The Arizona sentinel., 1886-07-31
STORY OF A PICTURE.
An Intensely Interesting Tale Which It Worth Reading, Whether True or Not.

| An Intensely Interesting Tale Which It l Worth Reading, Whether True or Not. l A gentleman on train the other day,
 to beguile the weary journey, told g
 story which interested numbers of lis
 teners. Said he: '1 was guest of an
 old friend of mine in Chicago recently,
 and on retiring to the guest chamber ]
 found hanging on the wall a picture,
 and involuntarily turned away, but
 some attraction it possessed caused me
 to gaze at it again, and the longer ]
 looked the more it engaged my atten; ! ton. It was the portrait of a mans face, so frightful and unearthly in it's [ expression, though by no means ugly, { that found myself irresistebly attracted
 to look at it. In bed my imagination \ was filled with it, which broke my rest.
 In the morning my host, seeing that slept poorly. asked the cause, which
 was told He exhibited much vexation,
 and said that it was his order to remove
 that picture when any one slept in that room. It was indeed a terrible picture, he said, but it
 was so finely executed, and came into the family in such curious ! way, that he could not bear to destroy | it. The story of it was this: My father was travelling in Europe, and at
 Hamburg, while eating at a coffee house,
 observed a young man of remarkable appearance enter and begin solitary meal. His coutenance bespoke the \ keenest mental distress, and now and 4l I. 1,,, |, heard some terrible sound, and then l shudder, grow pale and go on with his l meal as before. My father noticed the same young man in the same place daily for nearly week, and at length became so much interested that he spoke to him. His approach was not repulsed,
 and the stranger seemed to find some
 comfort from the tone of sympathy
 used by my father. He was an Italian, poor and living by the strictest econo-
 my upon the slender profits of his art as | a painter. The intimacy increased, and,
 as my father had friends in Hamburg.
 he was able to throw some business in
 the way of his new friend.
 "tAtlength the Italian, seeing that my father seemingly wondered at his invol.
 untary turning and shuddering, volun. teered his story. He was a native of Rome and had been somewhat familiar with young nobleman; but a quarrel rose between them, and his patron struck him. Sung to the quick by the disgrace of the blow, he brooded over it, seeking some opportunity for re. venge. His late friend, now his enemy, was a nobleman, and he could not chal lenge him, and so he secretly assas sinated him. He fled from the country
 and finally reached Hamburg. One day. a few weeks after, while walking in an
 unfrequented street, he heard his name
 called in a familiar voice. He turned
 around and saw the face of his victim
 looking at him with fixed eyes. From that time he knew no peace. While walking, talking, eating, painting, his
 attention would be attracted by the call
 ing of his name in that tone which had grown so terrible to him. At last, in a mood of desperation, when his ghostly guest visited him in his studio one day, he looked him squarely in the face and drew picture of him. That drawing was afterward elaborated into a paint ing, and this picture that disturbed your rest was that painting. The Italian said that life had become an undurable burden to him, and he was determined, when he had obtained money enough, to return to Rome, give himself up to justice and expiate his crime on the scafold. "-Indianapolis Journdl