The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1882-01-26
ANOTHER QUEER STORY.


The crime of LEROY has caused the
greatest agitation in England concern
ing the system of travelling by railroad.
Mr.. Lebouchere takes advantage OF the
excitement to publish remarkable story
illustrating the perils of that system. 1t
is drawn from life, and recounts the ad-
ventures of the Rev. Jude Gloam, shy
young clergyman, who had taken glass
more than usual at dinner, and of Miss
Aviss, an equally shy young lady, whom
he accosted on the train:
It is the curse of shy men that, get
ting so little practice in conversing with
women, they never know where to stop
when peradventure they do get chance
of talking. It is by shy men that the
rudest things are habitually said and
done through sheer inexperience. Mr..
Gloam had no idea that he was trans
crossing the prophecies. He thought he
was making himself very funny and
agreeable.
81 say, Miss-Aviss," suffered the
Rev. Jude, with leer, ''supposing there
was q piece of mistletoe in this carriage ?"
No answer from the girl, but her eyes
opened wide, and she shrank up tremb-
ling in her corner of the carriage.
'I-I think there is piece; look
there I" continued the foolish man,
pointing to the lamp in the ceiling, for
he meant to be facetious.
The girl was now fairly frightened and
moved from her seat to the further cor
ner of the carriage. She had heard OF
drunken ruffians insulting ladies in rail-
way carriages, and she set down her
reverend companion as being drunk,
and possibly q ruffian. No doubt his
clerical gsrb was only disguise.
"What are you running away for?
asked Mr.. Gloam as he rose to follow her
with an unstesdy gait, caused not so
much by his tipsiness-for he was NOT
regularly tipsy-as by the oscillation OF
the train. But to the affrighted girl who
saw him stagger it looked as If he were
dangerously inebriated.
eff you approach another step, sir, l
shall scream y cried she, starting up,
while all the color fed from her face.
"What for?" asked the Rev. Jude, and
putting up his hand to steady himself,
he quite unintentionally rested it on her
shoulder. The movement of recoil which
this apparent assault caused the girl to
make threw Mr.. Gloam off his balance,
and he pumped into the seat from which
she had risen. This only increased the
girls fright, and wildly opening the win
dow of the carriage she screamed Help!
help murder r.
In an instant Mr.. Gloam was sobered.
The girls shrieks cleared all the fumes
of wine from his brain and showed him
in what q desperate position he had
placed himself.
ssEor n>J,e sa1a don't soraau, liRo
that" he implored, you'll ruin me, and
selling the girl by the waist he wrenched
her from the window.
"Helpw she gasped, as she fell on to
one of the seats and struggled to regain
her footing.
miss Aviss, for Gods sake let me ex-
plain, entreated Mr.. GIoam, seizing her
hands; but the horrible fear which was
now legibls on his face made him more
dreadful object to look at than before,
while the violence he used to restrain
the girl robbed her of all presence of
mind. Disengaging herself from him,
she tottered toward the nearest door and
frantically turned the handle. A blast
of cold, night air flew into the carriage
and shower of sparks from the engine
was seen flying by. Mr.. Gloam made q
grab at the girl to draw her back. She
eluded him, and screaming louder than
ever, tried to step on the footboard.
Then there was another faint shrek and
all was silence. The door, swinging for
ward by the impetus of the train at .
curve, closed of its own accord. The
girl had clipped and was gone.
"Great GOdv muttered Mr.. Gloam,
when one awful minute had lapsed. He
had taken of his hat and was stroking
his forehead, As he sat, endeavoring to
realize what had happened. He asked
himself whether he was not in the midst
of nightmare. II the train had stopped
at that minute he would have been un-
able to crawl out, and anybody who had
seen him must have suspected him of q
crime. During quarter Of an hour the
poor wretch could neither stir nor think
1ucidly; he could only moan and trem-
BILE. What recalled him to himself was
the sight of the things which the poor
girl, now dead, beyond doubt. had left
in the carriage. There was q shawl, .
travelling bag, q novel; and on the floor
small gold watch, without chain.
The sight Of these articles stirred in
the unwilling murderer the sense of self
preservation. He caught them up. one
by one, and flung them out of the win
dow into the dark, after which he crept
ON his knees and looked under the seal
TO sec il anything else had been left. he
found nothing. Pitiable as his agony OF
mind then was he saw the necessity Of