The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1889-12-12
NUMBER AZ.
MY SINGULAR VISIONS.

mated curtain of room two or three
floors above the street, saw figures of a
man and woman in silhouette. Stirred
by curiosity, [ watched the curtain with
its tell-tale pi;tures, wondering what
movements they would execute. As ]
gsZ-d surprise, and horror stiz me,
tor | saw the man raise shadowy arm
and pierce the woman's bosom with
dagger. she threw her arms wildly in
the air, opened her mouth, as if to emit
scream, and fell to the floor, whence;
of course, her figure cast no shadow on
the curtain.
All this had occupied perhaps less
than two seconds, out in that time | en-
dured mental torture such az l had
newer felt before. AS the dagger de-
scend involuntarIly threw out my
arms. as If to shield the victim, and ut
tered an exclamation of mingled rage
and horror. The absolute silence of the
pantomlmic murder made it more shock
ing, and for an instant felt as if the
darkness and loneliness of the night had
shut me in with the murderer, and made
me participator IN his guilt. | turned
shudderlng from the window just at
the shado~y criminal stopped toward
the spot where his victim lay; and be
fore l could cry out, reeled and fell
heavily to the floor.
My fall reused the whole 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 suf-
ficently for me to relate what had
seen. The doctor smiled at my story
and said
"lt was pure hallucinatIon, my dear
fellow. Such things are common TO per-
sons in your condition"
But" said l, 1.-The thing happened
when | was broad awake, and in every
detail it was as distinct AZ any genuine
occurrence l ever beheld."
mot at all remarkable" was his re-
ply. "You ought to be satisfied with
the knowledge that there has not beer
word of such a crime in any newspa-
per. An affair of the kind could moi
nave been concealed for ten days.
Don't think of it any more"
Two weeks later | was in my usual
health, save that my old trouble of iD-
somnia hovered threateningly near, and
recurred with my imprudence in eat
ing, worry or excitement.
Not entirely satisfied with the doctors
theory of my vision,I went to the lodging
house IN G. street and inquired for
rooms, A snuffy old hag. with peerlng
suspicious eyes, and an air of undelected
crimiDality, showed me through the
house, and offered to let a furnished
suite, consisting of bedroom, sitting
room, and bathroom. As near as | coulo
guess, the sittingroom was the one,
where the crime my of vision had been
committed.
"Who occupied these rooms last p l
inquired.
"Mr. Carr and his wife," answered the
nag, with evident unwilIlngness.
DO you know Mr.. Carr's business? ?
1.-The tenants business han't none OF
mine, she replied sharply.
when did the Carr's move out! 2"
About three weeks ago.
"Dtd you see Mrs Carr on the day they
eli the house 2"
NOW what do you ask me that for?
lon't watch peoples dolns IN thus house.
The tenants is respectable families and
hey don't like no meddlin'. If you
want these rooms you can have them,
out you wont stay long If you ask too
many questions about your nelghbors.
We don't want no troublesome or worry
ing people here"
1t was evidently useless to ask further
questions, 50 | tramped downward
through the i'll smelling narrow hall
my suspicious far from ruled. A bold
faced woman widened her eyes at me
IN one stairway, and through an open
door below caught glimpse of tum-
bled bed and a sOiled blue slipper, with
half-smuked cigarette beside it on the
floor.
Wnen | again spoke to Holt on the
subject, and told him that my suspicious
.tlli existed, he frowned and said Il
you permit yourself 10 go on in this way
you'll be in bed again. There is no rea-
sonable doubt of halluclnatou, The |
books are II Of such cases. Further
NOR, the woman could not have been |
actually murdered, or the crime would |
come to light before this, and If she wa
only wounded, it is not your business to
ferret the matter out. If you're not care
tul you'll get into the newspapers and
be made ridiculous"
This last argument was enough. l
gradually came to accept The theory of
nv friends. / passed through the win
strength SLOWLY, and when spring ap-
peared my seeplessness returned. With |
II came an irresistible attraction toward |
the bathroom window, whence my vis-
ion of a few months before had teen |
seen. Whenever l lay awake l wen
soIne time during the night and started |
out toward that uncanny lodging house. |
Night after night / saw nothing, and |
turned away, relieved at the assur tnce
that one symptom of my former illness
was waiting,
Finally at one O'Clock on cool Apri' |
morning. after three hours OF vain tos'
sing in bed, l entered the bathroom /
with my eyes directed toward the house
For an instant could not credit the Wis
ION that met my gaze. On the luminou'
curtain where | had seen the shadow
pautomine before, the same tragedy wa-
being enacted. This time l had arrived
"A little later in the progress of the scene.
for all saw was the falling woman and
the Withdrawn dagger in the hand OF
her companion. The man stopped, a.
before, toward his victim, and | waited
10 see him rise, IN hopes of obtaining
some assurance that what | had seen
was real. saw nothing further. II the
shadowy slayer had stopped to real vic
tim. he must have risen in such a spo
that his figure was not brought again
before the light and the curtain.
Filled with forebodIngs of r new i'll
ness awoke Holt aud told my vision.
We went to the window, looked oward
the lodging house, and saw only the
faint CLEAN of unlighted psnes. Hol
gave me an opiate, and the next morn
ing the doctor had me removed to the
country.
l remained out of town all summer,
bathing, fishing and b1ating. For three
months went to bed tired every night.
aud slept ten hours. Then took n long
sea voyage, and arrived back IN about
the middle of September more robust
an had ever been before. Holt ana
l laughed at the o d hallucination, and
he dIctor rallied me considerably upon
nv detective spirit Of tbe winter before
On the first night in my lodgings | for
got the lateful window, aud slept with
out disturbance. The next night. how
ever came IN late and yelled to sud.
den whim that led me to Tie bathroom
window.
As | entered the bathroom looked
over toward the lodging house and gave
little start at seeing light in the very
apartment that had so long possessed for
me fascinating interest. The night
was warm, and the window whence the
light shone was hoisted. The curtains
were drawn also, and could see pretty
clearly a man and woman sitting op-
posite each other near the centre OF the
room. Ishivered little on discovering
that the couple were very like those of
the pantomlmes, The man was smooth