The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-02
A TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE.
Why the Bride-EIect's Hair Turned
White in Few Hours.

sylvania. Ca, June 29-A lady in this
town relates the following story of a most
thrilling experience through which
friend of hers passed. in this state, some
years ago, and which has never been pub
lished The story is true one.
IL was near Mflledgeville that this friend
"a beautiful young lady-lived. Pauline
was ,her name. She was engaged to be
married TO a gentleman from another
state. The appointed time had come. and
the large house was filled with guests for
the occasion. There was one very partic-
ular friend. however. a young lady whom
the brlde-elect wished to have present. but
II was impossible for her to get there be-
fore the morning after the night appoint
ed Tor the marriage. She telegraphed her
friend to come. and postponed the we'd
ding until the following morning
That night they held a large reception
at the house, and numbers of the guests
remained over, so that they might be pre-
sent next morning. The house being
crowded, the young lady gave up her own
room to friends, and with her maid went
over into an unused chamber, somewhat
separated from the other part of the
house, and which was called the blue
room" 1t was up on the second floor and
was connected by lattice work with the
main building. Her father protested
against her going there, but she said she
was not afraid.
The little maid, after Strengthening IN
the room, lay down on a pallet to sleep
NAunEulSnlQG
light, sat before the dying blaze ontthe
hearth lost in revery. Soon the maid
began 10 sob, and said she felt so uneasy
that she was afraid to sleep in the room
Not wishing to be disturbed further, the
young lady told her she could go, and
the girl hastily sought other quarters
Seated before the fireplace, the young
bride soon felt strange uneasiness her
self, as II the air was charged with some
thing, She tried to dismiss IT, but in
vain To still her feeling she managed
with great deal of effort, to move
wardrobe that was in the room against
the door, and thus safely barrfcaded from
without, she got into bed and tried to go
TO sleep. But the restless, uneasy feel
ing would not leave heL.
After a short while she thought she
heard the rattle of a chain. She listened
and charged II to her imagination. Again
came the same sound, and more distinct
She hardly breathed. Then. from under
meath the bed, came the sound OF a chain
and then thud and clank, thud and
clank, az something moved about on the
floor. At last it crawled out into the
room and seemed to go TO the FIRE.
She thought perhaps it might be her
fathers dog, which was kept chained In
the yard, and she summoned courage
enough to raise up on her elbow in the
bed and look. By the dim light she could
see an object lying in front of the hearth
but could not tell what it was.
She wanted to leap from the bed and
escape, but the thought of the heavy
her, and her very blood was chilled when
she realized how she had imprisoned her
self. She knew she could not move IL
in time to escape this chained object
whatever it might be, should it wish to
seize her.
She laid back on Aer pillow almost
paralyzed with fright, and as she did
so the object before the fire moved. She
could hear the chain clanking and drag
ging and the sound Of slow moving along
the floor Close TO the bed 1t came, and
then climbed up where she was lying the
chain rafting behind.
Stricken with terror, and not DARING
to move or even breathe, she then per-
ceived that it was a man with a chain
about him. He crawled over in the bed,
got under the cover, and lay there, per-
fectly still After a long time, through
| which she scarcely knew how she lived
/ he stretched out his arm. in a kind Of
WEAKNESS and 1t fell upon hers. He
/ grasped her arm with his hand, but made
| no further move. She could feel that
/ his finger nails were long and sharp ana
/ more like the claws of a beast than part
/ OF a human beiEg. His clutch upon her
arm was hard, but she dared not move
| a muscle.
Through minutes that seemed like years
she waited. At last she heard him breath
! ing regularly, as II in sleep and then
| his grasp upon her arm relaxed. Slip
| ping from the bed with a superhuman
effort she pushed the wardrobe aside ana
fed through the door. The noise awoke
the man in the bed, and she could hear
him as he followed, with his clanking
chains
Her screams aroused the house and she
reached her fathers room 10 fall insensi-
BILE IN his arms. A search was made bv
the men present and they soon came
upon the object Of her terror-an ESCAPED
lunatic from the asylum. fierce and vio-
lent, with a broken chain around HE
body. The officers We're notified and he
was recaptured after a struggle He had
escaped the day before, and the keepers