The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-27

even feel the finger nails in my flesh.
l tried to throw it off, and l must
have made an awful commotion for l
heard Tompkins pounding on the door;
through my eXertions l must have got
enough breath to call to him, and as
did so, felt the thing slip from me
and let go my throat. 1 staggered to
the door and let Tompkins in. AS he
turned on the light he caught me
by the arm to keep me from falling.
and as he pulled me up l saw myself
in the mirror on the dresser; and as
sure as l am living at this moment
there were finger marks on my throat,
and the muscles in my neck actually
ached. l concealed my agitation from
Tompkins the best 1 could, and told
him to go back to sleep, which he did,
for / soon heard him snoring; but /
did not sleep any more, nor have l
since. You may say what you please,
or laugh if you WILL but l know it
is not a dream. l believe l am the
victim of some great psychological
mystery. AS you see, l have been
reading all the works that l could
get that pertain to the subject, es-
pecially to the occult but the only
thing l can find, that is, relative, is
this, by some old English writer:
Taking up the book, he turned to
the page and read, 'Theye save We
spirit do returne to thys earthe TO
avenge some real. or e'cn fancied.
wronge." He closed the book and put
it down; seeing he had no more to
say, / tried to show him the folly of
it all, and l flattered myself with the
belief that, to some extent, l had been
successful; for he was in much light
er spirits. l advised him to take a
stiff drink out of the bottle, and on
the morrow to go out into the coun-
try for a few days. 1 promised to call
around in a day or so to see if he
had gone. / started to leave, and as
l went out of the door he took my
hand in both of his, and told me he
would do as / advised. Still, l could
see he chung to the idea that there
was something supernatural about it
all, regardless of my arguing to the
contrary.
When l took my coat from Tomp-
kins, in the hall, l told him he should
| sleep in Mr.. DeTrevilles room again
that night, as he was suffering from
a severe nervous trouble, and in the
event he should need any assistance
| to let me know at once, which he said
he would do.
DeTreville's talk had, l will admit,
made me feel rather peculiar. and
| thinking a brisk walk through the
cold night air would dispel that feel
ing. L decided to walk home. As l
walked along thought of the peculiar
tiles of human nature in general and
especially of those who have an alb
normal nervous temperament. Though
l did not take any stock in the SUI
pernatural part of Det's story, l could
not but feel worried about him; but
finally decided the whole cause was
over study, for he was a veritable
book worm. With these thoughts l
arrived home, and went to bed.
l had been asleep perhaps three
hours. when l was awakened by a
violent ringing of my door bell. Hast
lily dressing, l hurried down stairs,
| and found Tompkins at the door with
a look on his face that would have
| frightened any one. A strange fore
boding of evil seized me, and / was
hardly surprised when Tompkins
| spluttered out, For Gods sake, come
| quickly, sir" Tompkins had come in
a cab, and I waited to question him
as we drove along; but all / could
| get out of him was, that about an
| hour after DeTreville had retired,
| Tompkins had been aroused by a
| noise as if some one was struggling
| and gasping, as If they were being
choked. and that he called, but could
| not get an answer. AS the door was
| locked, it took him some time TO break
| ii open, and when he did get it open
he found DeTreville laying on the
bed with his eyes nearly popped out
| of his head, his face black and pur-
pie, and his tongue protruding
through his mouth Seeing that he
was unconscious, he had done moth
ing more than rush off after me.
When we got to the house, l hur-
ried into DeTreville's room, and
found him as Tompkins had told me:
but with this exception. he was dead.
His right arm was bent under his
body, his kneecs were almost doubled
back on his breast; his left hand
clutched his throat, and the finger
nails were sunk deep into the flesh
The muscles of his neck Nwere con-
tracted and knotted so that 1 could
not drag his hand away.
Then l knew the truth. DeTreville
was the victim of an hallucination,
and had choked himself to death in
his sleep.