Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1889-06-28
She Held The Cross.
A Remarkable Incident in the Life of
the C0uat TOlStoi-A TaIiSmau
of Mystic Power Discovered
by Supernatural Means.
Is Any Man Entirely Sane.

A strange story is told in ST. Peters
burg of an experience of the lste Count
Tolstoi, formerly Minister of the Inter
ior. The Count has repeated it so msny
times to many of his personal friends
that 1t Is not one of those attributed
anecdotes which usually happen 70 have
been written by an enterprislng reporter
hard up for copy. The Count was firm
believer in the sbllity of the disemood-
led soul to warn Its earth friends of im-
pending dangers, and. though man OF
the world and cynic, could not resist
the fascinating study of spirituslism.
He was at one time extremely intimate
with the American medium Home, who
mad such an Impression on the Gear
ana his wife. The circumstance to which
reference is made took place in So. Pet
ersburs, and had nothing to do with any
of the spirituaiistic msnipulations. A
friend of Tolstoi's happened to be taken
suddenly sick while staying at her hotel
IN the Russian capital, and Tolstoi was
summoned TO her bedside, the husband
being absent somewhere out of town.
To THE COUNTS HONOR
he found the lady in dying condition
and also her only child, 2.year-old in.
ubSE W Nltul sue WIS DSSsiOH-
stely attached. He lost no time in ser
ing for the ablest physician he could
think of and teles rsphed The husband 70
return at once. While Tolstoi was keen
ing his viells that night bv the iady's
coach the beautiful child died in the I'D
Joining chamber, aud the fact was of
course not communicated TO the barely
conscious mother. The husband return ed
fha fnllnUlny dow
found Tolstoi still sitting by his wife's
bedside, position which he had not
once charged since entering the hoase,
except on going to look st the child for a
few moments. UpoN the arrival of her
husband the lady siguifed her desire to
speak, apparently having something on
her mind which was 6roubling her. She
was too weak TO speak above whisper
a I'd when the two men leaned above the
bed informed them that two weeks before
she had lost little cross in gold which
had been given her talisman to keep
her daughter from harm. She had been
told that if it were lost before her child
grew up and became settled for life
HE MADE HIS WAY TO THE CHAMBER
in which the unhappy father was giving
way to his upcontroilabie grief, and for
soLhS bluS sdb ana ny Ill OhIue' IL
witness of parents grief over its dead
offspring. While sitting by the bedside
by which the father was kneeling, ana up
on which the little one lay, his attention
was suddenly arrested by seeing move
ments upon the pillow whereon the little
baby face was resting.
The movements appeared like imprints
made by an invisible finger, and after
fnhr thAr, f.Nr tfa h,la rNlp fNt
became convinced that they were the
work of supernatural agency. He then
reused the fath'r from his fit of grief,
and bade him obsel We the strange marks
which still continued to come anl 90
upon the pillow. For a Ions time the two
me1 stood spelIbound, watching the i'm.
prints of the five finger tips as succeeding
one another they left their impress again
and again upon the pillow. This con
tinued with the greatest regularity until
the two men had witnessed it several
times, and then there WAS a mark as of a
long forefnger pointing aero : the pillow
10 the child's head. second and third
time this
MYsTERI Us PERI RNANCB WAS REPEATED,
and the last time the sign of the cross was
made against it as If TO indicate some
subtle meaning. The signs then disap-
peared and cor WINGED that the movements
must have some reference to the lost
tails man, the two mourn rs O. mmeDced TO
search in the bed for the missing cross
Ala their search was futile, and they
relipquished their efforts when for the
fourth time the i'm print of the forefnger
appt AIRED, accompanied by that of two
little hands locked into each other.
Strangely enough, the hands of the child,
locked in the last death struggle, had
been suffered to remain in that position,
and when they lif'ed the little, tightly
clasped members assuuder there fell from
them the missing talisman. The tiny
cross had been clasped so tightly that its
shape was imprinted on the
PALM OF THE INFANTS HAND.
Is discovery had the desired feet of
assisting the mother to recover from
pr o stration, and the painful fact that her
| darling child had passed away WAS not
covery had vanished. The lady is, curl
ously enough, the only survivor of the
group. She lives IN Paris, in the vicinity
of the Arc de Triomphe, and is ready TO
| corroborate the story at any time. The
impression that the circumstances me de
on I olstoi was profound, aud no one who
ever heard him repeat the story could
doubt it's authenticity for q moment.