The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1893-11-11
A STRANGE STORY.
WHICH HAUNT AN ENG
LiSH ARMY OFFICER.

Him for feArs-Wax the Girl Buried
Alive?-iS So. How Did She Recover.
An English officer tells the following
strange and most uncanny story, which
ought to he given as fur ~ possible in bis
own words: "A great friend of mine, n fel
low named D., one Of Ours was en-
Gagged to the daughter of an old clergy
man in l.eicestershire. They were awfully
in love with each other, and were to be
married in ten days; he had asked me TO
be his best man, and all the arrangements
we're completed for the wedding when be-
received telegraphic message from the
father of his bride, to say that she had
been taken suddenly ill and to come ut |
once If he would see her alive
"Of course he started for their place i'm !
mediately, and was 80 completely cut ND |
about it that went with him feeling that |
he ought not to be alone in such condi |
ton of mind. We found the sad news only |
too true; the poor girl was dying. and nv |
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 aud WIFE,
1t was the most affecting thing ever saw
Her mother drew of 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
proffered his services to the German au
thorities during the Franco Prussian war.
heard II tale so weird that it might we'll
seem impossible. Finding the nionotony
of his life uncomfortable, D., it seems, Ell
tered the French army. and without much
difficulty. through his previous connec-
lions, 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
MORALLY wounded was D.. Was it n
a visiony' he thought, that. as he lay dying.
he saw bending over him his old love, his
dead wife, in the garb of sister of the Red
Cross. He saw the startled white face and
the deep blue eyes that he knew 80 well all
filed with an awakening wonder. There
was Il sharp cry, and the sister swooned
away.
DEATH THIS TINE, 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 u few hours he WAS dead
ION leaving his patient, who no longer
required his services, the doctor found the
Red Cross nurse delirious with brain fever.
Over and over again she lived what seemed
to be the last weeks of Il previous existence
h..,>s Ibid 10 hxAsx m
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
all-over and over she seemed to live again
q former period Of her life-but of the time
since the doctor had known her there came
never . 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 no recollection OF the past. and
seemed entirely oblivious of her own tden
tity. Her name had been given Is Mrs.
Clark. and the people who left her bad
never appeared again.
'tBut she died without recovering con
.sciousness, and the mystery was unsolved.
Among D-'s effects, however. the doc
tor found q letter directing that his few
papers, etc., should be sent to me in case
Of his death; and photograph in u frame
which was SO marvelously like the dead
woman that he 1t once wrote and gave me
all the particulars, not only OF De
death, but Of Mrs. Clark's' life while I'M
der his observation.
THE GRAVE.
He forwarded at the same time plain
gold ring, which was on her finger when
she came to the hospital and which had
simply date Of thirty years back en-
xraved inside the rim. Feeling that the
strange coincidence-for it could be moth
ing niore-was hardly enough to warrant
me in Disturbing the family by awakening
painful memories, concluded ut first Il
say nothing about It; but the affair troub BLEED
me, and at length grew fairly haunted
with the idea that there was more tn 1t III
than | liked to think possible. dnall,
found myself On route for the Leicester
shire village without any clear idea OF wha
l really intended to do. There l sount
changes; the old rector and his wife has
both died; their only remaining child.
son, had gone over to Canada, where hil
wife's people lived knew no one, al
the faces were strange to me. felt tina
eerie sense Of living In the past, OF having
nothing to do with the present. that come
over one sometimes
while waiting for the afternoon trail
which wss TO take me back, wanderers
into the churchyard and sought out tn
graves Of the old couple and OF my friend