Oregon Republican. [volume] (Dallas, Or.) 1870-1872, 1870-07-02

Thus did all morbid fances and
ghoul.like ideas vanish before this
young girls glance, like devils before
the fash of angels wings. From that
moment l loathed my. work, I could
not undo what | had done; could not
destroy what | ha made indistructible
There was only left me the source of
oblivion. | persistently thrust away
from me all remembrance Of that gar
ish mausoleun, its scarlet hangings, its
steady, unhickering lights, its awful si>
lence
In this new life [ was like one raised
from the dead. [ could not believe
that skies were ever so blue or star>
studded as before; fields so green or
moons so silvery A presentiment of
evil haunted me, but it came from the
past, and 1 resolutely turned my back
upon it, was defantly happy.
The young girl who thus brought
me out of death into life,. was the
daughter of my host. She, her dying
father and myself, were the last sole
descendants Of an old, pure -blooded
race. The thought Of connecting our
young lives must, therefore, have oc-
Cured to all three of u.s. Her father
feared her friendless future, I loved
her, and she looked forward only to her
loneliness unless she yielded to her
heart and became my wife. She knew
I had been married before, and that
was a widower-and she knew no more
She learned this from her father Not
by any self control could | bring my
self to speak to her directly about my
fost wife.
Our bridal was solemnizcd in the
presence of the dying; the old man,
her father, had so desired it, and he
drew his last breath as the final words
of the service were being pronounced.
I could but notice how death had set
his seal upon my second marriage, but
l mentally scof1ed at the omens. AS l
said before, [ was defiantly happy.
I have spoken of my punishment
as being unprecedented. 1t was With,
al so horrible. that now, when am
about to begin its recital, [ hesitate
and feel that | can hardly hope for cre>
dence.
The third morning after onr mar
riage, my wife woke me up by cry Of
mingled terror and surprise. Upon
her pillow were one or two drops OF
dried blood, and on her round arm and
white neck was the purple spot from
which they oozed She professed ut
ter ignorance in regard to the affair,
declared that she had never slept more
soundly, and that the wound must have
been made during her s!umber.
Finally, after much wondering and
arguing, we settled down in the belief
that it was the work of some insect /
noticed, however, that. though she de-
MED feeling any pain in the wound
she looked wan and appeared weak -
She hid the puncture with ruff of
fine, soft lace. In few days it had
faded to little pink spot, and finally
disappeared
From that night my wife grew daily
more languid and pale. At long inter
) walls the mysterious wound was repeat
ed, though it did not appear upon the
throat second time. First the righi
wrist was punctured and discolored
and then the left Hitherto [ had re.
Trained from calling in physician
in consequence of NY wife's entreaties
not to. After this third attack [ con,
! suited one. He came a solemn, be,
spectacled old gentleman. lie spen'
4 the first quarter of an hour In examin
ing the wound, and explaining why i
was impossible for it to be an eruption
the next quarter in shaking alternately
, his lotion and his head.
The third wound, like its predecess
/. ors, grew gradually fainter and smaller
/ until it was invisible It's enervatine
: effects continued, however My wife
S had now be come so much Of an inva
e lid that she rarely rose from her couch
r Her skin was like wax, save for th'
1 blue, thready veins which ramifed it
e I realized that, slowly, but surely, sh,
: was wasting away. Another of thos
!. mysterious wounds would literally sucl
her life-yet, how to avert it?
Since. her last attack, if such it was
y [ had consulted every medical man ac
\ cessible to me. but they were all evi
: IDENTIFY nonplussed. | did not under
L I rate their skill because of their igno
y rance in the case. | realized that thi
Il was something far beyond the commo
It ailments Of mortality. Suspicious, un
defined and yet horrible, were begin
Ming to revolve themselves in my mind
Witchcraft, spiritualisn, demonism, a
II these in turn my distracted mind can
: vassed and rejected, only to return an'
/ canvass afresh. s@ -
: 1t was at this time, after the thir
0 wound, and while I was in this ment;
y confusion, that / was pacing the stree
d with eyes downcast andmind distracte
# | saw the following advertisement pos
ed upon the sidewalk: