Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1892-02-12
A STRANGE, SAD STORY.
HAD THE YOUNG GIRL BEEN
BURIED ALIVE2
The Remarkable Tale Told by an Eng
Ilsh Army Officer - Buried In
England aud Alive at the
Battle of Sedan.


story. which ought to be given as far
as possible in his own words: "A
great friend of mine a fellow named
D, one of ours was engaged'to
the daughter of an old clergyman in
Leicetershire. They were very much in
love with each other and were to
have been married in ten days. lie
had asked me to be his best man. and
all the arrangements were completed
for this wedding when he received
telegraph message from the father OF
the bride saying that she had been
taken suddenly i'll and to come at once
If he would see her alive. OF course,
he started for their place
Immediately and was so CON-
pletely cut up about it that l
went with him, feeling that he ought
not to be alone in such condition 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 ceremony and they were made
man and wife. 1t was the most af-
fecting 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 own life, D-sent in his
papers and left the service. For sew
eral years completely lost trace OF
him. and then, from an English sur
geon who had proffered his services to
the German authorities during the
Franco Prussian war, heard tale so
weird that it might we'll seem impos-
sible Finding the monotony of his
| life uncomfortable, D., it seems entered
the French army. and without much
difficulty, through his previous con-
nections obtained a commission in one
of the regiments which had been or
dered to the front After the battle
of Sedan, among the many who had
been carried to the hospital MORALLY
wounded was D. Was it a
visionP' he thought that as he lay dy-
ing 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 ali filed
with an awaking wonder. There was
a sharp cry, and the Sister swooned
away. 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 en-
feebled condition.; his wound broke
out afresh, and in few hours he was
dead.
On leaving his patient who no
longer required his services, the doc
tor found the Red Cross nurse delirious
with brain fever. Over and over
again she lived what seemed to be the
last weeks of previous existence.
She was happy promised bride. she
was girlishly excited over her trous-
seau and pretty presents, she talked
proudly of her handsome and devoted
lover, and finally of solemn death
bed wedding That was all Over
and over she seemed to live again a
former period of her life. but Of the
time since the doctor had known her
there came never a word. A year or
two before he had been connected
with one OF the London hospitals, and
had been greatly 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
no recollection OF the past and seemed
utterly oblivious OF her own identity.
Her name had been given as Mrs.
Clark, and the people who had left
her had never appeared again. Show
ing herself most capable and intelli-
gent with the one exception stated,
she was kept as an assistant in the
wards and gradually became one of
the most experienced OF the hospital
nurses. When the doctor decided to
go to the seat OF war it occurred to
him to take her with him, not only on
account OF her acknowledged COM
potency, but with the idea that change
and excitement might possibly touch
some chord that would awaken her
memory. But she died without re-
covering consciousness and the mys-
terry was unsolved% Among D-'s
effects, however the doctor found a
letter directing that his few papers.
ETC., should be sent to me in case
of his death, and photo
graph in a frame which was
so marvelously like the dead woman
that he at once wrote and gave me all
the particulars not only OF DIS
death. but OF Mrs. Clark's' life while
under his observation. He forwarded
at the same time a plain gold ring
which was on her finger when she
came to the hospital, and which had
simply date Of thirty years back en-
graved inside the ring. Feeling that
the strange coincidence-for il could
be nothing more-was hardly enough
to warrant me in disturbing the fam
lily by awakening painful memories,
concluded at first TO say nothing
about It; but the affair troubled me,
and at length ] grew fairly haunted
with the idea that there was more in
it than liked TO think possible.
finally found myself en- route for the