Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1869-07-22

lockless door with the two chairs, 1
extinguished the light and laid
down.
Gradually soft drowsiness stole
over me, like misty mantle; until,
all of sudden, some startling cleo
trio thrill coursed through every
nerve, and l sprang up excited and
trembling.
A soft light seemed to glow and
culver through the room-no light
of moon or stars was ever so soft or
penetrating by the little Win
dow l saw Berenice, my wife, dressed
in floating garments of white, with
her long golden hair knotted back
by blue ribbon. Apparently she
was reckoning to me with out
stretched hands, and eyes full of
wild, anxious tenderness.
/ sprang to my feet and rushed
towards her, but as / reached the
window the fair apparition seemed
to vanish into the stormy darkness,
and l was left alone. At the self
same instant the sharp report of a
! nistc! sounded could rec the Jag
ged stream of fire above the pillow,
straight through the very spot
where, ten seconds since, my head
had lain.
With an instantaneous realization
of my danger, l swung myself over
the ledge of my window, jumping
some eight or ten feet into the tang
led rose-bushes below, and as l
crouched there, recovering my
breath, l heard the tramp of footsteps
into my room.
"Is he dead?" cried voice up the
ladder-the smooth, deceitful voice
of the woman with the half-closed
eyes.
"Of course he is" growled voice
back; "that charge would have killed
ten men! A light there, quick! and
tell Tom to be ready to dispose of it,"
att" A cold, agonized shudder
ran through me as l realized what
sit" meant. What den of midnight
robbers had / fallen into? And how
fearfully narrow had been my escape.
With a speed that only mortal ter
ror and deadly peril can give,
rushed through the woods, now illu
minated by a faint glimmer of star
light. l know not what impulse
guided my footsteps never shall
know how many times | crossed my
own track, or how close / stood tC
the bank of the deadly ravine; Blu,
some merciful Providence encom.
passed me with guiding and protect
ing care, for when the morning
dawned, with faint red bars of orient
light against the stormy eastern sky,
was close to the high road, some
seven miles from h.
Once at the town, told my story
to the local police; and detachment
was sent with me to the spot. After
much searching and many false
alarms, we succeeded in finding the
ruinous old shanty; but it was empty
and deserted. Our birds had flown;
nor did 1 ever recover my valise and
watch and chain, which latter left
under my pillow.
ats Drew's gang" said the leader
of the police; and they have troubled
us these two years. l don't think
though, they'll come back here just
at present"
| Nor did they.
But the strangest part of my story
is to come.
Some three weeks subsequently,
received letter from my sister, who
was with Berenice in her Italian
home-a letter whose intelligence
filled me with surprise.
81 must tell you something very
very strange" wrote my sister
"that happened to us on the night o
the 18th Of October. Berenice hat
not been so well for some time; in
fact she had been confined to hel
bed for nearly a week; and / was
sitting beside her, reading. 1t was
late; the clock had just struck
twelve, when all Of a sudden she
seemed to faint away, growing colo
and rigid as corpse. 1hastened tt
call assistance; but all our efforts
seemed vain to restore life or anima.
ton. / was just about sending An
tonic for the doctor, when her sense.
returned as suddenly as they had
left her, and she sat up in the bed
pushing back her hair, and looking
wildly around her.
"Berenice?' / exclaimed, show
you have terrified us all! Are you
ill?"
"Not ILL.," she answered.; "but
feel so strange. Oracle, l have been
with my husband!"
| "And all our reasonings failed to
convince her of the impossibilities OF
her assertions. She persists to this
moment that she saw you and was
with you on the night Of the 18th OF