Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1873-07-11
what she would say, could she know of

0iuihpei' 40 iolucu MY PaPeIJ nap
pened to glance toward my couch.
Was 1.-THE CLEAN of human eye, OBJ
serving me through the board partition,
or was it but my fancy? There was
crack there, but only black darkness be-
yond, yet could have sworn that some
thing sparkled balefully at me.
| took out my watch and found it was
one o'clock.
1t was scarcely worth while for me to
undress for three hours sleep; I would
lie down in my clothes and snatch what
slumber | could. So, placing my valisc
close to the head of the bed, and barri-
cading the lochless door with two chairs,
| extinguished the light and lay down.
At first | was very wakeful, but grad
ually soft drowsiness seemed to steal
over me like misty mantle, until all of
sudden, a startling electric thrill cour-
scd through my veins, and satfup, ex-
cited and trembling.
A luminous softness seemed to glow
through the ROOM light of the moon
or the stars was ever SO penetrating
by the little window saw Alice, my
wife, dressed in flowing garments Of
white, with her long golden hair knotted
back by blue ribbon. Apparently she
was bcckoning to me with outstretched
hands, and eyes full of wild, anxious
tenderness.
I sprang to my feet and rushed toward
her, but as reached the window, the
fair apparition seemed to vanish into the
stormy darkness, and was left alonc.-
In the same instant the sharp report of
pistol sounded. | could see the jagged
stream of fire above the pillow, straight
through the very spot where ten seconds
before my head had lain.
With an instantaneous realization of
my danger, swung myself over the
edge Of the window, jumped some eight
or ten feet into the tangled bushes below,
and as | crouched there, recovering my
breath, I heard the tramp of footsteps
into my room.
:. Is he dead ?" cried a voice up the
ladder-thc smooth, deceitful voice of
the woman.
"Of course he is" growlcd 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 I fallen into? And how fearfully
narrow had been my escape.
With the speed that only mortal terror
and deadly peril can give, rushed
through the woods, now illuminated by
faint glimmer ofstarlght. / know not
what impulse guided my footsteps;
shall never know how many times |
crossed my own track. or how close /
stood to the brink of the deadly ravine,
but a merciful Providence encompassed
me with guiding and protecting care,
for when the morning dawned, with faint
red bars Of light against the eastern sky, |
l was close to the high road. seven miles
from R.
Z Once at the town, told my story to
the police, and 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 cmpty--our bird had
flown nor did L recover my valisc and
chain, which latter / had left under my
pillow.
"Its Drcw's gang" said the leader of
the police, "and they've troubled us two
years. ! don't think, though, that they
will come back here at present"
Nor did they.
But the strangest part Of my story is
to come yet. Some three weeks SUISSE
quently / received letter from my sister
who was with Alice in her English home
"a letter whose intelligence filled me
with surprise.
- must tell you something very
strange" wrote my sister, "that happen
cd to us on the night of the 18th Of Oc-
tobcr. Alice had not been well for some
time, in fact, she had been confined to
her bed nearly week, and | was sitting
beside her reading. 1t was late, the |
clock had just struck one, when all of a
sudden she seemed to faint away, grow
ing white and rigid as a corpse. has
tened to call assistance, but all our efforts |
to restore her to life and animation SEEM
ed vain. was just about to send for
the doctor, when her senses returned as
sudden as they had left her, and she sat
up in the bed, pushing back her hair
and looking wildly around her
Alice p | exclaimed, how you ter
rifed us all Are you ill?
"Not ill.," she answered, but | feel
50 strange. Oracle, / have been with
my husband. "
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 De-
tober, or rather on the morning of the |
and how we cannot toll
but We think it must have been dream.
She is better now, and | wish you could /
see how fast she is improving"
This is my plain, unvarbishcd tale. /
do not pretend to explain or account for
its mysteries. simply relate facts
Let psychologists unravel the labyrin
thai skein. | am not supcrstitious, nei
thcr do | believe in ghosts, wraiths or
but this thing | do know,
that although my wife was in England,
in body, on the morning Of October 18th,
her spirit surely stood before me in New
York at the moment Of the deadly peril
that menaced me. 1t may be that to the
subtle instinct and strength of a woman's
holy love, all things are possible, but
A 10. eurolv oave1 nv life