The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-31

1t was o'clock of a beautiful Sunday
morning. Miss A. was sound asleep in her
room in the girls dormitory of a college
not a thousand miles from Indianapolis.
She was awakened by piercing, blood
curdling shrieks. They were not on the
street. they were close by-yes, they were
In the corner room in her own hall, three
doors away. Some one must have got into
their room; those girls would never scream
like that for anything less" she thought.
Now Miss A. was a fearless girl; that Is,
she had found herself so up to this time.
Neither mouse nor cow had any terrors for
her. She had more than once encountered
the rattlesnake on his native heath without
a tremor and had had experiences with run
away horses, with only delighted excite
ment But those terrible screams were too
much for her; she felt that she ought to
rise instantly and see what was wrong and
try to give assistance, but her limbs Seemed
paralyzed and refused to stir. The shr.eks
continued for agonizng minutes and more,
followed by crashing sound, as of heavy
pieces of furniture overturned Then dead
silence. After three or four minutes Of
this she summoned courage to rise. She
looked out of her door The lamp that was
always set in the middle Of the long hall
when the gas was turned OF at 10 o'clock
burned dmly. The moonlight came in at
the open window. No sign or suggestion
of the late tragedy was visible. Presently
the girl across the hall looked out of her
door with a white face.
What were those awful screams?"
asked Miss A.
II don't know" said the other girl, her
teeth chattering with fright
They were in the corner room, weren't
they?"
Il thought they came from your ROOM"
Summoning all her courage Miss A.
walked down the hall to the corner room,
knocked on the door and called to the girls
within. No answer. She tried the door, 1t
was locked. She went back to the other
girl. Now heads in curl papers and forms
in ghostly attire stole out from one room
after another, with the same awe-struck
question to ask At last the girls from the
corner room peeped out.
20 girls! what was it? Who was In your
room?"
why nobody. What was 1t, anyhow?
We don't know"
Wasn't it you that screamed?"
No, the screams were just OUTSIDE our
door,
why didn't you answer when 1 spoke to
your"
I'VE were too frightened to speak"
Never, said Miss A. afterward, did she
have such sensation of mystery and of
horror as when she found that though all
had heard the shrieks, no one had any idea
of their cause. Then while the girls looked
from one to the other with white faces,
from the street in front of the dormitory
came cat-calls and bow-wows, and a clear
Observation-Disclosures Then a falsetto voice
cried shrilly: "Oh! I'm so frightened" and
a deep bass answered Come here, darling,
and I'll take care of YOU"
Instantly the horror dissolved, like mist
in the sun.
"Oh, those boys." said the girls, with
feminine for the pranks of the youthful
masculine
An investigation next morning discovered
an open window in the basement and also
the print of masculine boot heels along the
second story hall, where the boys had
stolen out 10 the end TO give utterance to
those frightful shrieks. The subsequent
crashing was doubtless caused by their
headlong exit down the stairs
The good people of the college town were
scandalized as they went TO church that
morning to see the janitor of the dormitory
climbing around in the tops of the tall
shade trees in front. rescuing books and
chairs reft from the dormitory parlors.