The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1874-05-15
the manner he described.

During the next week | called daily to
see Smith and received from him most
minute account of the peIs cution he en-
dured from the spy he imagined to be fol,
lowing him. He told me that instead of
diminishing it positively increased, and that
even IN the night he could frequently see the
fellows eyes peering through the iutersti-
ces of the wooden window-blinds.
Here was another proof to me tlat the
whole was delusion, but before determining
what course to take to prove'it to be one,
resolved to make one more effort to ascertain
whether there was the shadow of truth in
his statement.
Knowing one of the aids-de-camp of Gen
eral R, asked him as a favor to allow
the sentinels to watch during the whole of
one night the windows of Smiths range of
apartments, which he promised should be
done. The next morning he informed me
that nu-perSon such as described had made
his appearance; in fact, not an individual
had attempted to come near the house ]
then questioned Smith, who told me that
several times during the night he had risen
from his bed and seen the spy lurking about
outside the house, and that he had watched
him the day before 50 pertinacously it had
almost driven him out of his senses.
1t wanted but three days to the time for
Mrs. Smiths return to Y, when the
servants in the house were in the night
aroused by violent cries from their master.
On going to his assistance they found he had
quilted his bedroom and entered another,
where, armed with a sword, he was stabbing
the bed-clothes through and through. On
inquiring the cause, he replied:
'The fellow is here, and have caught
him at last. He shall not escape me this
time and he again commenced stabbing
through the bed-clothes till he was so ex-
hausted that he tainted
The servants, now terribly alarmed. sent
for doctor in the neighborhood, who, find
ing Smith in q fainting fit, attempted to re-
viTe him by pouring brandy down his throat.
and in a little time he succeeded in restoring
animation. Smith, on recovering his senses,
CARED in a terrified manner round the room,
and then exclaimed, Thank heaven, the
wretch has gone at last - He was then con-
veyed to his own bed, where eslept souudly
till the following day
l was now fairly puzzled what steps to
take. To have informed his wile's family
of the mania Smith was laboring under,
would he to preclude all possibility of
reconciliation and yet to keep it a secret
would scarcely have been justifable on my
part. As Mrs. Smith was expected to arrive
on the following day, | resolved ut last to
call on her husband, and argue the matter
cOolly with him. | found him in good
spirits. He told me he had now discovered
| was correct in my conclusion that he was
laboring under a deusion and that tle spy
was only a phantom Of his own creation.
The Doctor" lie continued, advised
me, whenever it appeared to me, just to take
a little drop of brandy, and no doubt it
would vanish. have twice tried the exper-
iment, and in both instances it succeeded.
The mereSt taste Of brandy, find, Is sufi-
cient, SO you need not be afraid Of my
falling into my old habit again.
Of this, however. | was by no means per
shaded, and | determined not to call on
Smith : wife for some days after her arrival,
50 as to ascertain clearly that there was no
danger of her husbands returning to his old
habits
1t was well I did so, for unfortunately it
turned out that although for the first few
days the small drop Of brandy was sufficient
to dispel the delusion, by degrees it required
more, and so on till it terminated in a violent
fit of intoxication. When the fit was over.
Smith again begged of me to effect recon-
citation with his wife, assuring me he would
not return to the habit again. / told him
should take n week before deciding ANYTHING
in the matter, and during that time he made
the most strenuous efforts to abstain from
drinking; but so pertinaciousy did the de-
lusion pursue him that in spite OF all his
good resolutions, he was Obliged to have re-
course again to his little drop of brandy.
This was effectua for short time. but after
little use it required greater quantity to
take effect, and it again eliminated in a
drunken fit
In this manner af,,irs continued, the poor
wretch struggling continually in most de-
termined manner to abstain from vice, and
on each occasion the delusion appearing to
him, and standing motionleSS before him,
gazed on him with its cold, inexpensive eve,
till at last this poor victim of drunkenness
utterly succumbed, and few months after
his wife's return to Y he occupied =
grave in the city cemetery.
The following Is good; Engaged younc
I,dia-'- ora S,Da b, a writer in the TsEiyL