Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1873-02-18

OF my danger, l swung myself over
the edge Of the window, jumping
some eight or ten feet into tangled
bushes below, and rs / 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 o
voice back; "that charge would
have killed ten men. A light there,
quick, and tell Tom to be ready"
4 cold, agonized shuddor ran
through me, What den Of mid
night murders had fallen into
And how fearfully narrow had been
my escape.
With the speed that only mortal
terror and deadly peril can give, l
rushed through the woods, now H.
Illuminated by faint glimmcr Of
starlight. knew not what i'm
pulse guided my footsteps-In never
shall know how many times cross
cd my own track or how close ]
stood to the brink Of the deadly
ravino by q merciful Providence
encompassed me with o guiding
and protecting care, for when the
morning dawncd, with faint red
bars Of orient light against the
stormy eastern Sky, l was close to
the high road, some seven miles
from R.
Once at the town, I told my story
TO the police, and detachment
was sent with me to the spot,
After much searching, and many
false alarms, we succeeded in find
ing the ruinous old house ; but it
was empty and our birds had flown !;
nor did l recover my valise and
watch and chain, which latter l had
left under my pillow.
cts Drew's gang" said the lead
, er Of the police; "and they've
troubled us these two years. ]
D don't think, though, they'll come
C back here Just at present.
Nor did they.
q But the starangost part Of my
= story is to come yet. Some three
e weeks subsequently l received a
a letter from my sister who was with
t Alice in her English home-a letter
!. whose intelligence filled me with
i great surprise.
u must tell you something very
strange," wrote my sister, "that
D happened to us on the night of the
18th Of October. Alice had not
been well for some time in fact,
, she had been confined to her bed
f nearly o week, and / was sitting
/ beside her reading. It was late,
, The clock had just struck one, when
all of sudden she seemed to faint
away, growing faint and rigid as a
corpse. / FASTENED to call assist
anee, but all our efforts seemed
: vain to restore life or animation. /
was about sending for the doctor,
when her senses returned as sud-
denly as they had left her, and she
sat up in bed, pushing back her
hair and looking wildly about her.
"'Alice = 1 exclaimed, 'how you
have terrified us all. Are you i'll p
"'Not ILL., she answered, but /
feel SO strange. Oracle, I have
been with my husband F!
"And all our reasoning failed to
convince her, of the impossibility
of her assertions. She persists to
this moment that she saw you and
was with you on the 18th of Octo-
Der, or rather on the morning of
the 18th, Where and how she cam
not tell but we think it must
have been some dream. She is
better now, and / wish you could
sec how fast she is improving"
This is my plain, unvarnished
tale. do not pretend to explain
or account for its mysteries. /
simply relate facts. Let psycholo-
gist unravcl the labryinthian slxein.
| am not superstitious, neither do
| believe in ghosts, wraiths, appari-
tions; but this thing I do know
that although my wife was in Eng
land in body, on the morning of the
18th of October, her spirit surely
stood before me in New York in the
moment of the deadly peril that
menaced me. 1t may be that TO
the subtle instinct and strength of
wife's holy love, oil things arc
possible but Alice surely saved
my life.