Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1889-02-21
THREE VISIONS.

street, below Eleventh. Insomnia brought
on by business troubles had reduced me to q
state Of nervous collapse, and although ! did
not suspect it, / was on the verge of a serious
illness. Rising one night after vainly court.
ing sleep for two hours, determined to take
a warm bath by way Of a soporifc. The
hour was quite o'clock. Having thrown on
a heavy dressing gown, entered the little
bath room and turned ON the hot water.
While the tub filed ga2ed out at the rear
Of a house about 100 yards distant on Clinton
street. Suddenly, on the Illuminated curtain
Of a room two or three floors above the
street, saw figures Of man and woman in
silhouette. Stirred by curiosity, / watched
the curtain with its tell tale pictures, won
dering what movements they would OK
ecute. As l gazed surprise and hor-
ror seized me, for / saw the man
raise a shadowy arm and pierce the woman's
bosom with a dagger. She threw her arms
wildly in the air, opened her mouth as if to
emit a scream and fen to the floor, whence of
course, her figure cast no shadow on the cur
tain. All this had occupied perhaps less than
two seconds, but in that time / endured
mental torture such as ] had never felt be-
fore. As the dagger descended / involun-
tarily threw out my arms as if to shield the
victim and uttered an exclamation of mingled
rage and horror The absolute silence of the
pantominic murder made it more shocking,
and for an instant felt as If the darkness
and Loneliness Of the night had shut me in
with the murderer and made me a partici-
pant in his guilt. l turned shuddering from
the window Just as the shadowy criminal
stopped toward the spot where his victim Law.
and before / could cry out | reeled and fen
heavily to the floor. My fall reused the
house, and Philip Holt, whose rooms were on
the same floor with mine, carried me to bed
The vision Of that night fastened my long
threatened illness, and ten days passed before
my faculties returned sufficiently for me to
relate what had seen. The doctor smiled
at my story and said:
1T was pure hallucination, my dear fel-
low Such things are common to persons IN
your condition.
But" said l, "the thing happened when
was broad awake, and in every detail it was
as distinct as any genuine occurrence / ever
heheldn
mot at all remarkable was his reply.
lyon ought to be satisfied with the lsnowl.
edge that there has not been a word Of such O
crime in any newspaper An affair of the
kind could not have been concealed for ten
days Don't think Of it any moren
Two weeks later ] was in my usual health.
save that my old trouble Of insomnia lowered
threateningly near and REQUIRED with any
imprudence in eating, worry or excitement
Not entirely satisfied with the doctors theory
of my vision / went around to the lodging
house on Clinton street and inquired for
rooms. snuffy old bag, with peering, sns
picious eyes and an air Of undetected Grim.
inality, showed me through the house and
offered to rent furnished suite, consisting
Of bedroom, parlor and bathroom. As near
as l could guess the parlor was tho room
where the crime Of my vision had been com
mitted.
Who occupied these rooms lastF' l in.
quired
"Mr Carr and his wife, answered the hae.
with evident unwillingnesS.
''Do you know Mr.. Cars businessr'
"Ihe tenants business hain't none o Minis,
she replied, sharply
when did the Cars move outF'
about three weeks ago.
did you see Mrs. Carr ON the day they left
the houseg'
"Now, what do you ask mo that for9 ]
don't watch peoples doin's in this house. The
tenants is respectable families, and they don't
like no meddlin'. If you want these rooms
You can have EN-, but you won't stay long
II you ask too many questions about youI
neighbors. We don't want no troublesome or
disorderly people here. It's quiet house,
1t was evidently useless to ask further aues
tions, SO | tramped downward through the
III smelling, narrow halls, my suspicious fer
from lulled A bold faced woman widenad
her Dyes at me on one stairway, and through
an open door below ! caught q glimpse OF
tumblcd bed and q soilcd blue slipper with
half smoked cigarette beside il on the
door Fausing ia the vestibule, / read the
names beneath three or four bell buttons
and learned enough TO convince mo that the
cid woman's boast as to the good charactcro Of
her tenants was a falsehood When / told
my rcawakeaed suspicious to Holt he frowned
and said;
If you permit yourself 90 60 on in this
way you'll be in bol again. There is no rca.
sonable doubt of your hallucination. The
baoEs are full OF such cases. Furthermore.
the woman could not have been actually
murdered or the crime would have come 10
light before this, and if sho was only
wounded it is not your business to ferret tho
matter out II you're not careful you'll get
into the newspapers and be made ridiculous.
This last argument was enough l grad
ually came to accept the theory Of my friends
passed through the winter without further
illness, but gained strength slowly, and when
spring appeared my sleeplessness returned
With it came an irresistible attraction to
ward the bath room window whence my
vision OF a few months before had been seen.
Whenever I lay awake l went some time dur
ing the night and stared out toward that On.
canny apartment house. Night after night I
saw nothing and turned away, relieved at
the assurance that one symptom Of my
former illness was wanting.
FINALLY, at O'Clock on cool April morn
ing, after three hours Of vain tossing in bed.
/ entered the bathroom, with my eyes di.
rected toward the tenement house. For an
instant could not credit the vision that mot
my gaze On the luminous curtain where ! !
had seen the shadow pantomime before the |
same tragedy was being enacted This time
had arrived a little later in the progress of |
the scene, Tor all | saw was the falling woman |
and the Withdrawn dagger in the hand Of her |
companion. The man stopped as before |
toward his victim, and ] waited to see him /
rise, in hopes Of obtaining some assurance |
that what had seen was real saw nothing |
further. II the shadowy SLAYER had stopped 1
TO q real victim he must have risen in such 1
spot that his figure was not brought again /
before che light and the curtain. Filled with /
fereb2dings of "A new illness / awoko Holt and /
told my vision. We went 10 the window, I
looked toward the tenement house and saw /
only tho faint CLEAN Of anlighted panes /
Holt gave me an opiate and next morning the /
coctor had me removed TO the country.
] remained cut cf town all summer, hath
Ing. fishing and hoatia-. Fer three rlocths +
DID. II af.. .rr-ff - -