Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1900-08-11

81 faced round and looked the gen
tleman square in the eye. but he never
WINGED or gave the slightest Indication
of recognition. Then | went away
with my mind in Il turmoil, If l had
been called upon to swear to the mans
identity in Il court of law. would have
done so without hesitation but for the
fact that, though returning my glance
with one as prolonged and steady as
my own. he had shown no sign of rec
ognition.
Now. | needn't tell you how my IA
ther and myself began to speculate or
what thoughts were exchanged. Suf
flee to say that none of our surmiscs
approached the truth.
And now, to 20 back to Mr.. Tomp-
kins' sudden seizure and the events
which followed OF course our inqui-
rieS after the sick man were frequent.
and my father called several times. but
Mr.. Tompkins did not for some time
recover consciousness. At length he
began to cvincc some slight intclli-
gcncc, and my father or myself was
that if he recovered his senses we
might be ready to do anything for him
he might desire in relation to the ar
rangemcnt of his affairs He lad no
relatives near at hand and. in fact.
none with whom he ever directly COM
municatcd. He had Il younger brother
who had disgraccd himself and been a
convict nnI Sinn1IIN hnlnpl
through us by Mr.. TompkinS. but al
ways in so indirect manner as to pre-
vent his discovering the whereabouts
of his bcnefactOr. SO far as we knew,
Mr.. Tompkins had made no will. and
yet we knew that he must be worth
over 81. 100000.
But will come to the occurrence to
which | alluded at the outset was
sitting in the sick mans room one
night reading before the fire. He grew
restless. and | arose and saw that he
was moving and struggling as though
trying to rise. | spoke to him. and he
tried hard to respond and grippcd my
hand with extraordinary vigOr for so
sick a person. Seeing that he was using
every cXcrtion to sit up in bed, helped
him as well as | could, but just as he
had acquired an apparently upright pO-
SitiOn his frame relaxed, and he fell
back. | stood by him for some min
utes, and, as he seemed to be breathing
easily, | resumed my place at the fire
side once and again casting glance
at the bed.
'Suddcnly | experienced strange
sensation, and, on looking up, | saw a
spectral figure standing right opposite
me. rose with an exclamation of sur
prise and approached the form. Won
dering how the sick man could have
left his bed and passed me without my
having observed him. | did not lose
my presence of mind, but took Il step
toward the dimly outlined figure. Then
| saw that one hand was pointing to-
ward small, old fashioned desk which
stood on the top of Il bookcase. AS
my eye followed the direction indicated
the form disappeared. | turned, cX-
pecting to see the figure moving to-
ward the bed. Nothing. however. was
visible. | went to the bed and gaZcd
upon corpse.
The man was dead beyond question.
summoned the housckccper and other
attendants. and when the body was
properly disposed all of us quilted the
room. | locked the door and gave the
key into the custody of the housekccp-
er, directing her to allow no one to en-
ter the room until my father came next
day with the undertaken
Next morning accompanied my ia
ther to the house. had already in
formed him what had occurred, and as
soon as some other matters were ar
ranged my father took the desk, and
we retired to another room. On open
ing the desk there was apparently
nothing in it but quire of note paper.
We made Il close examinations; but, as
it was simply desk to be carried in
the hand or in a trunk, we found moth
ing that would indicate any secret
drawer. | took up the note paper and
carelesSly turned over the sheets. \
surprise was in store, for on the inside
sheet there was writing. 1t turned out
to be the Photographic will of the de-
ceased-that is, will wholly written
by himself. 1t bore date the very day
when he last visited our office and was
struck down by apopleXy.
''The will left all in trust to Il certain
woman for the benefit of the tcstatOr's
five children. mentioned by name, with
their places of abode. The name of the
trustee | cannot, OF course, mention,
nor would it be right to give the ad-
dress. The will was duly admitted to
probate. The trustee did not bear the
name of the testator, but all the chill
drcn did.
How do | account for the spectral
form? Well think he had felt symp-
toms of the attack which carried him
off and wrote the will and came direct
ly to our office. intending to inform my
father of the fact of its existence. At
the point of separation from the body
the spirit Obeyed the last impulse of
the dying man."-Brooklyn Citizen.
Children and Rivers.
zone of the hardest things | have to