Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1911-03-06
the murdered man.

The most natural thing In the world
| for a lover is to try TO make hero
of himself. Virginia WAS full OF mill
/ tary heroes. and as such'I was merely
one of thousands l resolved 10 do
what I could to show my courage by
| sleeping in the haunted room. Miss
| Rutledge begged me not 10 try IL since
/ the last person who did was thrown
| into a fever which. being followed by
other symptoms, finally carried him OF
l was resolute, because in the first
place / believed haunted chambers
to be a myth. and in the second
| if anything marvellous did occur IL
would give me the desired opportunity
| to show my pluck The evening be-
| fore Kirkwood was moved l sent word
| to the general that II could be spared
| from headquarters would stay all
| night at the plantation with Kirkwood.
He sent back an order for me to re-
main.
pledged Miss Rutledge TO say moth
ing about my intention to sleep in the
haunted chamber. hoping in this way
to head or any one who might be dis
| posed TO play ghost She prepared the
room herself for my occupancy, keep
| ing watch that no one should see her
doing so. / waited till a late hour be-
| fore going to bed. when not n person
besides myself and Miss Rutledge. ex-
cept in the invalid's chamber. was
stirring. Then / went to the room I
had occupied whenever I had remain
ed for the night and, removing my
boots, stole in the dark to the haunted
| chamber.
That my presence there might not be
betrayed I took of my clothes in the
dark Feeling sure that the parts OF
ghosts are always played by persons in
the flesh and that no one on this side
of the dead line knew that the room
was occupied, I went to sleep within a
reasonable time.
awoke with a start. At the other
end of the room / saw a glimmering
such as appears in the east at the first
faint dawn. watched IT and soon
saw that it was increasing, both
spreading and growing in intensity.
II grew till that end OF the chamber
was illuminated. or. rather. It seemed
that there was no end TO the chamber,
but a misty, I'll defined space. Then
saw in this space the bed in which 7
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opened. and a man dressed In the cos
tune in vogue at the end of the eight
eenth century stole stealthily toward
the bed. Reaching it, quick as n fash
he buried a knife in the sleeper's bos-
ON. Then all was dark again.
felt all the horror one experiences
in seeing a murder in cold blood. For
more than year had seen men
killed continually, sometimes thousands
at time. but that was under the ex-
hilaration OF battle. The vision. or
whatever It was. left me all Of trem-
BILE. There being no further use for
concealment, / lighted n candle that
stood on a small table beside my bed
would have given half my fortune
was rich-to leave that bedroom, but
nv love for Lillian Rutledge was
greater than my fear. had come
there to show her my pluck. and did
not propose to show the white feath-
er. Yet / would have infinitely pre-
ferred to lead a forlorn hope against
battery of hundred guns.
1 had not long to wait for dawn. and
when through q window came its first
beams blew out my candle and with
In half an hour had so far recovered
from my disagreeable sensations as to
fall asleep.
Shortly before 8 o'clock I went down
! to breakfast, feeling at liberty to play
the hero. since no one had seen me dur
Ing the night shaking like leaf In the
wind. However. that's what we boys
did often during the war. n we tenn
porarily lost our grip on our courage
we looked about to learn who had seen
u.s. Miss Rutledge's mother and other
members Of the family were present,
SO nothing was said about my expert
ence assumed n careless deport-
ment. though / confess I had not yet
recovered my nerves. Finally l was
alone with Miss RutIedge and she
looked at me inquiringly. | confessed
that / had seen a vision OF murder.
"And stayed in the room?" she asked
quickly.
Eyes. only left 1t just before break
fast"
failed to add that Il was the hard
est pull on my courage | had yet met
with.
did not see the Rutledge plantation
again until after the war. Then I went
down into Virginia and found It a
wreck I made inquiries for the family
who had occupied It and found that
that they had gone north. but where
I could not learn. Everything In the
south was in dire confusion. Every
one seemed stunned, and no one knew
anything.
1t was several years before I found
Lillian Rutledge: then discovered her
among tho clerks of the frpa sury de-
partment at Washington. She did not
remain there long after I met her. I
told her that she had won me instsn-
taneOusly. without my seeing her. with
Ter sweet. melodlous voice.
1t was with that same voice that she
gave me an answer to the most i'm
portant question Of my life. She Is
now an OLD woman. but even IN age II
retains something OF the timbre % her
girlhood.