Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-10-15
THE HAUNTED CONGRESSMAN
By Hezekiah Butterworth.

tray1ng their cause. 1nSOnHld WoulC
lead to nervous failure, and to brain
and heart failure There would come
some fearful end to this mans life.
understood the case. There are
secrets that it is death to carry, with
out confession Of disgrace. Here was
one of them. He was haunting him
self
Doctor, you understand my case
you have studied the subject. l shall
wish to see you again. You said that
you had remedies.
My one remedy now is change"
II will go to Washington tomorrow
l am a rich man. if l do not get better,
will you come to see me there?',
Yes, will study the subject. | will
do everything that | can for you.
think that the soul can sometimes i'm
press others at a distance. Lord By
ron when at Madras dreamed that he
was in London, where he met certain
friends On his return to London
these friends told him that they had
seen him in London on that very day
of his dreams, on the case was like
This man is guilty of a moral muir
der None could cast stones at him
for it; he would cast stones at him
self. He would fulfill the old Jewish
law in himself. A mar who betrays a
friend to crafty a selfish ambition has
taken living death into his heart.
Ghosts vanish in the eye Of those
Vuynn cfn " n in Or
law of hidden wrong doing appears in
their stead. / had never met case SO
curious as this; such a case of Judas
like betrayal | determined to follow
it, not as moralist, but as a medical
man.
We parted at the Ark. AS | stepped
from the carriage the fair girl Helen
came up to me and said
"Auntie Placide, his mother, would
like to speak to you. Will you come
in?"
| entered the great rooms The GUS
tomary meal or rather feast for the
bearers" and those who had rendered
services at the funeral was going on
There were sounds of hurry; a clatter
of dishes; ole people moving about like
shadows; young people peeping timid-
ly into the doors.
Helen led me 20 the widow.
you are the new dCctor," said the
latter i'll a mild beautiful Huguenot
tone. II wish to talk to you in pri-
vate. | feel that | need your help.
Will you come with me to my room?"
| followed her. She shut behind us
the door of her room, and motioned me
to a chair
Doctor, Helen has comforted me-
You heard what she said at the grave
But have something else on my mind
Perhaps you can make it clear. On
the night that my sen died, when we
did not think that ne was so near his
end, | went into his room to see if
could do anything for him, and he was
not there. | felt greatly alarmed and
troubled, and went out into the out
houses and fields to see if 1 could find
him. When I returned he was in his
room, lying on his bed. I went to
him, and asked aim where he had
been. He did not answer-Doctor, he
was deadr'
She trembled Doctor, he was dead
What do you think it was?"
| recalled the strange incident that
the nervous congressman had told me.
II think, my dear woman, that he
went out into the night, and returned
and laid down, and died"
But he had no strength-he was
very wasted
"A sudden mental impulse will give
strength to the dying"
But where could he have gone? He
was not on the premises when I was
looking for him
He went out into the night, prob
ably to see some place or person or
some association of life that was near to
his heart The effort was the immed-
late cause of his death"
"Out into the night" she repeated
after me- Out into the night to see
something near his kearti If Mr.. Grant
had been here in town it might have
been him.
MY dear woman, Helen has COM
forted you, let me comfort you. He
went out into the night to do some last
noble act; l am sure of that, and that
was the last impulse that caused his
heart to fail. You may rest sure in
this. His death was somehow a mis-
sion"
| came to Warren to live. How well
l recall the beautiful, bowery old place
the sunny wharves! the Touisset road
the rides to the Mt Hope lands in
Bristol, and the shores of the North
mems Rock the Margaret's Rocks in
Swansea, the old churches with Welsh
traditions! the 8 o'clock bell! the sea
captains homes!
l again and again met the serene
mother of Placide.
She said to me one evening as WE
parted under the great trees that line
the Bristol road:
There never ceases to haunt me The
mystery of the night of the death Of my
dear boy. The outward world seem:
like a play, the hidden world is thu
true life whereof We do not know
Where did my dying boy go that night
What thought inspired him, wha
power came to him? | have found
letter that he partly wrote on the da,
that ended all-it was full of the wisl
that he could meet Congressman
Grant"
Months passed. Had it not beer
that monotony makes people notiona