Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1884-1886, 1886-05-18

Caesar had enCirclcd his brOwS with the
crown of France, and his glorious &C.
cession was being celebrated by public
festivities. Mehul, with his wife on
his arm, had taken his children to see
the Examinations at the Champs Ely.
sees, like any other good citizen. He
stood in ecstacy before fountain OF
fire playing in the center of the
grounds, when he suddenly discovered
that some one was stealthily exploring
the pockets of his coat With quick
movement he succeeded in grasping
the thief's hand and, wheeling round,
found himself face to face with little
hump-backed man. That villainous-
looking fellow.-he had seen him
somewhere before. Where had he al
ready observed that scoundrely face
and those apish hands? Like flash
the recollection of his dream returned,
| and in his establishment he would GER
tainly have allowed the man to escape
had not the police seized him just in
time Trembling with excitement.
Mehul went to the police station to
make his declaration; he charged the
man with having tried to rob him. He
wished to charge him with something
else, but dared not. Was it possible to
accuse of murder man whom one had
never seen except in a dream?
And Notwithstanding the temptation
to do so became stronger and stronger.
Mehul returned home, greatly agitated
by the souvenirs which this singular
incident had provoked He went to
his bed. but without any inclination to
sleep; he lay thinking with his eyes
wide open, he argued with himself and
violent struggle ragged in his mind.
Ought he, or ought he not, to tell the
magistrate what had happened to him?
Dream or vision, was it not after all as
a warning from heaven that there had
appeared before him those CHASTITY
shadows-that double apparition of
which he had never spoken to living
soul?
Once again, exactly as she shone five
wears before, the moon looked in be-
tween the half-closed shutters, and the
bells of the parish church chimed the
hour of two. just at that instant a
white shape made itself visible against
the luminous beam-it seemed to stand
before the window. And with its com
ing came the sound of sepulchral
whisper, ..Avenge mer' '.Yes, dear
friend, | swear to thee / shall avenge
theer' cried Mehul, risingin his bed.
Then all his hesitation passed away,
Next day ne went early to the police
headquarters of the Champs Elysees
and frankly told all the circumstances
of his strange vision to the commits
saire. The police officer would prob
ably have told any one else who visited
him upon the same errand to 90 to
Jericho. But NJ. Mehul was the choir
master of his Majesty, the Emperor,
and musician of acknowledged
genius, to whom the opera owed more
than one rare masterpiece. The police
official respectfully listened to his story
and promised to consider the revela-
ton in serious way. To begin with,
he had the hunchback submitted to
most rigorous secret Interrogation,
and very astute Juge dinstruction
harassed him with every possible gues-
ton that could terrify a guilty con-
science.
These maneuvers succeeded beyond
expectation. Before a week had elapsed
the hunchback had been made TO con-
fess that he was indeed the assassin of
NJ -. 1t appeared that the wretch
had, during the Reign of Terror, been
a member of the Tspe-dur ('.Hard-
hitters') -those cut-throats whom the
Committee of Public Safety had en-
ployed to excite riots. The overthrow
Of that regime of Fraternity or Death
had left this estimable citizen without
employment, and rather than return to
his old trade of tailor, he sought to live
Independently of work. The indis-
erection of a servant had enabled him to
discover that M was going TO
Melun to deposit in a notary's hands
the price of country residence which
he had purchased, and in which he
hoped to end his days. Our Tape-dur
took advantage of this information to
engage a place in the same diligence
in which M started that evening
for Melun. Sitting face to face with
the unsuspecting traveller, who showed
signs of drowsiness at an early hour, he
watched his chance. Amid the dark
ness of the Forest of Senart-profiting
by the rumbling of the wheels and the
loud singing of the tenor-he suddenly
threw a rope around the sleeper's neck
and strangled him without any one
hearing the least sound of struggle.
Then noiselessly opening the door of
the diligence. he had thrown the dead
body into the road. leaped out himself,
and after robbing the corpse of a pocket
book stuffed with notes, concealed the
body among the brushwood. The next
night he had returned with spade and
pick, and dug grave in the place
which he designated in his confession
to the police, and where the skeleton
of the traveller was actually found. The
jurymen brought in verdict of guilty,
and this wicked Quasimodo died upon
the scaffold just three months after
yielding to the unlucky impulse to pick
NJ. Melun's pockets.
Such is the trustworthy narrative
related to us the other day in the contest
and prettiest Partisan boudoirs by the
grandson of Marshal of France, to
which it was related BY the great musi-
clan himself. IncredulOus people may
declare. if they please, that musicians
are highly imaginative people and often
nervous. and that the composer of
Joseph" dreamed with his eyes open.
But, anyhow, the anecdote is both
curious and impressive in these times
of spiritism.-Chicago Herald