The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-08-26
SOME DRAMATIC INCIDENTS
Strange andInexplicable Happen
ingS in a Lifetime.

OCidiiSo lncApl1caDle Happen
ings in a Lifetime.
1t occasionally happens that lives
which have run on the most peaceful
and uneventful lines for many years
are suddenly marked GU by fate for
the introduction Of keenly dramatic
incidents; and that such has frequently
been the case, the following episodes,
culled from the writer's recollection
and experience will serve to demon
strate:
Two old maids for many years had
lived, says a writer in the st. Louis
Globe-Democrat, in the utmost seclu-
sion at a village near Toulon, France,
their lives being peaceful to the point
OF monotony. Their greatest excite
ment had been a flower show: their
deepest catastrophe, the death Of a IA
vorite cat. One evening, however, as
the two sat at their needlework in
their little parlor, they were startled
by seeing their window flung violently
open, and a man in convict dress
rushed into the room. Failing OF his
knees, he begged for protection from
the prison officials, who at that very
moment were in pursuit of him.
The old ladies, terribly frightened,
were about to summon assistance,
when, of a sudden. the elder of them
pointed to the man with a low cry, and
exclaimed: Look! 1t is Henri. come
pack to life" Years ago, when the cid
maid had been a young maid, and a
pretty girl as well, she had been af-
famed to a young fellow whom she
had loved p~assionately. He nae lied
three days before the day appointed
for their union, n ever since she had
carried his memoir in her heart. BY
some strange coincidence the man who
implored for protection was the living
image of the dead man; and, this be-
ing so. sentiment gained the day, and
they resolved to give him the help he
besought.
Acting on the impulse, they went
through their work of mercy with hero
ism. The convict was secreted in the
boudoir, and when the officers Of the
law arrived and inquired if anything
had been seen of the escaped man a di-
rect denial was given them. Prob
ably this was the first untruth which
the poor old ladies had ever uttered,
n the lie was n of those with which
the recording angel will p]erchance deal
lightly when the time Of judgment
comes.
The danger once over, the two
worthy DANES saw that the man was
fed and properly clothed, and when a
week had passed he left their house,
taking with him a sufficient sum of
money, which they forced upon him,
to enable him to leave the country and
start a new life abroad. The farewell
scene was pathetic in the extreme, the
rescuers being as deeply affected as the
rescued. a44 n
For years afterward, and, in fact, I'M
til the time of their decease, the two
women would often speak of this
TRANCE incident with bated breath, and
the last incident in the little drama was
the arrival one morning, two years
later, of a magnificent diamond, accom-
panied by a note from the e~x-convict.
He wrote that he a one to South
Africa, where he had prospered ex-
ceedingly, and he felt that the diamond,
his biggest find, vas a fitting souvenir
of the biggest service hat had ever
been rendered to him by man or
woman.
Another curious instance of a peace
full life suddenly lit up by a luridly
dramatic incident was the following:
A venerable country pastor, beloved
by his flock and distinguished by mis-
benevolence and unselfishness, was
preaching one Sunday morning to the
tiny congregation, when the calmness
of the place was suddenly disturbed by
a tall. dark-bearded man rising in his
pew, where he had been sitting unob-
served, and calling On the minister to
come down from the pulpit, as he had
his felloW-men.
The astounded congregation at first
thought that the man was intoxicated,
and the verger was about to approach
him, when the minister raised his hand,
and, in a voice which trembled with
terror, begged for silence.
The dark man then proceeded to
bring a terrible charge against the
clergyman. He stated that, twenty
years before, the latter had wronged
his sister. Who had died soon after
wards, and that, as her brother, he
demanded that justice be done, and
that the preacher should cease to