The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-01-23
SOME QUEER DREAMS.
VISIONS THAT RESULTED IN THE CAP
TuHE OF CRIMINALS.
Marvellous Manifestations That naf-
Tie the Ingenuity Of Man to Explain
md which Prove Anew That Truth
IL Stranger Than Fiction.

NE tuS AN&cuWlty III WWu VI NAVaNsN
and which Prove Anew That Truth
IL stranger Than Fiction.
A very remarkable instance Of the
tracing Of a criminal by means OF q
dream occurred In st. Louis. a woman
named Mary Thornton was detained
In custody for a month. charged with
the murder Of her husband. A week
or so after her arrest she requested to
see Il OF the prison officials and told
him she had dreamed that an individ-
ual named George Ray had murdered
her spouse, giving the official At 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 oh,
vious earnestness that n search was AT
once made for him.
After some delay he was traced and
charged with the crime, the details Of
the same as seen In the dream being
rehearsed to him. Overcome with az.
constituent, he then and there on
fessed that he had committed the
crime. C%uriously enough. the woman
had only met the murderer once and
believed him to be- on the very best OF
terms with her husband.
Almost az remarkable vas the ease
OF a woman named Drew, who dream,
cd II night TINT her husband. n re.
tired sailor, mad been murdered by Il
peddler at n Gnvesend tavern, where
the snid husband was In the habit OF
putting up when visiting the town In
question. The irst news that awaited
her o. rising In the morning was that
her spouse had been assassinated ut
the very tavern she had seen In her ex.
traordinary vision. whereupon she
burst Into hystpricaI tears and cried
out that her dream had come true.
She cAlmed down somewhat after a
few hours and then handed the police
officials IN exact description OF the
peddler Of the vision, giving n minute
account OF his dress. which included a
blue coat Of a very peculiar pattern.
Marvellous as the fact may appear, a
man wearing such q Goa and follow
Ing the occupation OF q peddler was
discovered two days later at IN 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. lie was hanged soon aft.
erward, his doom having been brought
about by the flimsy evidence of a won.
ans dream.
Women as dreamers seem more sue.
cessful than men, but a rather peculiar
instance OF a 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 a substan-
tial meal lay down on the couch and
fell into a light doze. A very vivid
dream then came to him wherein he
saw two men Of the burglar type en-.
gagged In rifilng the safe In his office,
and SO much impressed was he by the
vision that he resolved. upon awaken
Ing, to at 0nce go to the Office and see
that everything was undertook and key.
His amazemcnt may be imagined
when, on arriving there, he discovered
the door forced and a 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 10 be notorious housebreakers,
were on their way to the police depot,
where the prosecutor told his eXtraor-
binary story. In view OF the fact that
the safe contained valuables to the OK.
tent Of some thousands Of pounds, the
dream In question %provcd'a very for.
tunate n for the dreamer.
How to explain these marvellous man.
ifestations. which prove once more
that truth Ia stranger than fiction, is a
task beyond the ingenuity Of man to
compass. P%erchance the theory of te.
lepathy may have something to do with
the mysterious business. but ever that
theory would appear rather inadequate
In such cases as the aforementioned.
A sklllful forger who moved In the
highest circles OF society was once dc.
tected by the agency of n dream. The
affair occurred In Boston and caused
the greatest excitement OF the time,
The forger. a young man of eight or
nine and twenty, had become acquaint-
cd with a rich publisher, at whose
house he became n constant guest. One
day the publishers bankers discovered
that some one was forging their clients
signature TO various large checks, and
two detectives were nj once instructed
to look out for the culprit,
Their efforts proved useless, but INT
evening the publishers youngest daugh.
ter, a little girl Of II, dreamed that
she saw q man whom she described as
hike Mr., Blank" the visitor to whom
reference has been made, sitting In a
room In Maine street copying her ia
theirs signature, The child's dream
was communicated to the police, who.
T. A. l-.I