Omaha daily bee., 1896-12-26
Unfolds Her soothed Heartaohes to the Ad-
miring Major.
HE COULD NOT GET A WORD IN
How Tragedy Mt the Hands of
"Dear George" Was Avertcd by
the Timely Arrival OF the
Family Doctor.


surface.
On the contrary, she was as bright and
vivacous as a summer girl, relates the
| Washington Star and she was talking to thC
major in seventeen languages all at once
At least 1t so seemed to him, for he hadn't
the slightest opportunity of introducing Q
word into the conversation sidewise, ever
much less introducing It, according to the
ordinary rules of colloquy.
"Do you know, major" she was saying ae
fast she could, and with little gasps for
breath between, as women do when their
| conversational locomotive begins to "run
Wild" that l had a perfectly dreadful eXpe-
rience once in my life?"
The major wanted to say that he could
not understand how such a charming woman
could have any kind of an experience that
was not as lovely as she was, but he wasn't
quick enough.
well, l did," she ratified away, land, you
know, it was during dear Georges life
time, and 1t was perfectly awful My, my
this with half sigh, "you wouldn't think
l had been widow ten years, would you?
Very few people do she twittered. "DC
you think l look very old?" and she canted
her head to one side, and looked at the major
as bird looks at a bug it wants for din
ner.
The major was abo 1t to say that he thought
him she wac a widow, but, as before, he wae
left at the post
But, as l was saying" she continued 81
had this perfectly awful experience. You
know that dear George, during the last
two years of his life was suffering with
some peculiar brain trouble that quite
changed him. His hallucination was that
he was some other person, and that while 1
was his wife, / was not the same wife he had
known in his sanity. This seemed to be
the only peculiarity of his madness, for on
all other points he was quite sane enough to
deceive even experts. or course / had to
watch him all the time, for the physician
said his disorder might develop at any mo-
ment, and he might do something desperate
though 1t was not probable that it would
take such a turn.
"One morning he slipped away from his
attendant and escaped to a train that was
just leaving the station. The man had
grown careless, because George was so ra-
tional all the time, but when he lost him he
realized that he had been neglcctful, and
at once came after me to know what to do.
| was not at home, and did not come in for
two hours, and the man was so silly. or some
thing, that he didn't go to the physician, but
just waited for me. When he told me OF
Georges escape / sent for the physician and
private detective, and as soon as possible
the detective followed my husband. The
physician encouraged me greatly by saying
of himself that he had no suicidal tendency
and that he would very probably find him at
some of the nearby resorts, as ii was sum-
mer and the hotels were all open, If he did
not return of his own free will in few
days.
HE had quite snug sum of money with
him, and | felt easy on that score, for he
could meet all his expenses, and knew very
well how to handle money. Still, l was
dreadfully nervous and excited, and, as |
could not sit at home, / used to go out on
short trips looking for him. The detective
was also out constantly, but he had met with
no success in his search and at the end of
two weeks / determined to sound general
alarm, so to speak, and give the story to
the newspapers when on one of my eXDe-
ditions, | Unexpectedly found him in a re-
mote little town, where there were very few
summer visitors. He had been there since his
departure from home, and ! soon discovered
that he was on excellent terms with every
body. He was very glad to see me at first.
and took me around to meet his new friends.
OF course, it wasn't customary for lady
to call first, but was thinking about George
and not social usage and would have done
anything he asked me.
THE townspeople were extremely fond of
him, and he had been so generous in his
charities that he was looked upon as |
public benefactOr. To have told them that |
George was a lunatic, however mild, would
have resulted in my being thought one, and
during the afternoon of my arrival | kept |
my own counsel and telegraphed at once
for the physician and the attendant. No |
train was due till next morning and all |
l could do was to wait and keep quiet. |
There was no trouble with George until |
just after we had taken our supper at the |
little hotel where he stopped, and had gone |
to his room. There something | said must |
have indicated to him in some way that | |
had some designs against his liberty or 4
something, / don't know what, and he be- |
gan to act queerly, and show that he was |
suspicious of me.
II had been under such dreadful strain
for so long that was completely unnerved, |
and now that l had found him | felt my
self relaxing and verging upon Mysteries.
tried to control myself and get him 20 |
thinking about something else, but suddenly |
and without any warning he caught me and
began to choke me. OF course | screamed,
and screamed with all my might, and in
minute or two people came rushing into the
room, inquiring what was the matter. As
they came in George held me struggling in |
his arms, but he was cooler than any one In
the party, and was talking to me like
mother to a fretful or frightened child,
and doing all he could to soothe me. But
by this time / was so wrought up that l
could not keep still, and when George very
luietly told them that l was demented,
and became extremely violent at times,
lasting for months, they believed him and
asked what could be done.
"He asked that physician and a police
man be sent for, and messenger went fly
ng and soon came back with them. They
held a council over me and upon Georges
suggestion that / be put in safe place for
he night, | was taken to the womans cell
N the town prison and locked up in charge
,f woman nurse, whcJ had volunteered her
services as she had had experience with
unatics. Wasn't that perfectly awful? !,
sane woman, to be locked up on a charge
,f lunacy brought by al lunatc?"
The major was anxious to say that he had
never heard OF such an outrage perpetrated
n a civilized land but the widow ran over
lim and went on
well, 1t was awful, and the more / tried
o convince the woman that 1t was my hus-
)and who was crazy, the more she shook
Ter head kindly and told me she knew 1t,
md that | was put in there only to protect
ne from him. That made me worse, and |
would go off into Mysteries again, and |
lever slept a wink all night When morn
ng came was more nearly a raylng maniac
han tha real lunatic was, and when George
anne in to see me his emotions were painful
o see and he cried like a baby over me,
he nurse all the time trying to cheer him
Up by telling him that had been quiet most
II the night and would soon recover from
he ht.
"IJa shonk his head sadly and went aWay