The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-01-21
A STRANGE STORY.
QUESTIONS WHICH HAUNT AN ENG
LlSH ARMY OFFICER.


Him for Years-was the Girl Buries
Aiiye?-If So, How Did She Recover.
An English officer tells the following
strange and most uncanny story, which
ought to be given as far as possible in hi!
own words: "a great friend of mine, fel
low named D., one of Ours was en-
gagged to the daughter of an old clergy
man in Leicestershire They were awful,
in love with each other, and were to b,
married in ten days; he had asked me Il
be his best man, and all the arrangement!
were completed for the wedding when ht
received a telegraphic message from the
father of his bride, to say that she haC
been taken suddenly i'll and to come al
once If he would see her alive.
"Of course he started for their place i'm
mediately, and was so completely cut III
about it that went with him feeling that
he ought not to be alone in such condi
tion of mind. We found the sad news only
too true; the poor girl was dying, and as
they both greatly desired that he might
have the right to be with her until the
end, the old rector performed the cere
mony, and they were made man and wife
1t was the most affecting thing | ever saw
Her mother drew off her own wedding
ring, which the poor fellow placed on the
finger of his broken lily of bride, who
lay there so white and wan, the only calm
member of the agitated group
''Three days afterward all was over.
Unable to bear his old life, D sent in his
papers and left the service. For several
years | completely lost trace of him; and
then, from an English surgeon who had
protfered his services to the German au-
thorities during the Franco-Prussian war,
heard a tale SO weird that it might we'll
seem Impossible. Finding the monotony
of his life uncomfortable, D., it seems, en-
tered the French army, and without much
difficulty, through his previous connec-
tions, obtained commission in one of the
regiments which had been ordered to the
front.
After the battle of Sedan, among the
many who had been carried to the hospital
mortally wounded was D. Was it a
visionT be thought, that, as he lay dying,
he saw bending over him his old love, his
dead wife, in the garb of a sister of the Red
Cross. He saw the startled white face and
the deep blue eyes that he knew so well all
filled with an awakening wonder. There
was sharp cry, and the sister swooned
away.
DEATH THIS TIME, ANYWAY.
"The surgeon in attendance hurried up,
and giving her in charge of some of the
other nurses, returned to the excited man.
who insisted that he had seen the face of
his dead WIFE The shock was too much
for his enfeebled condition, his wound broke
out freshand in a few hours he was dead.
'(lT loovinr,
required his services, the doctor found the
Red Cross nurse deliriOus with brain fever
Over and over Sgain she lived what seemed
to be the last weeks of a previous existence
She was happy, promised bride-she was
girlishly excited over her trosseau and
pretty presents-she talked proudly of her
handsome and devoted lover-and finally
of a solemn deathbed wedding. That was
and over she seemed to live again
a former period of her life-but of the time
since the doctor had known her here came
never a word.
"A year or two before he had been con-
nected with one of the London hospitals,
and had been Interested in this woman, who
had been brought there and placed in the
ward for the insane The only point upon
which her mind seemed affected was that
she had m recollection of the past. and
enGir9iY oitiiviotls Of her own iden-
tity. Her name had been given as Mrs.
Clark, and the people who left her had
never appeared again
But she died without recovering con- |
and the mystery was unsolved. |
Among D-'s effects, however, the doc
tor found letter directing that his few
papers, ETC., should be sent to me in case
Of his death; and a photograph in frame
which was so marvelously like the dead |
woman that he at once wrote and gave me |
all the particulars, not only of D-'s
1eath, but of Mrs, Clark's' life while un-
Ter his observation.
THE GRAVE.
''He forwarded at the same time a pIain
gold ring, which was on her finger when
she came to the hospital, and which had
simply date of thirty years back en-
yraved inside the rim. Feeling that the
strange coincidence-for it could be moth
ng more-was hardly enough to warrant
ne in disturbing the family by awakening
'ainful memories, concluded at first to
ay nothing about it; but the affair troubled
ne, and at length | grew fairly haunted
With the idea that there was more in it all
A"h L lihCd W ouIHh pCSSiDle HlalIy
ound myself en- route for the Leicester
hire village without any clear idea of what
really intended to do. There I found
hanges; the old rector and his wife bad
10Th died; their only remaining child,
on, had gone over to Canada, where his
Tlfe's people lived / knew no one, all
he faces were strange to me. felt that
erie sense Of living in the past, of having
othing to do with the present, that comes
YER one sometimes
While waiting for the afternoon train .
Thich was to take me back, wandered
lto the churchyard and sought out the
raves Of the old couple and Of my friends
ride. Mary was written on the head
tone, beloved wife and daughter-died
lay Is, 1S-' But did she die then or long
fter? That is what haunts me to this
ay"
DO you mean that she was buried in a
'ance?' said the listener. That is what
believe" be answered IL think that her
,scuers were afraid of the law, and find
Ig signs OF life, hurried her to a hospital,
here her entire lapse OF memory tempted
lem to keep the matter forever secret"
ew York Tribune.