excellent image archives of the Tacoma Public Library. One particularly caught my eye. It is an unidentified actor leaning on part of the set. He strikes me as similar in appearance to Kolb, but the definition is just too poor to say one way or the other. And there the matter rests, with more questions than answers.