Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1873-05-08

| WQat Sne WOutu Say CouIu SIG KNOW VI
my strange quarters.
Not until both sheets were coverd
did lay aside my pen and prepare for
slumber. AS I folded nay paper, l
happened to glance toward my couch
Was it tie CLEAN Of a human eye,
observing me through the board par
tition, or was it but my fancy? There
was crack there, but only black dark
ness beyond; yet l could have sworn
that something sparkled balefully at me.
took out my watch-It was only
one o'clock. 1t was scarcely worth
while for me to undress for three hours
sleep; would lie down in my clothes
and snatch what slumber / could. So,
placing my valise close to my bed, and
barricading the lockless doors with two
chairs, | extinguished the light and lay
down., si. 3, ....-...... r.. =.
At frstT was very waksful, but grad
ually soft drowsiness seemed to steal
over me like misty mantle, until all Of
sudden, some startling electric thrill
coursed through my veins, and l sat up
| SAC1Gco dlO tISlAUll1lS..
| H., A luminous softness seemed to glow
through the room-no. light of the
moon or stars was ever SO penetrating
and by the little window l saw Alice,
my wife, dressed in flowing garments of
white, with her long golden hair
knotted back by a blue ribbon. APP
parently she was reckoning to me with
outstretched hands, and eyes full of
wild, anxious tenderness. ......
| sprang' to my feet and rushed
towards her, but as / reached the win
dow, the fair apparition seemed to van
ish into the stormy darkness, and l was
left alone. In the same instant the
sharp report of a pistol sounded, I could
see the jagged stream OF the fire above
the pillow, straight through the very
spot where, ten seconds before my head
had lain. I'D
With an observation-disclosures realization
of my danger; 1 swung myself over the
edge of the window, jumped some eight
or ten feet into the tangled business
below and, as l crsuched there, recover
ing my breath, ! heard the tramp of
footsteps into my room.
SIS be dead ?" cried voice up the
ladder-the smooth, deceitful voice Of
the woman.
s'Of course he u.s." growled a voice
back again, ''that charge would have
killed ten men. A light there quick,
and tell Tom to be ready. .'
A cold, agonizing shudder ran
through me. What den of midnight
murderers had fallen into? And how
fearfully narrow had been my escape!
With the speed that only mortal ter
ror and deadly peril can give, l rushed
through the woods, now Illuminated by
a faint glimmer of starlight. know
not what impulse guided my footsteps
Il shall never know how many times
crossed my own track, or how close |
stood to the brink of the deadly ravine
but merciful Providence encompassed
me with a guiding and protecting care
for when the morning dawned, with
faint red bars of light against the
eastern sky, I was. close to the high
road, seven miles from R. rs
Once at the town, I told my story to
the police, and a detachment was sent
with me to the spot.
After searching and many false
alarms, we succeeded in finding the
ruinous old house: but it was empty,
our birds had flown; nor did recover
my valise and chain, which latter l had
left under my pillow a
dts Drews gang" said the leader
of the police, ''and they've troubled us
two years. don't think; though,
that they'll come back here at pres
ent." .--' f~*c e+
Nor did they. %
f. But the strangest part Of my story is
to come yet. Some three weeks subse-
qusntly, ! received letter from my
sister who was with Alice in her Eng
fish home-a letter, whose intelligence
filed me with surprise. ''osa9o u Il,
~ must tell you something very
strange;" wrote my sister, "that happen
ed to us on the night Of the 18th of
October: Alice had not been we'll for
some time; in fact, she had been con-
fined to her bed nearly week, and I
was setting beside her reading. 1t was
late, the clock had just struck one,
when all Of sudden, she seemed to faint
away, growing white and rigid as a
corpse. ! fastened to call assistance,
but all our efforts to restore her to life
land animation seemed vain. l was just
about to send for the doctor, when her
senses returned as suddenly as they
had left her, and she sat up in the bed,
pushing back her hair and looking wild
ly around her. ,,sses ,.q,5;..a
"Alicey I exclaimed, show you ter
rifed us all. Are You i'll '
L "Not ILL.," she answered, "but I feel
SO STANCE. Oracle, have been with
my husband! ana. -, so
All our reasoning failed to convince
her of the impossibility Of her asser-
tiops. She persists to this moment
that she saw you and was with you on
the 18th Of October, or rather on the
morning Of the 18th-7:whers and how
| we connot tell-but We think it must
have been dffssana1L.' , She is better now,
and I wish you could see how fast she
1 is improving" .
/ This is my plain, unvarnished tale.