The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1879-02-13

| Not till both sheets were covered die
1 lay. aside my pen and prepare foI
slumber. As / folded my paper hap
pened to glance toward the couch.
Was it the CLEAN OF human eye Oh
serving me through the broad partition
was it my own fancvp There was a
crack there. but only blank darkness be
iyond, yet ] could have sworn that some
thing had sparkled balefully at me.
took out my watch-it was one o'clock
1t was scarcely worth while for me to un
dress for three hours sleep. / would liz
down In my clothes and snatch what
slumber could. So, placing my valise to
the head of my bed, and barricading the
iockless door with two chairs, l extin-
guished 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 a
sudden. some startling electric thrill
coursed through. my veins and / sat up ex.
cited and trembling.
| A luminous Stiffness seemed to glow
through the room-no light of the moon
or stars was ever so penetrating-andb by
the little window | saw Alice, my wife,
dressed in floating garments of white, with
her long, golden hair knotted back BY a
blue ribbon. Apparently she was coming
to me with outstretched hands, and eyes
full of Wild, anxious tenderness.
sprang to my feet and rushed toward
her, but as l reached the window the fair
appariton seemed to vanish into the
stormy darkness. and was left alone. At
the selfsame instant the sharp report of a
pistol sounded-I could see the Jagged
stream of fire above the pillow straight
through the very spot where ten minutes
since my head had lain.
With an instantaneous realization Of
my danger | swung myself over the edge
of the window, Jumping some eight or ten
feet into tangled bushes below, and as
ciOuched there recovering my breath /
heard the tramp of footsteps into my
room.
us he dead?" cried voice up the lad
der-the smooth deceitful voice of the
woman with the halfclosed eyes.
"Of course he is" growled voice back;
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 mar
row had been my escape!
With the speed that only mortal terror
can give, | rushed through the wood, now
Illuminated by faint glimmer of star
light. l knew 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 dead
ly ravine; but merciful Providence en-
mnaccnd mo vxy1fh ov.,,A,nv 81
tectlng care, for when the morning dawn
ed, 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 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 was empty-our
birds had flown; nor did / recover nv
vallce and watch, and chain, which latter
had left under my pillow.
Its Drew's gang" said the leader of
the police, land they've troubled US these
two years. don't think, though, they'll
come back here just at present"
Nor did they.
But the strangest part If my story is
yet to come. Some three weeks suisse
quently ] received a letter from my sister,
who was with Alice in her English home
"a letter whose intelligence filled me with
surprise.
Il must tell you something very
strange" wrote my sister, that happened
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 for nearly
a week, and was sitting beside her read
ing. 1t was late-the clock had Just
struck one-when all at once she seemed
to faint away, growing white and rigid as
a corpse. FASTENED to call assistance;
but all our efforts to restore animation
were in vain, was just about sending for
the doctor. when her senses returned as
as they had left her, and she sat
up in bed, pushing up her hair and look
ing wildly around her.
"'Alice,' | exclaimed, how you have |
terrified us all. Are you ill?'
mot i'll, she answered, but feel so
strange. Oracle, have been with my
''And all of our reasoning failed to con-
vince her of the impossibility of her asser-
ton. She persists to this moment that |
she saw you and was with yOu on the |
of the 18th Of October Where
and how she cannot tell, but we think it |
must have been dream. She is better
low, and | wish you could see how fast she
S improving"
This is my plain, unvarnished tale. |
10 not pretend to explain or account for its
mysteries. | simply relate facts. Let
unravel the labyrinthical
klein. am not superstltious, neither do
believe in ghosts, wraiths or apparitions;
,ut this thing do know-tnat, although
ny wife was in England in body on the
morning of the 18th of October. her spirit
urely stood before me IN New York in the
of the deadly peril that menaced
ne. II may be that TO the subtle instinct
md strength of wife's holy love all things
ire possible, but Alice surely saved my
lfe.