Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1895-02-15
AN ACTORS DOUBLE.

Wo were talking about spirit NANTES
tations ut the Thirty nine club and retail
i1, the usual second or third hand ac-
counts of deceased ladies and gentlemon
showing themselves to their sorrowing
relatives
at is strange the trick which our brains
will sometimes play us, said DR. Mac
pherson Il remember once seeing
ghost myself and l can tell you that the
sensation is very curious one 1t was
good many years ago, in my examination
days, and | had been sitting up until the
early hours examining. Everybody in the
house had long since gone to bed, where
ought to have been myself, so l was rath-
or surprised when glanced up from my
book to soc somebody sitting at the table
where | myself had been n few moments
before writing. felt quite startled for an
instant, until l recognized the intruder.
He was little hazy, but l could see
plainly enough who it was.
"A dead rclativeY" asked Major Den
nett, who WAS firm believer in tho good
old fashioned ghost
Macpherson answered in his peculiarly
quiet way
mo, it was myself The appearance Of
seeing ones own ghost is not altogether
unusual, believe -
Now l do not think your experience
was half so remarkable as one of mine,
said Gilbert Dane, the well known actor
I'd manager of the Howard theater who
h opened to he there that night Dane is
not "a member of the Thirty nine but had
come with Macpherson. Most of the brain
& cialist 5 friends are in the profession, o
fact which is perhaps due to the yea
which he himself spent on the stage as D
young man
My story begins prosaically," said the
actor when we begged to hear 1t. 81 lost
the latchkcy with which let myself into
the theater and took somebody else's tc
tie locksmith's to have a duplicate made
agreed to call for it the following morn
ing as l was going up to town for rehears
al was living at Putney then, ant VT
we're actively preparing play which de
served a better fate than it received, il
thought and preparation go for anything,
for came near making myself ill over it
was feeling out of sorts on the morning
that called for the latchkey, and wher
the locksmith swore positively that he hac
given me the thing already-that less than
ten minutes previously | had come in fol
the key, paid for it and taken it away
with mel will confess that l lost my
temper and stormed at the fellow. but J
could not get him to bulge a linz from his
story.
He seemed to have an idea that was
playing Il practical joke, and the only re
suit of my talking was that l nearly lost
my train to Waterloo 1t was moving
when l reached the platform, and had tic
run for the only compartment of which
the door was open near the end of the
train
The compartment contained two othez
passengers but if l glanced at them Mt
all l noticed ."pthing except that each was
pretty well 4 dGen behind a daily paper
had fortunately bought my own paper
OefOre calling at the lOcksmiths, and
speedily followed their example So far
tho story is painfully commonplace Now
comes the truly remarkable experience
which has stamped the doings of that day
indGlibly on my memory.
Tho acto" paused to strike match and
relight his chcroot, which he had allowed
to go out, and we all watched him in 81.
hence, wondering what was coming Mac
pherson only had the air of man who
had heard tho story before
IL had become rather interested in my
paper. " Dane went on when the cigar was
alight again, and did not notice my
companions talking until one of them
started telling an anecdote Then it grad
ually dawned upon me that the story he
was telling was one that l consider my
own partirii property, and when | lis
tened it struck me that the story was be
ing told net only in my exact words. but
also in my own voice They say that d
man does not recognize his own voice
when he hears it in the phonOgrapn, fOi
instance-but that is possibly the fault OF
the photography and, at any rate, know
that | recognized mine instantly
Tho story and the voice startled me
but it is difficult to describe my feeling;
when | put down my paper to glance al
the narrator
1T was YOURSELF" asked Mayor bennett
excitcdly as the actor paused, and Dane
nodded
Yes, gentlemen, ! saw seated at tn,
other end OF tho compartment by the win
dow, opposite his companion, figure thai
was an exact facsimile of the reflection
which ! see in my glass every day when
have dressed for the part of a respectabl,
citizen 1t was myself complete in every
detail of fae and attire. -
AN optical delusion, suppose; l sug
gested, and the actor shook his head
'NOl that was the first idea that oc
CURED to nie-that had been working
and worrying too much over tho new
play. and my brain had played me trick
The unconcerned way in which the Uhir'
glanced at me encouraged me in the be
lief, for the likeness, unless l was imagin
ing it, was enough to attract instant at
rention. l wondered whether there wa
actually IA man sitting and talking wher
saw and heard my facsimile, for tn
third man, an everyday individual, hat
not spoken word to him and might from
his expression have been listening tu hi
anecdote or simply thinking / was re
lieved when he laughed at the point whel
my double, as | began to call his com
panion, Came t. the joke of the story, bu
when ho opened his mouth it was only I
increase the mystery of the affair, for i
showed me that my double possessed IN
name as well as my voice, my dress, IN
face and figure
II began To wonder, then, not whethe
Ihe man at the window was reality, bu
whether | was "A reality myself, and
really would not have surprised me If
had looked in mirror at that momen