The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-02-13

20 AtJr tpWSTd the CJucI.
Was II ,he CLEAN OF a human eve Oh
serving NE through the b1srd partition
or wsS it nv own fancv2 There was
crscS there, but only blank darkness be
yond, yet could have sworn shat some
thing hsd sparkled ba,e,ullv a. M.
took cut nv wstCh--it wss one
o'c'ocS. L was scarcely worth while tor
me TO uDdTess Tor three hOur-' sleep; |
would lie down in my clothes and snatch
whist siumbeT | could. So, placing nv
vslise close 10 the head Of my bed, sud
barricaciug the lockless door with two
cesirs, ] extinguished the light and lay
down.
At Grst ] was very wakeful, but grad
usily a s1ft drOwsiDess seemed 70 steal
over ne Ike a misty mantle. until, all
oi q sudden, some startling electric thrill
cour-ed through my veins, and | sat up
excited srd trembling.
4 luminous s0fInsss seemed To glow
through the TOgm-nO light OF the moon
OF stars WAS ever 50 penetrsting-sn by
the little window | saw Alice, my wife,
dressed in floating garments OF white.
With her long. golden hair kn0tted back
hy blue ribbon. Apparently she WIS
coming "a me with outsJretcled bSnds,
and ewes full OF wild, snxIOu. Tenderness.
-pTaug to my feet and rushed toward
her. but s. ! reached the window the fair
sppsTitiou seemed to vanish into the
stormy darkness, and I was left alone.
At tue .eif-same instant the sharp report
Of the pistol sOunded-I could see the
jsgged stream of FIRE above the pillow
siraigh, through the very spot where ten
minutes since my head had lsin.
WiLh an instantaneous realization oil
my danger I swung myself over the win
dow, jumping some eight or ten feet into
tangled bushes below, and as ] crouched
there recovering my breath / heard the
trampot footsteps into my room.
"Is be dead ~ cried a voice up the
ladder-the smooth, deceittul voice of the
woman with the hall closed eyes.
"Oi course he is" growied a voice
back that charge would have killed
ten men. A light there, quick and tell
Tom to be ready"
A cold, agoniz5d shUdder ran through
me. What den of midnight murderers
had | fallen iDtol And how feartully
narrow had been my escaped
With the speed that only mortal ters
ror and deadly peril can give, rushed
through the woods, now illuminated by
faint glimmer of starlight. l know
not what impulse guided my footsteps
never shall know how many times |
crossed my own track, or how close |
stood to the brink OF the deadly ravine
hr,t ftVl =
me with guiding and protecting care
for when the morning dswned, with
faint, red bars of orient light against
the stormy eastern sky, was close to
the high road, some seven miles from
R.
Once at the town, / told my story to
the police, and a detachment was sent
with me to the spot.
After much searching, and many false
alarms, we succeeded in finding the ruin
Gus old house but it wss enpty-our
birds had sown nor did | recover my
vslise, and watch, and chain, which lat
ter had left under my pillow.
cts Drew's gang" said the leSder Of
the police, "Snd they've troubled Us
these two years. ! don't think, though,
they'll come hack here just at present"
Nor did they.
But the strsngest part of my story is
yet to come. Some three weeks SUISSE
quently received letter from my sister, |
who WAS with Alice in her English home |
"a letter whose intelligence filed me |
with surprise.
Z" must tell you something very, very
strange" wrote nv sister, "that hap |
pened on the night of the 18th of JctO |
Der. Alice had not been well for some |
time in fact, she had been confined 20 |
her bed for nearly week, and | was
sitting beside her reading. 1t was late |
the clock had Just struck ORe-when |
all at once she seemed to faint away, |
growing white and rigid as a corpse. ] |
fastened to call assistance, bat all our |
efforts to restore animation was in vain, |
was Just about sending for the doctor,
when her senses returned as suddenly a. !
they had lett her, and she sat up in bed, !
pushing up her hair and looking wildly !
around her.
Alice" I exclaimed, how you have
terrified Us all! Are ynu IN"
g Not III, A." che answered but / tesl |
so strange. G acie, 1 have been with |
my husband "
And sll our reasoning tailed 20 can,
vince her Of thu imGO,s;bjlity Of her
assertion. she persists - this moment
that she saw you ard was with you on
the 17.b at October--Or rathec on the |
morning % the 18Th. Whtre and how
she Gun NOT Jeil, but we think i, must
have bcen a cream She i batteJ now,
and wish YOU could STE how last ,he is
.
Tnis il my plain unvsrni,hed tale.
DO not pretend to exylaIn o. account for
mysteries. simply relate facts
Let psychologists unravsl the labyr'n
thicat skein am n0t supersliyiJus,
neither do / believe in ghos,-, w:aiths or
apparitions; but this thing | do know
Jbst, although my wife WAS in England
in body on the morning of the l7th vi
October, her spirit surely stCOi before
me in New YORK ia the moment OF Jhe
deadly peril that menaced NE. It may
BE- that TO the subtle iusriGc. AM