Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1896-11-06

Captain Hill stood holding the ends
of The cord that bound tine invisible
twisted round his hand, while before
him, self supporting, as 1t were, was
the cord, laced and iuterlaced and
stretching tightly around vacant place.
He paused for minute as though
trying to decide what was best to be
done, and then, suddenly bending over,
he lifted the thing in his arms and
dropped it with gesture of disgust on
the cot There was dull sound of a
heavy body alighting on the not over
soft couch, and the strong framework
creaked and tremblcd. A deep impress
sion marked itself distinctly Oh the COW
erin9s.
We remained silent fr some time,
listening to the low, irregular breath
ings of the creature on the cot and
watching the rustic Of the blankets as it
impatiently struggled to free itself OF
confinement. Then Hill spoke:
Frank, this is awful.
eyes, awful
"But not unaccountable.
"Not unaccountablel What do You
mean? Such thing has never before
occurred since the creation of man. God
grant that / am not mad and that this
is not an insane fantasy"
"Let us reason little, Frank Here
is solid body which we touch, but we
cannot see. The fact is so unusual that
it strikes us with terror. Is there no
parallel, though, for such phenome
non? Take piece of pure glass. 1t is
tangible and transparent. A certain
chemical cOarseness Is all that prevents
its being so utterly transparent rs 10 be
totally invisible. 1t is not theoretically
| impossible, mind you, TO make "a glass
which shall not reflect "a single ray of
| light-a glass so pure and homogeneous
in its atoms that the rays from the sun
will pass through it as they do through
| the air, refracted but not reflected. We
do not see the air and yet we feel it. "
That's all very well, captain; but
| these are Illuminate substances. Glass
does not breathe, air does not breathe.
This thing has heart that palpitates-
will that moves it-lungs that play
and inspire and respire. -
"You forget the phenomena of which
we have so often heard Of late, " am
swered the captain gravely. 'At the
meetings called spirit circles, invisible
hands have been thrust into the hands
of those persons around the table
warm, feshly hands. that seemed TO
pulsate with mortal life. "
"What! Do you think, then, that
this thing is
Il don't know what it is" was the
solemn reply, but, please the gods, |
will, with your assistance, thoroughly
| investigate 1t.
The next morning the captain and
racked our brains to discover some
means by which we might get some
idea of the shape and general appear
ance Of the enigma. As well as we
could make out by passing our hands
over the creatures form, its outlines
and lineamcnts were human. There was
round, smooth head, without hair; q
nose, which however, was but little
elevated above the checks; mouth and
hands and feet like those of IA boy.
A happy thought struck me. We
would take plaster of paris cast of it.
This would give us the solid figure and
satisfy all our wishes.
But how to do it? The movements OF
the creature would disturb the setting
of the plastic covering and distort the
mold.
Another thought. Why not give il
chlororform; The thing had respiratory
organs That was evident by its breath
ing. Once reduced TO a state Of insensi
bility, we could do with it as we would
This was no sooner thought Of than
it was agreed TO and the guide dis
patched to the village for chloroforn
and the necessary materials for taking {
plaster cast, and with strict injunctioni
to waste no time in going or returning
At noon of the fourth day he returned
with the materials ordered Five min
utcs thereafter we were enabled to re
move the letters from the creature
body, and the captain was busily en-
gagged in covering the invisible form
, with the moist clay. In ID minute
more we had mold, and before evening
"a rough facsimile Of the mystery.
1t was shaped like a man-distorted
1t was small-nOt over feet inche
} in height---and its limbs revealed
| muscular development that was withou
"a parallel. Its face surpassed in hideous
ness anything | had ever seen 1t wa
the physiognomy of what should fame.
r ghoul might be. 1t looked as if it wa
capable of feeding on human fleshl
e Having satisfied our curiosity, it be
came question what was to be don
Q with our enigma. 1t was impossibl
that we should take such a horror wit
us on our return to civilization, and W
= were exceedingly reluctant to turn sue
an awful being loose on the world again
> 1t was finally decided that we woul
e carry it some distance down the noun
o tain to small lake and there drown il
But fate willed otherwise. We had nc
! covered quarter of the distance to tn
lake, when by some means the cords be
came loosened, and before we could d
: anything to prevent it the thing wa
| &c Fob