The daily morning Alaskan., 1900-07-18
HIS CASE OF FRIGHT.
ONE MANS STORY OF HOW HE WAS
COMPLETELY UNNeRvEp.

was Simple Enough Incident,
Yet He Declares That the simple
Thought of 1t Has Often Since
brought the Sweat to His Face.
Very few grown up people know
nat fright really means, except per
'ps In dreams" said the quietest man
! the group that had been spinning
rms in the hotel corridor when |
'ak of fright" he continued, 81 don't
an alarm in any Of its ordinary
'lses-l mean that sort of brute panic
II robs man of speech, thought and
tition; that turns him sick and cold:
1t leaves such deep and indelible
IT on his whole nervous organism
sit the very memory Of it, years aft
irward, will make him quail and shud-
'ier 1t is impossible, in my opinion,
.or mere danger to produce that feel
ing, even in the rankest towards, for
you must bear in mind 1t is not fear
that an endeavoring to describe, but
something entirely different, something
against which personal courage fur
nishes no immunity whatever. When
man is afraid, his instinct is to run
away, to escape; when he is frighten-
ed, he has no such impulse-he simply
suffers. never had but one expert
ence of thai Lind in my life, and the
circumstances of the case were very
commonplace I'll tell you about 1t In
as few words IS possible.
I'm 1889 G. holding job as proof
reader in .i printing establishment
in Chicago. ~" building then occupied
by the conccti was rambling old bar
racks of a p re, and the little inclo-
sure where | ,'orked was in the ex-
IRENE rear of the upper floor, which
was used as composing room. Next
to my cubby hole was another and
considerably larger Enclosure, where
religious weekly was set up on special
contract. That second room had q
sinister reputation, for the sufficiently
scene of two suicides. A former col
lector for the firm, who was short In
his accounts, had gone there to blow
his brains out, and later on n poor old
printer, broken down alo hspondcnt,
had cut his throat ~ it of the
cracked looking glass i lung over
the sink. All that he '2..L long be-
fore my time, but IT, uIt 9ory Of 1t
abided. and it seemed 10 ;.vest the
place with peculiar a Of 'om.
Il have gone into &c tails to
give you an idea of in of he
premises, and now III st point.
One night, in the fall of Ia, EAR, ad
an unusual lot of proofs to rear md
decided to go back, after II la sup
per. and finish them up before :, Ding
to bed. When | reached the hui. ling
Oh my return from the ,aurant,
everybody had gone, ant the place
rs black and si;e1t as a cave, but
l,, 80. d. :. o side door and CROP
cd m. a.. ~ stairs, 'cmbling in M
pockets for ii match. 70 ny anne
ance | diGh't have a si2Gip ~
remembered there was /. -...- i a
table in the office of the religious week
ly. and, knowing the composing room
pretty thoroughly, | 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 I reached the proc
room without any mishap and b "A
just opened the door of the adjoir -,
Enclosure to get the matches when TX
thought of the two suicides fl. std
through my brain and sent an icr !: V.
er down my spine. For mon'a.;
had an impulse to back out and L Vt
retreat, and, while put that H''
won't deny that | was III ably
unnerved. The loneliness of place,
tho pitch d.?Enrss, the Whispering
',nis-,' ..I always hear in a big
emp. Guiding at night and the men,
DRY of that CHASTITY story of self MUIR
der, all made my heart beat like
drum, and it required every particle Of
resolution | possessed to enable me to
take step forward.
II moved slowly and cautiously, with
my right arm extended to ward off
obstacles, and had advanced perhaps
dozen PAGES when my clutched hand
was laid fatty upon human face. l
could feel the nose and eye sockets
against my fingers, and a stubble of
beard pricked my palm. Now. gentle
men, this may seem like nothing as l
tell it here, with the incandescents
ablaze and people passing to and fro,
but in that black, deserted rookery 1t
was the incarnation of horror. I real
lied then and there, for the first time
In my life, the real meaning Of the
word fright. If / had actually seen a
ghost it would have shaken me less,
but that face against my hand In the
dark-ah, will never forget it, never,
as long as live!
II recoiled, and as I did so my fin
gers encountered the matchbox. BY
pure instinct | snatched out dozen
matches and struck them on the table.
A gas jet was half foot away. and In
an instant | had it lit. Then | under
stood the situation. and you will smile,
no doubt, when | explain. A printer,
whom | knew very well and who was
the sot of the office was standing be-
side one of the cases in drunken
doze. He hal been on Il spree, and
when the office was closed he was ~
ing asleep, unnoticed, behind pile of
paper. My steps on the stairs had
aroused him. and he staggered to his
feet and stood there, silent and stupid,
until | blundered against him In the
dark. 54ts
"Thats the story, and, as | said be-
fore, it seems like nothing to tell, yet
the bare thought of it has brought the
sweat to my forehead."-New Orleans
Times Democrat