Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1891-11-19
A NIGHT OF HORROR.
Thrilling Experience on the Roof
of q Cathedral


Have you never read of a persons
hair turning gray in a single night?
or course you have. The old story
books are full of such tales / can re-
mem Der dozens of them, stories reek-
ing with gore and dank with dungeons
and grewsOme with ghosts or other I'M
canny things. The heroine and some
times the hero goes TO bed at night
with hair as black as the ravens wing
and along n the night come the hor-
rors, whatever they are, and in the
morning the raven hair has turned
snowy white.
can remem Der, too, that | never
used to take any stock in such stories.
used to hear them read and get up
quite a respectable thrill at the most
horrible portions, especially when the
candle flickered awhile with ghostly
Igbt and then went out, leaving every
body in total darkness just as a deep
grOan was heard or d long Shuddering
sigh like the wind through the weep
ing willows IN q graveyard Oh, yes!
was quite susceptible to touching
up to bed and tuck my head under the
clothes and SILVER with the most timid
of them Eui somehow or other could
not accept abe haIr-turnlng part of the
story ! knew that hair black or
white. could stand on end but that
good head OF Giack hair would bleach
Itself out between dark and daylight
was d l;ttlc too much To swallow
know better now have had lit
tie experience of my own which but
perhaps II is best to tell the story just
as il occurred
1t was on the roof of the cathedral
at Milan. We had climbed the stairs
in the late afternoon of a beautiful
spring day after paying the custodian
the insignificant price he asked for all
the glorIes visible from the elevated
position. We looked through the tele-
scope-for another fee and had each
assured the others that we saw Mount
Blanc perfectly well, without for a
moment believing what the others said
or convincing them that we told the
truth And we had ended our climbs
by ascending to the highest point under
the lantern-if it is a lantern-by the
cork-screw staircase. which will scarce
ly permit any but the thinnest persons
to pass when one is going up and the
other coming down.
We were party of four, and when
the roof was reached the youngest pro-
posed a ramble over that portion of the
structure. To this all but myself as
scented. / was tired and proposed to
rest awhile at the foot of the tower
stairs, where the others were TO pick
NE up on their return, so that we
might all descend together This was
satisfactory and of they started
For time ! was quite comfortable
and paid no attention to the passage of
time. but | suddenly noticed that it
was getting dark and that my COM
panions had not returned. called to
them first ID a moderate tone of voice,
then more loudly. but received no
answer Fearing that they would be
belated on the roof ! started in search
of them. walked the entire length of
the ridge Of the main roof and peered
down all the side passages in the gath
erIng dusk, but caught no glimpse of
my companions. Then ! descended to
the roof of the aisle and made a search
there. which was also fruitless. ! be-
came alarmed as the light failed and
ran from OGe point to another, calling
out as ran, until found to my great
distress that / had lost my way.
could see far below me the lights of
the great city and hear the distant
rumbling of the carriages as they
drove past on the stony streets. But
was as effectually lost for the moment
as if | had been in the heart of an
African jungle without a compass and
no Stanley on the alert to hunt me up.
IN the excitement and despair which
the consciousness of this fact produced
I rushed about so wildly that | slipped
and fell on a long fight of stone steps
wet with the dew which had begun to
fall was not conscious of any Sc
rIous injury from the fall, but when |
brought up at the foot of the stairs and
tried to regain my footing ! found to
my despair and horror that ! was ut
terly una ole to move my limbs. ! was
paralyzed
The mental agony suffered is in
conceivable. Yet curiously enough I
spent the first moments in specializing
as to the exact nature of the injury
had sustained Had broken my back
or simply injured my spinal cord? |
tried to recall what had heard my
doctor friends say about injuries of
similar character. but could not seem
to remember anything definite. The
words the fifth pair" flashed into my
mind and appeared to connect them
selves IN some way with my condition;
but whether it was the fifth pair of
nerves or ribs ~ of something else /
could not make out could not IN
derstand either how could have been
so seriously injured without any sensi-
ble shock; but that my power of loco
motion was gone there was no doubt
could move my hand, and began to
speculate on the number of things one
could do with ones hands alone. This
occupied me for what seemed to be an
.our: but Is the train of thought was
interrupted DY a CLOCK STRIKING the
hour of midnight concluded it must
have been much longer and wondered
/ had not hoa ri the rlY,acadinv hOurS