The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1870-04-29

was no sound there, but one of thos
wretched little tormentors q adeath-ticl
as they are termed, was busy in th
wainscote in the corner of the roor
over the head Of my bed, and kept q
it in a manner fearfully unpleasant t
one whose nerves had been strung /
such a high pitch of excitement a
mine had been for the last few mo
ments. The rain fell with 4 duh, heavy
mOnotonous sound upon the shingle
OF the old house, which at any othe
time would have lulled me to sleep
but rest for that night seemed banishe,
from my eyes. I tried all the variou
ways that could remember hayin,
read of, that might attract sleep, re
peated the alphabet backward, said tn
multiplication table, and resorted t,
various other subterfuges to WOO tn,
somnolent goddess, but all apparentl,
to no purpose. must, however, hav,
at length dozed somewhat, for 1 re
member giving one of those suddel
waking starts that we sometimes give
just as we are on the boundary-line be
tween sleeping and waking, when yor
are apparently neither the one or the
other, and which invariably awaken
you perfectly. / sat up in bed, opened
my eyes aud closed them again, reop.
ened and rubbed them-where was t:
l finally recalled my scattered senses
and realized my position. Yes, it was
in the same room in which / had gone
to sleep in my chair, but it was no Ion.
ger dark as it was when retired, no,
as it was when I must have fallen into
a half sleep-On the contrary a pale,
sickly glare pervaded the whole apart
ment, similar to the cold, blue light
that emanates from the first stroke of q
lucifer match, and which shone plain
ly, though dimly, on everything in the
room, and bestOwing weird, unearth-
ly appearance fearfully unpleasant to
behold And where had 1 seen that
room before? strove hard to remem-
Der, but could not. Has it never ap-
peared singular to you, when you find
in your travels some place that YOU
seem to know as well as if you had
been there before, and vet to your
knowledge You have never seen pre-
viously? know you have often ex-
perienced this singular feeling; we all
have at some time of our life. 1 have
never been able to account for it it is
totally beyond the depths of my COM
prehension; and it was this feeling that
puzzled me on this occasion. The
storm had ceased altogether. How
deadly still everything was, no more
shaking of the window easements, no
more pattering of the rain on the roof,
no more death tick in the wainscot,
nothing to break the dead stiffness Iof
the night; anything would have been
preferable to the terrible silence that
pervaded the atmosphere, and almost
seemed to wrap me like shroud,
/ looked toward the fire. place; the
fire was out, but what was that in the
chair before the hearthstOne where /
had sat before retiring-it looked like a
man. At first / thought it might be
my coat thrown carelessly across the
back of the chair; but no, 1 saw that
my clothes were at the foot of my bed
Il always hang them there, SO as to
know where to lay hands on them
quickly in case of fire. 1 looked
again, more carefully, and saw that it
was the figure of man sitting in the
chair, with his shoulders bent forward,
MS head upon his hands, which rested
)n his knees, while he seemed to be
gazing intently upon the dead ashes on
he hearthstone. How came he there,
md what was he there for? Iremem-
Der distinctly locking the door after the
had left the room; at any rate.
would find out what his business was
n my room at midnight. 1 had no
ear. took my revolver from beneath
he pillow, and ascertaining that the
'atent cartridges were all right, and
,rasping it firmly in my hand uttered
! loud ahem! There was no response.
After short space had elapsed l called
'ut: Say, who are you, and what do |
Iou want here at this time of night ?n |
lie did not seem to hear me, or pay the |
lightest attention if he did, for he |
lever moved or turned his head. Per-
laps he was deaf. would go and see. |
commenced to turn down the bed |
lothes so as to get my neither limbs |
lear of them, but had made little pro-
,ress when saw his head commence |
o rise slowly, and gradually he man.
ged TO assume an erect sitting posi-
ion, but it was done cautiously, as ifit |
aused him pain. / don't know WHY |
was l could not stir, but it seemed as
was spell-bound, rooted to my bed
S it were, and forced to watch the fig
re of that man as it slowly, noiseless-
Y arose from the chair, stood up, lifted
IS hands above its head, wrung them
ogether as if in extreme anguish, and
hen turned face toward ME and looked
t me. he was a gray-haired man,
pparently about forty-five years of
ge. never had seen such a diaboi-
ally wicked face. Passions of the
'lacaest dye seemed indelibly STAMPED
III over it; the cruel full mouth turned
!pward. with cold heartless sneef; I
he hooked nose bent downward TO-
yard the chin; the bloated, puffy
heeks; cold, hyena, gray, blood-shdt
yes, staring from their sockets, be-
'eath low, retreating forehead, with
wo deep burrows up and down it, just
bove the nose, denoted a bestial, de-
raded brute, if nothing worse. But
Vhat struck me most vividly in the
aggard, cadaverous, spotted counte-
ance of the man, was the look Of
endless remorse that shOne
rom his lack-lt1stre eyes. Another OBJ
ect also attracted my attention WITH
earful distinctness-a dark, snake-like
biect clinging around his neck. Isaw
that 1t was that caused the horrible
utstarting of those eyes; it was rope
ghtly twisted and dangling down to-
ard the floor. strove to call to him
gain, but my tongue refused to do its
ffice. After standing few moments
Lationary, looking toward me, but APP
arently not seeing me, he commenced
, moove gradually, slowly forward
18th cat-like p:ce; but though my
ars were strained to their utmost,
0uld hear no footsteps. Icalled again,
cling him that if he advanced an oth-
: step would shoot, and leveled my
,vOlver SO as to fully cover him. He
ppeared not to heed the appeal, for he
ill advanced toward me. / could de-
" no longer-I was too much excited.
pulled the trigger-there was 10 re-
ort, the pistol did not go off. But
here was the man? Not a sign re-
lained of him, and was in total dark
ess once more, and the storm had
roken out again with redoubled fury.
or my life, could not have stirred for
few moments, and then fell heavi-
back on my pillow, and cold,
llmly chill crept up and down my
ack, almost paralyzing me; if had
zen asleep before, was wide enough
wake now, but 1 could not stir. 1
'emed overcome by a perfect proxysm
terror, for l now knew why ] had
zen struck with the familiarity of the
Dpearance of the room.
While quite boy-I think / was
bout fourteen years of age at the time
i had fearful dream, which for Il
ng time, held possession of my memo