Weekly Chillicothe crisis., 1880-02-05
A Strange Vision.

| Inv WV NuSu0Gus JCsoOpPi b' ~ Hd
published in the London Athenmum re
markable account of an apparition o
which he was the witness in Lord 0rord'
library at Warrington hall, Norfolk, il
October last After dinner, the part,
having broken up at 1920, Dr. JessopI
retired to the library to take notes of somt
OF the rare books which it contains
What befcll him thele he thus narrates
"By II o'clock | was the only persor
down stars, and | was very soon busily
at work and absorbed in my occupation
The room in which | was writing is {
large one, with a huge fireplace and Q
grand Old chimney, and it is needless t
say that it is furnished with every com
fort and luxury. The library opens into
this room, and | had to pass ont from
where was sitting into this library and
get upon a chair to reach the volumes
wanted to examine. There were six
small volumes in all. | took them down
and placed them at my right hand in q
little pile, and set to w0rk-sometimes
reading, sometimes writing. As finished
WITH q book placed it in front OF me.
There were four silver candle sticks upon
the table, the candles all burning, and, as
am a chilly person, sat myself at one
corner of the table, with the fire to the
left and at intervals, as had finished
with bo,k, rose, knocked the fire to-
gether, and stood up to warm my feet. |
continued in this way at my task till near
ly o'clock. | had got on better than
expected, and had only one more book
to occupy me. ! rose, wound up my
watch, opened bottle of selt2er-water,
and remember thinking to myself that
should get to bed by after ALL set to
work at the last little book. hal been
engaged upon it about half an hour, and
was Just beginning to think that my work
was drawing to close, when, as | was
actually writing, saw a large white
hand within a foot Of my elbow. Turn
ing my head, there sat a figure of some
what large man, with his back to the fire,
bending sIight!" over the table, and ap.
parently exanining tnc 10 Of books that
| had been at work gpon
The mans face was turned away
from me, but saw closely-cut red
di5h.brOwn hair, his ear and shaved cheek,
the eyebrow, the right eye the side of the
forehead, and the large, high chcekbone
Tie was dressed IN what | can only de.
scribe as a kind of ecclesiastical habit of
thick corded silk or some such material,
close up to the throat, and q narrow rim
Of cdging, of about an inch broad, of satin
or velvet, serving as a stand-up collar, and
fitting close to the chin. The right hand,
which first attracted my attention, was
clasping, without any great pressure, the
left hand; both hands were in perfect re-
pose, and the large blue veins of the right
were conspicuous. remember thinking
that the hand was like the hand of Velas-
1ucz' magnificent Dead Knight in the
National gallery. looked at my visitor
Tor some seconds, and was perfectly sure
that he was not reality. A thousand
thoughts came Crowding upon me, but
not the least feeling of alarm, or even un-
easincss; curiosity and Il strong interest
were upcrmost. For an instant felt
eager to make Il sketch Of my friend, and
| looked at a tray on my right for a pen
cll; then Thought, Up stars | have a
sketch Shall fetch it?' There he
sat, and | was fascinated; afraid, not of
his staying, but lest he should 90. Stop
ping in my writing, lifted my left hand
from the paper, stretched it out to the
pile of books, and moved the top one.
can not explain why | did this-my arm
passed in front of the figure, and it van
ishcd. went on with my writing as if
nothing had happened, perhaps for anoth-
er FIVE minutes, and had actually got to
tl,., L., - I.,yr, ft r.hpt I bnl Ia
tcrmincl to extract, when the figure
appeared again, exactly in the same
place and attitude as before. saw the
hands close to my own; turned my
head again, to examine him more closely,
and ! was training a sentence to address
to MIN, when discovered that did not
dare to speak. Twas afraid of the sound
of my own voice. There he sat, and there
sat !, ! turned my head again to my
work, and finished writing the two or
three words still had to write. The pa
per and my notes are at this moment be-
fore me, and exhibit not the slightest
tremor orfncrvOusness. | could point out
the word was writing when the phantom
came and when ne disappeared. Having
finished my task, ! shut the book and
threw 1t on the table; 1t made IL slight
noise as it iell-the figure vanished,
Throwing myself back in my chair, | sat
for some seconds looking at the fire with a
curious mixture of feeling, and | remem.
Der wondering whether my friend would
come again, and, if he did, whether he
would hide the fire from me. Then first
there stole upon me n dread and suspicion
that was beginning to lose my nerve. |
remember yawning; then | rose, lit my
bedroom candle, took my books into the
inner library, mounted the chair as before,
and replaced five ofthe volumes; the sixth
brought back and laid upon the table
where had been writing when the phan-
tom did me the honor to appear to me,
| By this time had lost all sense of unea-
| siness. blew out the four candles and
| marched off to bed where slept the sleep
of the just or the guilty. know not
| which-but l slept very sOundly. This is
simple and unvarnished narrative Of
facts, Explanation, theory, or inference
leave to Others"