Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-07-04
She Held The Gross.
A Remarkable Incident in the Life of
the Count TOlStOi-A Talisman
of Mystic Power Discovered
by Supernatural Means.
Is Any Man EntirelyssSaue.

burg of an experience of the late Count
Tolstoi, formerly Minister of the Inter
Tor. The Count has repeated it so many
times to many OF his personal friends
that 1t is not one of those attributed
anecdotes which usually happen to have
been written by an enterprising reporter
hard up for copy. The Count was a firm
believer in the ability of the disemood-
led soul to warn its earth friends of i'm
pending dang ers, and, though a man of
the world and cynlc, could not resist
the fascinating study of spiritualism.
He was at one time extremely intimate
with the American medium Home, who
made such an impression on the Gear
and his wife. The circumstance to which
reference Is made took place in S.. Pet
ersburg and had nothing to do with any
of the spiritdalistic manipulations. 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 a dying condition
and also her only child, year-old in
FAINT daughter TO whom she was passion
ately attached. He lost no time in send
ing for the ablest physician he could
think of and telegraphed the husband to
return at once. While Tolstoi was keep
ing his vigils that night bv the Iady's
coach the beautiful child died in The ed
joining chamber, and the fact was of
course not communicated to the barely
conscious mother. The husband returned
on the following day about noon, and
found Tol5toi still sitting by his wife's
bedside, position which he had not
once changed since entering the house,
except on going to look at the child for
few moments. Upon the arrival of her
husband the lady signifed her desire to
speak, apparently having something on
her mind which was troubling her. She
was too weak to speak above a whisper
and 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 as 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 uncomfortable grief, and for
some time sat silent and sym pathetic
witness of parents grief over it's dead
offspring. While sitting by the bedside
by which the father was kneeling, and 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
watching them for quite a while ToIstoi
became convinced that they were the
work of supernatural agency. He then
reused the father from his fit of grief,
and bade him observe the strange marks
which still continued to come an( 60
upon the pillow. For long time the two
men stood spellbound, 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
tlnued with the greatest regularity until
the two men had witnessed it several
times, and then there was mark as of
long forefnger pointing across the pillow
TO the chiId's head. A second and third
time this
MYsTERIoUs PERFORMANCE WAS REPEATED,
and the last time the sign of the cross was
made against 1t as if to indicate some
subtle meaning. The signs then disap-|
peared and Convinced that the movements
must have some reference to the lost
talisman, the two mourners commenced to
search in the bed for the missing cross
Alas! their search was futile, end they
relinquished their efforts when for the
fourth time the Imprint of the forefinger
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 lifted the little, tightly
clasped members assunder there fell from
them the missing talisman. The tiny
cross had been clasped so tightly that its
shape was i'm printed on the
PALM OF THE INFANTS HAND.
I ) discovery had the desired effect of
the mother to recover from
and the painful fact that her
darling child had passed away was not
revealed to her until all doubt of her re-
oovery 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
,orroborate the story at any time. The |
Impression that the circumstances made |
On Tolstoi was profound, and no one who
ever heard him repeat the story could |
doubt its authenticity for moment.