Rock Island Argus., 1900-04-30

cry few grown up people know
what fright really means. except per-
hapS in dreams" said the quietest man
in the group that had been spinning
yarns in the hotel corridor. When
speak of fright he continued. Il don't
mean alarm in any of its ordinary
Senses-I mean that sort of brute panic
that rObs Il man of speech. thought and
Volition; that turns him sick and cold +;
fhat leaves such deep and indelible
scar ON his whole nervous organism
that the very memory of ii, years aft
erward, Will make him quail and Shud-
der. 1t is impossible, in my opinion,
for mere danger TO produce that feel
ing, even in the raukeSt towards. for
You must bear in mind il is not fear
that | am endeaVuTing 10 describe. but
something entirely different, something
against which personal courage fur
niSheS no immunity whatever. When
n man is afraid. his instinct is 10 run
away, To escape; when he is frightcn-
ed. he has no such impulsc-he simply
suffers. l never had hut one expert
ence of that kind in my life. and the
circumstances Of the case were very
commonplace. Ill tell YOU about it in
rs few words as possible.
In 1889 l was holding Il job as proof
reader in Il li% printing establishment
in Chicago. The building then occupied
by the concern was Il rambling old bar
racks of Il place, and the little inclo-
sure where l worked was III the eX
treme rear of the upper floor, which
was used as a composing room. Next
to my cuhby hole was another and
considerably larger incloSurc, where Il
religious weekly was set up on special
contract. That second room had Il
sinister reputation. for the sufficiently
startling reason that it had been the
scene of two suicides. y former col
lector for the firm, who was short in
his accounts, had gone there to blow
his brains out, ana later on Il poor old
printer, broken down and Respondent,
had cut his throat in front of the
cracked looking glass which hung over
the sink. All that happened long be-
fore my time. but the memory of il
abided, and it seemed to invest the
place with n peculiar air of gloom.
Il have gone into these details to
give you an idea of the lay of the
premises, ana now III get to the point.
Onc night. in the fall of the year, had
an unusual lot of proofs TO read and
decided To 20 back. after late sup
per, and finish them up before going
to bed. When l reached the building
on my return from the restaurant,
everybody had gone and the place
was as black and silent as a cave but
l let myself in at Il side door and crop
ed my way up stairs. fumbling in my
--f.g for f..1,
ance 1 didn't have single one, but 1 |
there was Il boXful on a |
table in the office of the religious week |
ly, and, knowing the composing room |
pretty thoroughly. l started without |
hesitation for my den.
The sky was stormy and overcast |
that night, and inside the building it |
was perfectly dark, so dark that liter |
ally couldn't see my hand before my |
face. Nevertheless l reached the proof |
room without any miShap and had |
just opened the door of the adjoining |
inclOsure To get the matchcSi when the
thought of the two suicides flashed |
through my brain and sent an icy shiv-
cr down my spine. For Il moment l |
had an impulse to back out and beat a
retreat, and. while l put that aside.
won't deny that / was considerably
unnerved. The loneliness of the place,
the pitch darkness, the Whispering
noises one can always hear in n big
empty building at night and the mem
Dry Of that CHASTITY story of self mur-
der, all made my heart beat like n
drum, and it required every particle of
resolution | possessed to enable me to
take Il step forward.
Il moved slowly and cautiously, with
my right arm extended to ward off
obstacles, and had advanced perhaps
lozen PAGES when my clutched hand
was laid fatty upon a human face.
could feel the hose and eye sockets |
against my fingers, and a stubblc OF
beard prickCd my palm. Now, gentle
men. this may seem like nothing as /
ell il here, with the incandescents
iblazc and people passing to and fro, |
lut in that black, deserted Tookery il |
vas the incarnation of horror. l real
Zed then and there, for the first time
II my life, the real meaning of the
word fright. If | had actually seen Il
ghost. it would have shaken me less.
put that face against my hand in the
lark-ah. | Will never forget it, never,
Is long as l live.
Il recoiled, and as I did so my fin
,ers encountered the matchbox. BY
lure instinct l snatched out a dozen
matches and struck them on the table.
gas jet was half a foot away, and in
IN instant l had it lit. Then l under
tood the situation, and you will smile,
10 doubt, when l explain. y printer,
whom l knew very well and who was
he sot of the office, was standing be
.ide one of the cases in a drunken
ioze. He hal been on a spree, and
when the Office was closed lie was ly-
ng asleep, unnoticed, behind pile Of
,aper. My steps on the stairs had
rOused him, and he staggered TO his
cet and stood there, silent and stupid.
iEtil l blundered against him in the