The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-03-08
VISIONS SEEN IN SLEEP.
rhe Remarkable PremonitiOn Had by
an Officer in an Indiana Regiment.
The Realistic Dream Had by Young Amer
lean Miner in the Gold Fields
Of Australia.

occult sciences, the other evening" when Jour
nal reporter happened in the room, and over
heard most remarkable psychological expert
ence related by one of the party, Gen. John O.
McQuiston. q gentleman we'll known as GAL
liant soldier during the late war, and who told
the experience in perfect good faith. II have
had several commonplace premonitions that
make up the experience of everyone, and others
that are strange and phenomenal The most
remarkable and eerie is one am going
TO relate, and which occurred during
the war; continued General McQuiston
II had returned home with the rank
Of colonel, and after resting while Gov
ernor Morton commissioned me TO organize
regiment, and gave mo carte blanche in the Sc
lection of my officers in the way of blank COM
missions. This was during the middle of the
war. There was young fellow of much prom
ise and influence to whom had guaranteed a
captains commission if he would organize a COM
pany. He did SO, and among the number was
fat Dutchman, who was quite a character in the
town, and who had been one of the first to en-
list. 1t happened that after the organization of
the company which completed my regiment, l
returned to my home one afternoon ex
hausted with clerical work, and laid
down on sofa to sleep. My wife and
4 neighbor friend were in the room,
engaged IN sewing, and the windows were open,
as the day was mild any balmy. l think I had
dropped into sleep of five minutes duration,
when awoke from the most startling dream
vision ever experienced. The memory of it is
indelibly impressed upon my mind to this day.
az have had remarkable Dream said, rub
bling my eyes and answering the looks of amaze
ment on the women's faces They said looked
quite startled. Then 1 told them the dream,
under promise of secrecy, for / was afraid it
would frighten the men. 1t was as follows:
thought was a commander of brigade, and
that the regiment had just organized was in
the command. The action of the dream lay in
warm country and amid delightful scenery.
Suddenly, while on the march an engagement
took place From wood bord ering meadow
in front of our skirmish line, advanced a
regiment of men, dressed in black. l made
them out, through glass, to wear dark clothes
and plpmed black SLOUGH hats-the flower of
some Southern reserve corps. An engagement
took place l saw the captain 1.-THE young man
mentionedl killed by.a SHE'LL and the Dutch
man fall, struck by bullet. He fell backwards
with an exclamation l refined my horse at this
unusual sight. The enemy were driven back,
and we afterward came to place where we
halted There was stream running through
strip of woodland, and tree grew near the edge
of the bank, with a natural experimenting
hanging from the branches. / thought l sat in
the swing, and smoked, and discussed the fight
with myself-and drank some whisky. 1t was
so vivid that l repeated it to my wife and her
friend, ard remarked that l certainly was not
asleep. They laughed at me, and promised
secrecy. We went into the field
During the Atlanta campaign several
months later, among the hills of Georgia, MY
brigade was engaged in just such fight as L
have described in the dream. | remembered the
look of the country, and when the engagement
commenced remarked to my adjutant, Capt
Hit that we had certainly passed through this
section Of the country before. The conforma-
ton of the ground-the topography-was strange
ly bewildering. When the line of men advanced
attired just as / had seen them in my dream, l
exclaimed to my staff:
"Boys, by -, we have met those fellows
before
1.-THE officers swore we had not and sup
posed, presume, had little to much Of the
odd stuff. And when saw the men killed as |
have described and when, after the engage
ment came upon the tree with the grapevine
/ was more bewildered. At last the remem-
branee of the vision had at home came back
to me, and told my staff of the occurrence. 1
afterwards wrote the particulars home to my
wife, and she then told of the strange vision |
had seen, on that spring afternoon, on the sofa.
/ am not a spiritualist,' continued the gentle
man, ''but believe that there are phenomena
resulting from transcendental laws not yet
derstood." Several other gentlemen related ex-
periences Of their and friends that we're
unusual but not startling.
the above experience recalls one related to
the reporter by friend, a few years ago. a fell
low who had had . rather nomadic career, and
who was all honor and truth. He
was Harvard man, with all tho polish
of foreign travel, but owing to domestic troubles
1rifted 10 New Zealand and led a rowing life, in
the green fields and as contributor to one Of the
Auckland papers. He afterwards sailed to
Australia, where, seeking adventure and fortune
he tried the gold field He had correspcpded tor
number Of years with an old chum at a boarding
school from which he had entered college The
man himself was fellow capable of deep at
tachments. and he had cherished the fondeSt re-
gard for his schoolboy companion, who had com
pleted his collegiate course at another institu
ton. During the time he had been in the col
onies he had lost sight of the world In some of
the upper mining towns, with an
other partner-by the way, Californian
and an experienced miner-he located
a claim and proceeded to sink n shaft The
whole place was honeycombed with incipient
mines, and there had been considerable luck in
the finds. After a good many days of hard
work the Californian came to the conclusion that
the claim, was no good, and proposed for them TO
sell, or TO quit and try elsewhere, but the mar
rator objected, feeling that their luck would
turn That afternoon the partner came to the
ground. by means of n rude ladder and the mar
rator of the experience worked in the shaft until
tired, when, resting, peculiar feeling possessed
him. viz: That some ore was beside him. and
that it was his old chum. He started gazed
around then up at the sky and wondered
at the circumstance 1t had grown dark and he
recalled legends he had read of mine gnomes
When he came to the top, so impressed was ne
by the feeling that he determined to inquire into
the history of his neighbors whose claim lay
next to him. 1t might be romantic, but as he
was in Australia might not his friend be also!
That night he told his partner of the occurrence,
and was informed that the neighbors were
Englishmen. He also had dream that very
night so vivid that he aroused his friend 1t was
that there was rich lead on the left, a
pocketful CT large nuggets, it seemed about
fourteen feet from where they had dug His
partner chaGfed him, and fell asleep, but the
story teller was now wido awake and this feel