Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1889-12-07

A Chicago aiaD who Dreamed That He
Dreamed of Committing Suicide.


and get the two all mixed upy' asked
the man at the club whose speciality is
dreams. "Well; ! had one the other
night that has made me think some
about it since. thought l was walking
west in a mighty disconsolate frame Of
mind and wondering if, after all. life
didn't cost pretty much all it was worth
when | came to the Madison street
bridge. / stopped and looked over the
rail and fell to calculating how it would
feel t. take a plunge in the Shiny depths.
and how much attention it would at
tract if / were to climb over the side and
jump. / had always thought that any
body who ever contemplated suicide was
a great fool to ever start for the other
world by way of the Chicago river, but
at this time | didn't seem to hang quite
So closely to my former prejudice and
was looking down at the black surface
in a rather friendly way when somebody
stopped at the rail a few feet away from
me, heaved a sigh, and put his foot up
on the lower board.
AT a glance | saw the man was a
friend of mine whom hadn't seen for
several years and who | supposed to be
in Frisco. spoke to him and he turned
with a startled exclamation of annoy
ance, recognized me, and waited for me
to speak. l asked him what he was
going TO do. He looked at me as MOURN
fully rs the spirits in the Inferno did
at Dante, and said:
"'T'm going to jump over this rail into
the river
II asked him what he intended doing
anything so foolish as that for, and he
told me with tears yelling up to his eyes
that the girl he loved was dead.
~ sympathized with him with all my
heart because | was in a precisely similar
fix, but / told him he was foolish and
that while it was natural for him to feel
like that for awhile he would soon real
ize that it was the height of folly to at
tempt to remedy matters by lodging out
of the world in this irregular and alto
gether ~dIsgraceful fashion. l brought
all the philosophy / could muster to bear
on the case and pumped it all at him,
but he never wavered. He shook hands
with me, told me to walk on and leave
him, and turned to look over into the
river again. OF course / didn't comply
with his request. The horror of allow
ing a human being to rush to death over
powered me with a shocking sense of
realization, and / remember thinking
how differently things affect persons
when applied to others than the same
conditions applied to ourselves.
IL persisted in my efforts TO dissuade
the would be suicide from his rash act,
but he was obdurate, and, finally, seeing
that / wouldn't relent, he made q spring
and threw one leg over the rail. j
grabbed him to drag him back. and then
began a struggle. / saw some people
running from the end of the bridge, but
before they reached US my acquaintance
loosened my grip on the rail and Topped
me over riverward and together we fell
1t seemed like we were falling to the
center of the earth, and ! felt the cold
sweat stand out all over me. Then we
struck the water and-I awoke. / held
my breath involuntarily as | went down,
which as a swimmer / was bound to do,
and when / came up / had an excellent
opportunity Of testing my ability 10
swim with all my clothes on. l saw the
people running down the stairs to the
dock to help me, and | struck out val
iantly for the shore. When l reached it
a rope was thrown me and i was dragged
up on the dock, where the bridge tender
and several others proceeded to abuse
me for a blankety-blank idiot, who ought
| to have been left to drown.
81 tried to tell them that it was all a
dream. and that l didn't know the first
thing about it till / struck the water. but
they looked at me with the most pro-
found disdain and said:
"'Oh, you weakened! You ant got no
more nerve n a rabbit
''Then the bridge tender grabbed me
by the dank neck of my dripping coat
and took me up the steps and turned me
over to a policeman, who called a wagon
and loaded me into it. / was ratified
away to the station. while the officers in
the wager swore at me and the people
on the streets turned to look after me
curiously. At the station l was intro
duced as a blank blank fool who jumped
in the river and then changed his mind
and yelled for help / hadn't yelled for
help, and l knew it, but | thought I'd
let that pass, inasmuch as I had been in
the river. The desk sergeant asked me
my name and put it in his book with a
charge of d~isorderly opposite, and l was
hustled down stairs to be locked up. On
the way down the officer gave me a
above. and / tripped and fell headlong
down Eve steps and struck my head
ssThat was when l did awake. Every
thing was dark, and it took as much as
a full minute To realize that l was in my
own room, but half out Of bed. The part
Of me that was in bed was my feet. The
rest Of me had fallen out and my head
had coIlided with o box of books sitting
at my beds head. Luckily the bruise
was on the back Of my head, where 1t
didn't show. II it had been on my face
l would have been . sight didn't go
to sleep again for an hour, and you can
bet when ! did I was located exactly In
the middle OF the bed. But wasn't that
q funny complication Of dream fanciesy'
Chicago Mail
He Had Been There.