The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-12-17

the ground and 1 was stranger to all. /
stalzed out a claim. put up my tent and
night about the middle of September. hav'
ing gone to bed earlier than usual on &C
count of not feeling well. 1 was aroused
at exactly half an hour after midnight Oy
some one speaking my name. 1 say that
I heard voice call me by name, but
can't offer you proof The instant I open
ed my eyes I saw Jonn Griggs. / saw him
just as plainly as l ever saw living hui
man being, but only for few seconds
Then he faded away and was gone, and
though terribly ratified, I had not cried
out
After a few minutes. when 1 got some OF
my nerve back, rose and dressed and
walked out. There was a light in the tent
next to mine on the right but all the
others were dark. 1 walked down to the
creek, 80 rods away, and had just reaches Z
it. when there came sudden fash and
a terrific report and 1 thought the whole
diggings had been blown sl-y~arG- 1t was
q powder explosion in the tent next to
mine. Six tents were swept away by thai
terrific blast. and four men We're KILLED and
six others more or less injured. OF the
two men in the tent with the powder we
found only fragments.
It is my firm belief that John Griggs APP
peared that night to warn me OF the dan
ger which menaced. You viii smile N pity
and contempt even though at midnight t.
night the mysterious tapping CT d death
tick in the wairscoting Will snake you,
nerve and give you unpleasant thoughts
You remember the awful railroad dlsas-
ter ct Ashtabula, OF should have beea a
passenger on that train but for a singular
miles from Ashtabula. my trunk checked
and ticket bought, waiting for that ram
to come along. There We're eight or ten OF
US in the waiting room. Opposite me, on
the other side of the room, were Two Wo-
men and a man. The women were con-
Versing and the man was reading a news
paTer. From his general appearance Iook
him for a commercial traveller one rea-
son why came to look the man over was
because I happened to notice that ne had
lost two fingers from his left hand Iney
were the second and third fingers, and
wondered how he could have injured them
without injuring either the fore or the TX
tie finger The second finger had been
amputated at that joint and the thlfI az
the knuclxIe or second joint. That seemed
an odd thing. too and, having nclHlnS 20
do but wait, I sPeculated over It me
the man was perhaps sixteen leet itWdy
from me he sat so that the light fell FUN
upon him and could notice every detali
of his dress.
The train was due in seven minutes, as
I sew by glaneing at the clock wnen me
stranger with the newspaper suddenly
vanished and in his place, his hands empty
and resting on his knees, sat John Grigss.
He was looking full at me. and TOR a rev
seconds | had no more doubt that ne was
alive than I had of my own Identity MOI
to strengthen my case, but to add TO tne
mystery a bit further, 1 will relate that as
I sat there looking at my old partner, Wilo
had been buried years before in Crow Val
Icy both women turned in startled way
and then moved along little ,
You will say that in this case, as IN All
Others I did not see what believe | saw.
/ have no proofs to offer that ! did; you
have none to offer that I did not sat
right there with my eyes fixed upon Grlggs
while the train Numbered up, took on the
other passengers and went its way TO meet
a terrible fate. When the rumble of the
trucks died away in the distance, joan
Gricgs faded out of existence IS Juli9
fog vanishes before the summer sun ana l
was all alone in the rOOm.-(CopyrlSh nj,
1902. by o. 3. Warner)