, 1889-01-02
CONDOLENCES.
STRANGE OCCURRENCES THAT HAVE
oEFIED EXPLANATION.

Sequel Predictions a. the
RaoesDThe ''rhree Legged Jims"-what
Happened to n Friend of the Poet Ropers
a coincidence of the war, of a serious
nature, is that of the three Jims." A
group Of four men were In the trenches
during an artillery engagement. They
were lying on the ground, chatting and
smoking, out of the direct reach of fire,
when a shell suddenly exploded over
their heads and 50 seriously injured three
of the men that it necessitated amputa-
ton of he left leg in each instance. The
Christian name of each of these three
men was h sameeJames. The fourth,
who was untouched, bore another name.
The three veteran pensioners have ever
since been known among their acquaint-
ances as the three legged Jims."
BRowNING's EXPERIENCE.
A curious story Of coincidence is re-
lated by Robert Browning in an English
newspaper as having occurred to him.
self and sister while visiting q remote
valley in Switzerland some years ago,
b circumstances of which are substan-
TALLY Is follows:
While strolling about one evening to
admire the calm and repose of the valley,
which lay spread out before them, their
talk unaccountably turned to the subject
u lldlOCI hI1o GALL DtRdl W SPECULATE
as to what their first impulse would be
II they should be SO unfortunate as to
find the body of a murdered man In tho
wood Continuing in this strain, the
Brownings talked until they reached the
hotel, when the matter WINS dropped.
Mr.. Browning applied for the use of a
carriage the next morning, and was re-
ferred to the landlord, who informed
them that it would be impossible for
thar, - h,-A A. N-rN I~-z1- -
their carriage, as one of them was
wanted to bring in the body of a man
found early that morning, murdered, at
h head of h valley. Questioning him,
Mr.. Browning learned that In all prob
ability h murder had been committed
very soon after the conversation of the
evening before.
On visiting the spot where the body
had been discovered it was found to be
the identical place where, on the previ-
GUS evening, they had stood specializing
as to what they should do in case of such
an event. To heighten the dramatic eff
feet of the coincidence, they were told
that no crime of violence, SO far as
known, had ever before been committed
In that valley. The fact that the mind
of the poet should nave turned TO such a
subject just at that time partakes of the
nature of a presentiment, and the coinci-
dencefs certainly one of the most pecul-
lar on record.
In Forster's Life of Dickens, a Curl
GUS story is told of what Dickens called
a "paralyzing coincidence" experienced
on the Doncaster race course. On the
st. Leger day, In 1857, Dickens bought O
card OF the races, and facetiously wrote
down three names for the winners of the
three chief races. He had never heard
or thought of any Of the horses in his
life, but, as he wrote to Forster, of you
can believe 1t, those three races were
won, one after another, by those three
horses"
AFTER MANY YEARS.
The poet, Samuel Rogers, narrated a
coincidence which, although it may
have bean a humorous invention, Is quite
within the bounds of possibility, and at
the same time somewhat amusing. An
officer who vas ordered to India went,
on the day before leaving England, to
his lawyers. The day being wet, he
out, as he was paying the driver,
dropped a shilling. He looked In the
mud and slush for 1t in vain, and so did
the coachman. On his return home after
some years service he had occasion
again TO go to his lawyers. When leav-
ing he recollected his lost shilling, and,
by some u~naccountable impulse, began
to look for it, when, strange to say, he
found, just at the very spot where he
had paid the coachman-not the shilling,
but twelve pennyworth of coppers, done
up In brown paper.
Perhaps the most astonishing coinci-
dence of any we might mention and at
the same time n perfectly authentic, is
related by that charming writer, ''Tav-
erner," of The Boston Post. 81 was walk
Ing says Taverner, ION my way down
town, with a neighbor who was going
the same way, when my companion, for
no apparent cause, suddenly changed the
subject on which we were chatting by an
inquiry concerning a common acquain-
lance, who had disappeared out OF our
lives several years before, and whom /
knew he held in especial detestation.
= = y My friend had heard of him the
year before in San Francisco, and later
as somewhere On the continent of Europe.
And there is nc man. he went on to
say, that / should more heartily enjoy
knocking down If he would only give me
the ~provocation.' We had at that Instant
reached fremont street, where, suddenly
turning the corner, one of the passing
crowd came squarely into collision with
my friend, slipped upon a spot of Ice as
he struggled to keep his balance and
fairly measured his length on the side
walk. 1 turned to pick up the hat of the
fallen man, when I felt myself grasped
by the arm by my friend, who whispered:
Great Scott, Taverner, don't you see it's
the very man, Int I've done 1t, after allf
Sure enough, 1t was the distant traveller,
who had turned up to be knocked down,
so to speak, by a coincidence st. Louis
Globe-Democrat.