The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1906-01-19
DREAMS That CANE ThU
some Strange Stories In the Annals of
OF Crime.


Some OF the strangest stories in the
annals OF crime are those which tell OF
the part dreams have played in the dis
cOvery OF criminals. One spring day in
1904 farm laborer, when passing a
lonely mountain lake in Sutherland
shire. saw In the waters a dead body
which, when rescued, proved 10 be
that OF a well-known peddler who had
mysteriously vanished about a month
earlier. The body bore marks of vlO-
lence, the pockets We're empty. and ii
was clear that the poor fellow had been
brutally murdered and robbed-but by
whom? That was a mystery which
for many a week completely defed eIu-
cidation.
One night, however, Kenneth Fraser,
a tailor's assistant, saw in a dream
the cottage Of man named Hugh Mac.
leOd, and heard a voice say in Gaelic.
''the peddler's pack iS lying in a cairn
of stones in a hole near this house"
He told the story OF his singular dream
10 the authorities, who accompanied
him 10 MacleOd's house: and there,
sure enough, beneath heap of stones.
the murdered mans property was
found. Macleod was arrested. con-
fessed, and was executed.
Another very remarkable story is
told Of a tragedy in Ireland. One
evening two strangers presented them
selves at n wayside inn near Portland.
and after taking refreshment continued
thai- tpar m tha Ifraa+fnV % raprf.I-
On-Suir. The incident was common
place enough. but it led to startling de-
yelOpmentS. for i'm the wayfarers the
landlady Of the inn recognized two
men Of whom she had dreamed a very
strange dream the night before. In her
dream she had seen one of them Kill
the other with a towards blow from
behind. rifle the pockets Of the dead
man. and stealthily bury him beneath
a hedge. So impressed was her hus-
band when this dream was told him
that he made his way to the spot in
dicated and there discovered the body
of the buried man. The assassin was
pursued and arrested. and at the en-
suing aSsizes was sentenced to death.
There has seldom been a more mys-
teriouS crime than the murder Of Mr..
Stockden. a London victualler. a great
many years ago; and the mystery
would have remained unsolved To this
day had it not been for the interven-
tion Of Mrs. Greenwood. who came Cor
ward with the statement that the mur-
derod man had appeared to her in
dream and conducted her 10 n house
in Thames street, where one of his as
sassins was TO be found; while in an
other dream Stockton appeared ana
showed her the likeness of the man.
ON the strength of this dream clew the
indicated man was arrested. and not
only confessed his guilt. but betrayed
his acCOmplces-threp criminals being
brought TO the scaffold as the result OF
these visions Of the night.
Some years ago a Mrs. Rutherford
dreamed that her aged relative. Lady
Leslie, was about to be murdered by
n man whom she clearly saw. She i'm
mediately set out on visit to Lady
Leslie and asked permission to sleep
in the lady's room. In the middle Of
the night Mrs Rutherford heard some
one trying to open the bedroom door.
She raised an alarm and flung open
the door. when Lady Leslie's two sons
rushed out and In a moment had seized
the man Of her dream.
The following story is. perhaps. the
strangest Of all. One night the Rev.
Herbert pOWVS n Church of England
clergyman. dreamed that the daughter
Of one of his parshioners had gone out
into the darkness to meet her lover.
who, at the time, was waiting for her
in n secluded spot and spending the
time in digging a grave for her. Jumn.
ing ont of bed, Mr.. POwys rushed 10
the place indicated in his dream and
arrived there just rs the man had
hurled the girl to the ground by the
side Of the open grave and was about
to kill her with his spade-Tjt-Bits