Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1886-07-15
STORY OF A PICTURE.


| An Intensely Interesting Tale Which Il
Worth Reading, Whether True or Not. :
A gentleman on a train the other day,
to beguile the weary journey. told q
story which interested a numbers of lis
teners. Said he: 81 was guest of an
old friend of mine in Chicago recently,
and on retiring to the guest chamber
found hanging on the wall 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. 1t was the portrait of mans
face, so frightful and unearthly in its
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. 1t was indeed a terrible
picture, he said, but it
was so finely executed, and
came into the family in such a curious
way, that he could not bear to destroy
it. The story of it was this: My
father was travelling in Europe, ana at
Hamburg, while eating at a coffee house,
observed young man of remarkable
appearance enter and begin a solitary
meal. His coutenance bespoke the
keenest mental distress, and now and
then he would turn his head as if he
heard some terrible sound, and then
shudder, grow pale and 90 on with his
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
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.
".At length the Italian, seeing that my
father seemingly wondered at his invol-
untary turning and shuddering, volun.
teered his story. He was native OF
Rome and had been somewhat familiar
with young nobleman; but quarrel
rose between them, and his patron
struck him. Stung 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 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.
few weeks after, while walking in an
unfrequented street, he heard his name
called in 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
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 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
scaffold. '"-Indiamapolis Journal.