Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1888-12-10
A MYSTERIOUS CASE.

70, eiieut IN tue express train from London |
70 Folkestone My companion was in deep |
He was not what you would |
can an intellectual looking man, and
on thinking it over afterwards | remember
that ne had narrow and retreatng fore
head. mover can quite make up nv mind
whether what my fellow traveller told me
was the absolute truth; whether his conf
dence was caused by the natural warming of
MS SOUL Tor human sympathy; or whether, to
use an Americanism, be was merely filling
me up"
IL was not only my fellow travellers re-
treating forehead, but the nature of his trav-
ehng literature, that caused me to look
epon him as something other than an in
ellectual giant. In the first place he was
reading Isis Unveiled" The Proceedings
Of the Psychical Society," was there, too, and
a fat book in very large type was labeled,
Fragments and Remains of Madame
By
de was good enough to offer to lend me one
u his books, and, like an ass, gave snort
u indignation and waved it off.
u have no sympathy with such things,rI
said.
"a skeptic, perceive" said he politely.
II l:ok upon the whole thing, sir" re-
piled, las bosh and humbug, miserable trash,
wretched balderdash unworthy of notice.
And then glared at him.
81 tried to silence the little man In deep
mourning by looking as much like the Cor
gon Medusa as possible. Far from being
turned to stone, he simply began to sit on
the backs of his hands, than which nothing
is more undignifed and irritating
u was like you once" he said with pity;
Eyes, was a scoffer once; but have been
bitterly punished-in fact, my incredulity
was the cause of my bereavement" and he
pointed in a solemn manner to the deep black
hat band he wore
When | looked up at his hat band saw
the mans name printed in little gold letters
upon his travelling bag, which lay on the
rack above his head-"Mr Augustus Boo
Dyer"
When had heard the name beforea OF
course it comes back to me in a fash Boo
byerl that was the man who ran off with little
Hetty Stareley, of the Frivolity theatre |
am not a theatrical man, but l saw Miss
Stareley in the celebrated ballet of THE
Swallows" and very pretty indeed she looked
with her big eyes, her curly black hair and
her dot of a mouth She was pretty plump
little nonentity till she married Boobyer,
when she became nine days wonder. Then
she left the stage; disappeared from the pho
tographers' windows, and nobody ever heard
any more of Miss Hetty Stareley.
ats not SO very long ago. he began, shat it
was my privilege to lead to the altar an ex-
ceedingly lovely girl. l worshiped tie very
ground she trod upon, sir. My wife was Sc
excessively good looking as to attract con.
siderable attention wherever we went.
was proud of it at first, but after while il
began to pail My wife, sir, was young,
inexperienced girl, and she felt it bitterly.
Mine was a runaway match,n he went on
'apd it made q considerable amount of noise
at the time live at Wimbledon-close tc
the camp, unfortunately for me- and when
we returned from our honeymoon the volun.
teer camp was in full swing 1t seemed tc
me that when they were not actively engaged
in drill or shooting for prizes, the greater
portion of the volunteers occupied their time
in walking up and down in front of my
house in order to get a glimpse of my beauti
full wife, Tn not exaggerating not the
least bit. At last, however, it became IN
bearable to both OF us. We determined Il
"Herne Bay is the most solitary place
know. 1t is frequented by persons of limitet
means with large families. There is pier q
mile long. We passed delightful fortnight
at Herne Bay, but it was dull, terribly dull
We we're both feeling rather bored, when
made an acquaintance while | was fishing
for bass with a rod from the pier head.
used TO fish there the greater part Of tht
afternoon. l had never caugh: anything
but at place like Herne Bay one must d,
something He was a very decent youn,
fellow, and took great interest in my fish
ing. Ii 1 had known at the time who IN
was, perhaps shouldn't have been quite $
ready TO foregather with him. The fact is
be was professional conjurer, but he was
most gentleInanly young fellow and decid
edly good looking. He talked about spirit
ualism, be was an advanced thinker, and
from the lofty pinnacle of my Grass ignor
ance, looked down upon the whole thing q
'bosh, humbug and balderdash.'"
Here, still sitting on his hands, he smile
impertinently at me.
Monsieur kardec for that was his prC
fessional name tried to convince me, but
vain. Our stay ut Herne bay was DRAWN
to close, I'm going to give little seanc
here tomorrow night, said Monsieur Ke
dec 4 shall be greatly pleased If you woul
come and look at the wonders the spirits wi
perform Don't humiliate Inc by Offering
pay OF the door. Here are Il couple
tickets
II was about to decline, but my wife ga,
me one appealing look from those great ey
of hers, which did not appeal in vain We
,,,;% , 1 ! 7 ~.
more about the matter
LAS we walked home we stopped to re;
one OF the posters 1t was the ordinary pr
gramme-spirit rapping, thought readln
clairvoyance, and then followed rather e
traordinary statement: Monsieur Kardt
after part the first, will give an illustrate
of modern coniuring and prestidigitatio
without apparatus or aecomplces. T
whole will conclude with the mysterious
appearance of lady selected from amol
the audience We both rather looked Il
ward to the entertainment as break to t
dull monotony Of our daily round at Her
bay.
"Punctual to the time, we presented OF
selves at the assembly rooms, and were t
sole occupants of what were termed the
served fauteuils, which were two rows of
binary cane bottom chairs | don't thi
there were fifty people in the room altogeth,
The first part of the performance was deep
interesting. Looking back upon it calmly
| do now, and speaking with the authority
one who knows, said the little man and
fire Of enthusiasm flashed IN bis watery ey,
~ am convinced that Monsieur Kardec '
powerful medium. Then followed p
two, about which there was nothing very
markable; they were ordinary teats Of slei
of hand-good simple conjuring of the
school And then Monsieur Kardec addres
US in short lecture He told us that w
he was about to do before our eyes was
trick, no juggle-'in fact, said he, ther,
no deception whatever. 1t is, he adj
solemnly, the work of the spirits did
pay much attention to what | looked u
then as the idle patter of the professio
conjurer have since had reason to cha
my mind" and then he gave a deep 81
Monsieur Kardec exhibited to US the o
nary big card o.sd extinguisher. q
now said he, if any lady will kindly
forward, will cause her to disappear by
assistance of my familiar spirits The ger
man at the piano began to play the 81
melody from The Corscan Brothers.
never hear that tune now" said the Ii
man, "but it makes my flesh creep.
Nobody volunteered. Monsieur Kal
was evidently Disconnected. Ladies
gentlemen he said, if no lady will oh
me, shall be unable to give you this in
esting experience Then he appealed to
wife. Madame he said, 'you would col
an obligation on ME if you would come to
assistance