The Norfolk weekly news., 1900-02-08
SOME QUEER DREAMS.
VISIONS THAT RESULTED IN THE CAP
TURE OF CRIMINALS.
Marvellous Manifestations That Bns-
Hc the Ingenuity of Man 10 Explain
and which Prove Anew That Truth
IL Stranger Than Fiction.

Is Stranger Than Fiction.
A very remarkable instance of the
| tracing of II criminal by means of n
dream occurred In ST. Louis. a woman
named Mary Thornton was detained
In custody for II month, charged with
the murder of her husband A week
or so after her arrest she requested 60
see one of the prison officials and told
him she had dreamed that an individ-
ual named George Ray had murdered
her spouse, giving the official Mt the
same time full details of the tragedy
as Witnessed In her vision. The man
Ray was not suspected at the time.
but the prison authorities were so
| much impressed by the woman's ob.
vious carncstncss that search was at
once made for him.
After some delay he was traced and
charged with the crime, the details of
the same rs seen I'm the dream being
rehcnrscd to him. Overcome with us.
tonishmcnt, he then and there con-
fessed that he had committed the
crime. Curiously enough, the woman
believed him to be on the very best Of
terms with her husband.
Almost as remarkable was the case
OF woman named Drew, who dream
ed one night that her husband, n re-
tired sailor, had been murdered by
peddlcr mt n Gravcscnd tavern, where
the said husband was In the habit of
putting up when visiting the town in
question. The first news that awaited
her on rising in the morning was that
her spouse had been assassinated at
the very tavern she had seen in her ex-
traordinary vision, whereupon she
burst into hystercal tears and cried
out that hcr'dream had come true.
She calmed down somewhat after a
few hours and then handed the police
officials an exact description of the
account OF his dress, which included n
blue coat Of II very peculiar pattern.
Marvellous as the fact may appear, a
man wearing such n coat and follow
ing the occupation of n Deddler was
discovered two days later Mt an inn
some six miles from Gravesend, and,
on being taxed with the crime, he at
once admitted that he was guilty and
that robbery had been the motive of
the outrage. He was hanged soon aft
erward, his doom having been brought
about by the tlimsy evidence Of Il wom-
ans dream.
Women rs dreamcrs seem more sue
cessful than men, but a rather peculiar
instance of Il crime being traced by a
vision and in which the dreamer was a
member of the male sex comes from
Rennes, in France. A worthy mer-
chant, having quilted his office one
Saturday evening, proceeded home to
dinner and after enjoying Il substan-
tial meal lay down on the couch and
fell into light doZe. A very vivid
dream then came to him wherein he
saw two men of the burglar type en-
gagged in riding the safe in his Office,
and so much impressed was he by the
vision that he resolved. upon awaken
Ing, to at once go to the office and see
that everything was undertook and key.
His amazcmcnt may be imagined
when, on arriving there, he discovered
the door forced and n burglary in prog
ress. To summon a couple of gen
darmes was the work of an instant.
and five minutes later the thieves. who
proved to be notorious housebreakers.
were on their way to the police depot,
where the prosecutor told his eXtmor-
dinary story. In view of the fact that
the safe contained valuables to the ex-
tent of some thousands of pounds, the
dream In question proved very for
tunate one for the dreamer.
How to explain these marvellous man ]
ifestations, which prove once more
that truth Is stranger than fiction, is a
task beyond the ingenuity of man to
compass. Perchance the theory of te-
lepathy may have something to do with
the mysterious business, but even that
theory would appear rather Inadequate
IN such cases as the aforementioned.
A skillful forger who moved in the |
highest circles Of society was once de- |
tected by the agency of n dream. The
aHair occurred In Boston and caused |
the greatest excitement of the time.
The forger, young man of eight or ]
nine and twenty, had become acauaint-
ed with rich publisher, at whose
house he became constant guest. One |
day the publishers bankers discovered |
that some one was forging their clients |
signature 10 various large checks, and
two detectives were at once instructed |
to look ont for the culprit.
Their efforts proved useless, but one |
evening thepublishers youngest daugh- |
ter, little girl Of IL, dreamed that |
she saw man whom she described as |
like Mr., Blank" the visitor TO whom |
reference has been made, sitting in a
room in Maine street copying her IA |
Tiers signature. The child's dream
was communicated To the police, who, |
though inclined to ridicule the same at |
the outset, eventually promised to have |
the gentleman in watched. |
with the result tina, were |
raided and comp
making of bank note
Q tl,.,, 81,