The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-08-16
WHAT WAS 1T?
Horrible End of Tom White Seen by
Friends Thousands of Miles Dis
tant.

Friends Thousands of Miles Dis
tant.
From Parsons Magazine.
A. Mr.. Erwell was staying at an
old farm house, occupied by a Mr..
George White and his wife, together
with the formers aged mother. The
youngest son, Tom, was a naval en-
gineer, absent on a long voyage.
On a night toward the end of Mr..
Erwers stay, George White and his
wife were spending the evening with a
neighbor. Erwell and old Mrs. White
sat before the wide, old-fashioned
hearth of the kitchen, chatting over
old times, and lapsing now and again
into meditative silence.
In the midst of one such pause,
Mrs. White suddenly seized her COM
panion by the arm, and, pointing to
the fire, said in an awe-struck tone,
Look"
! To his amazement. Erwell saw that
| the ruddy glow of the coal was slow
| ly losing it's color. Even as he looked,
| indeed. the fire became perfectly
| black.
Now there came a dull sound of ham
mering on metal. 1t ceased as abrupt
~ as it began. A door opened at the
back of the CRATE, and a man appeared,
bearing in one hand hammer, in the
other a candle. 1t was Tom White,
the naval engineer.
The figure came into the CRATE, look
ed around, placed the candle on the
floor: then, taking a tool from his
| pocket, advanced to a corner of the
! fireplace. and seemed to be repairing
something.
This finished, he took up the candle
and returned to the door by which
| he had entered. 1t was shut.
| He turned his head for a moment,
and Erwell saw on his face a look of
horror and dismay. Quickly he set
down the candle, and. raising the ham
mer, beat on the door with all his
might.
Desisting from this, he began to walk
rapidly to and fro. a look of agony
on his face. Next he knelt for a mo-
ment, as if in prayer, but quickly was
up again and franticaIly hammering on
the door. And now he kept lifting his
feet rapidly, as though the floor was
burning them, and seemed to be gasp
ing for breath. The candle melted to
running grease, and suddenly Tom
White fell to the floor, and on his face
there was a look of terrible suffering
Twice he rolled over. then lay still.
of burning filled the room-and sud-
denly the whole thing vanished The
fire resumed its ordinary light, and
Erwell, rousng himself with an effort,
gave long. shuddering sigh, murmur-
| ing.
"What terrible dream!'
With that. he turned to the old lady
by his side. She was dead!
! About a month later Mr.. George
| White received a letter from a foreign
port detailing his brothers death UNI
| der the following terrible circum-
! stances:
On the eve of sailing from an Aus
| tralian town Tom White was ordered
| by the chief engineer to remedy a de-
| feet which shad been discovered in the
| boilers safety-valve. For this pur-
! pose the lad entered a small iron COM
! partment Immediately above the boil
| er, and started work. Shortly after
ward the captain passed by, and UNI
aware that any one was within, closed
the door, which he found standing ajar.
| Poor Toms fate was sealed!
Later in the day the vessel started.
and when young White was missed and
! inquiries made about him. his shrivel-
| ed body was found on the floor of the
iron room