The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-03-24
PARALYzED BY FRIGHT.
An Experience Set Forth to Illustrat
What the Expression Means.

1
What the Expression Means.
Very few grown-Ip people know
what fright really means, except per-
haps in dreams" said the quietest man
in the group of night owls who had been
spinning yarns in the hotel corridor.
| when | speak of fright" he continued
| don't mean alarm in any of its or
| binary senses-I mean that sort of brute
panic that robs a man of speech,
thought and volition, that turns him
| sick and cold that leaves such a deep
and indelible scar on his whole nervous
organism that the very memory of it,
| years afterward will make him quail
and shudder. 1t lie impossible, in my
opinion for mere danger to produce thar
feeling, even in the rankest towards, for
you must bear in mind it is not fear
that | am enfeavoring to describe, but
something entirely different, something
against which personal courage furnish
es no immunity whatever. When
man is afraid, his instinct is to run
away, to escape; when he is frightened,
he has no such impulse he simply suf-
fers.
I'm 1889 I was holding job as proof
reader in a big printing establishment
in Chicago The building then occupied
by the concern was q rambling old bar
racks of a place and the little incloG-
ure where / worked was in the extreme
rear Of the upper floor, which wae used
as a composing room. Next to my cub
byhole was another and considerably
larger Enclosure, where a religious week
ly was set up on special contract. That
second room had a sinister reputation,
for theSufficiently startling reason that
1t had been the scene of two suicides. A
former collector for the firm, who was
short in his accounts, had gone there to
blow his brains out ard later on poor
old printer, broken down and despond-
emit, had cut his throat in front Of the
cracked locking glass which hung over
the sink All that happened long before
my time but the memory Of it abided,
and it seemed to invest the place with
a peculiar air of gloom. ! have gone
into these details to give you an idea
of the lay of the premises, and now
I'll get to the point.
zone night, in the fall of the year, I
had an unusual lot Of proofs to read,
and decided to go back. after late
supper and finish them up before 60 |
ing to bed When I reached the build |
ing on my return from the restaurant |
everybody had gone, and the place was
ae black and silent as cave, but let /
myself in at side door and CROPPED my
way upstairs, fumbling in my pockets
for match. To my annoyance didn't
have a single one, but | remembered
there was boxful on a table in the
office Of the religious weekly. and know
ng the composing room pretty thor
,ughly, I started without tation for
NY den.
"The sky was stormy and overcast
hat night, and inside the building 1t
vas perfectly dark. so dark that liter
lily couldn't see my hand before my
ace. Nevertheless, l reached the proof
DOM without any mishap, and had just
,pened the door of the adjoining inclos-
ire to get the matches, when the :
bought Of the two suicides flashed
through my brain and sent an Icy shiv-
r down my spine. For moment had
N impulee to back out and retreat, and,
While put that aside, wont deny that
was considerably unnerved. The lone
mess of the place, the pitch darkness,
he whispering noises one can always |
ear in big empty building at night,
nd the memory of that CHASTITY story
f sef-murder all made my heart beat
Ike drum, and it required every par
icle Of resolution I possessed to enable
he to take a step forward. | moved
lowly and cautiously, with my right