The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-07-07

We were talking about spirit MANI
festations at the Thirty-nine club, and
retailing the usual second or third
hand accounts of deceased ladies and
gentlemen showing themselves to their
sorrowing relatives.
ut Is strange the tricks which our
brains will sometimes play u.s. said
DIR. Macpherson. II remember once see
ing a ghost myself, and / can tell
you that the sensation is very curl
Gus one. 1t was a good many years
ago. during my examination days, and
j had been sitting up until the early
hours 'cramming.' Everybody in the
house had long since gone to bed, where
] ought to have been myself, so / was
rather surprised when I glanced up
from my book to see somebody sit
ting at the table where l myself had
been a few moments before writing.
I felt quite startled for an instant,
until I recognized the intruder. He
was little hazy, but ! could see plain
ly enough who he was"
"A dead relative?" asked Major Den
nett who was a firm believer in the
good old fashioned ghost.
Macpherson answered in his peculiar
ly quiet way.
mo; it was myself. The appearance
of seeing ones own ghost is not alto
getler unusual I believe"
"Now, do not think your experience
was half so remarkable as one of
mine" said Gilbert Dane, the we'll
known actor and manager of the How
ard theater, who happened to be there
that night Dane Is not a member of
the ei Thirtytnine, but had come with
Macpherson. Most of the brain spec
ialist's friends are in the profession,
a fact which is perhaps due to the
year which he himself spent on the
stage as a young man.
+ my story begins prosaically." said
the actor, when we begged to hear it,
FL lost the latCh-key with which l
let myself into the theater. and took
somebody else's to the locksmiths to
have a duplicate made. l agreed to
call for it the following morning, as
was going up town for rehearsal.
was living at Putnel then, and we
Were actively preparing a play which
deserved better fate than it received,
itthought and preparation go for any
thing, for l. came near making myself
i'll over it. / was feeling out of sorts
on the morning that I had called for
the latch key and when the locksmith
swore positively that he had given
lne the thing already-that less than
ttn minutes previously / had come in
for the key, paid for it, and taken
it away with me, I will confess that
fclost my temper and stormed at the
fellow, but / could not get him to
bulge a line from his story. He seemed
to have an idea that l was playing a
practical Joke, and the only result of
thy talking was that / nearly lost my
train 10 Waterloo. 1t was moving when
$ 1 reaching the platform and l had to
run for the only compartment of which
the. door was open, near the end of
the train.
"The compartment contained two
other passengers, but if l glanced at
them at all, 1 noticed nothing except
that each was pretty well hidden be-
hind a daily paper. l had fortunately
bought my own paper before calling
at the locksmith's and speedily fol-
lowed their example. So far, the story
is painfully commonplace. Now comes
the truly remarkable experience which
has stamped the doings of that day
indelibly on my memory"
The actor paused to strike a match
and reli&ht his cheroot, which he ha6
allowed to go out, and we all watched
him in silence, wondering what was
coming. Macpherson only had the ali
Of a man who had heard the story be-
fore, g..
II had become rather interested ir
my paper" Dane went on, when tbs
cigar was alight again, land did not
notice my. companions talking unit
one of them started telling an anec-
dote. Then it gradually, dawned upor
ha4 hn hn tn1 Nkras
one that / consider my own particular
property, and when listened it strucl
me that the story was being told, moi
only in my exact words, but also i'm my
own. voice. They say that a man doe:
not recognize his own voice-when h
hears it in the phonograph, for in
stance; but that is possibly the fau!
of the phonograph, and, at any rate
j know that l recognized mine instant
ly.
The story and the voice startled me
and it is difficult. to describe my feel
ings when l put down my paper t
glance at the narrator"
Twas yoursen?" asked Major Den
nett, eXcitedly, as the actor paused
and Dane nodded.
Yes, gentlemen, l saw seated at tn
other end of the compartment by tn,
window opposite his companion, a fig
ure that was an exact fac simile o
the reflection which l see in my glas
every day when l have dressed for tn.
part of a respectable citizen. 1t wa
myself, complete in every detail of fac
and attire"
AN optical delusion, l suppose?
suggested, and the actor shook hi
head.
'No, that was the first idea that oc
CURED to me-that had been working
and worrying too mucn over the ney
play, and my brain had played me
trick. Tie uncolcerned way in whc
the third man glanced at me encour
aged me in the belief, for the likeness
unless / was imagining it, was enoug
to attract instant attention. / won