The Iola register., 1883-01-26
Coincidencea.

Mr.. Browning came BACK from Italy
in the autumn with q curious story Of
condolences The story is divided
dramatically into two parts, whereof the
first was enacted late in the summer Of
last year, when Mr.. Browning found
himself with his sister in remote Swiss
valley on the confines of Italy. Strolling
about in the evening while dinner was
preparing, they paused before going in,
to admire the calm and repose of the
valley that lay stretched before them,
when their talk suddenly turned to the
subject of murder, and each began to
speculate on what their conduct would
be if they should be SO unfortunate as
to find body. Isay unfortunate, for it
is known that in France, Switzerland
and Italy the presumption of innocence
is most strongly against the person light
ing on q corpse, instead of, as in our law,
the presumption of being in his favor.
They could hardly settle as to whether
they should or should not give informa-
lion to the authorities and SO escape the
annoyance Of being detained on their
journey, when they found themselves at
their inn door and dinner ready. The
next morning, as they were about to re-
sumo their travels, the landlord attended
with a long face to inform the post that
it would be impossible for him to have
two horses for his carriage, as one was
wanted to bring in the body of a man
found murdered early that morning at
the head of thevalley. Questioning him,
Mr.. Browning found that in all likeli-
hood the murder had been committed
after the conversation of the evening be-
fore, and that the body had been found
by a man digging potatoes just about
the spot where his sister and he had
stood discussing the probabilities of
their conduct in case such an event
should occur. Part one ends on the de-
parture of the travellers behind the one
horse; part two opens in the autumn of
this year, when Mr.. Browning paid
another visit to the remote Swiss valley,
again in company with his sister. Re-
membering the incident of last year they
asked the landlord if the murderer had
ever been discovered, when he told them
no; that the man suspected (who had
found the body had thrown himself out
of the prison window, unable to bear
the thought of trial and the possibility
of his wife and children in want, and
had since died; and that it was supposed
the murdered man, an Italian, had been
stabbed in a quarrel by his companions,
who had escaped over the frontier.
Further, as on the previous year, dinner
he took them to the spot
where the body was discovered. and they
found themselves standing where, on the
very evening of the crime they had
speculated as to what they should do in
case of such an event. To heighten the
dramatic effect of the coincidence, they
learned that no crime of violence had
been committed in the valley for the last
hundred years. A gentleman present
when this story was told capped it with
one of a yet more curious chain of coinci-
dences. He was travelling to Doncaster
on business, and, turning to the first
sheet of the Times, was amused to see,
below the announcement
Of his wife giving birth to a son, the an
that the wife of similarly
named husband had performed the same
kindly office on the same date. AtDon-
caster, in the office where his business |
,alled him, he was introduced to his |
who, travelling down in the
'ame carriage had been equally amused.
Nor did the coincidence end here, for,
the race-course later in the /
lay, some one in the betting ring put his
land on his shoulder, and naming him.
oughly said: "You owe me f20r' |
Turning angrilN the man dropped his
land at once and apologized profusely,
declaring he had for the moment mis-
AIKEN him for a friend Whitehall Re-
'ieU.