Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-08-02

They seemed stretched along q huge,
dark surface.
Then suddenly heard a boom. 1t
seemed to me the doges palace, that
had stood for centuries rejecting the
grandeur of a people who had long
ago passed away. had been blown up,
and the explosion was followed by a
wall | shall never forget-a wall I'M
like any l had ever heard before, a
wall of horrible despair.
The cold continued. and then for the
first time l noticed that the canal in
which we were floating was filed with
ice. had never thought Of this sheet
of water. fitted especially for summer,
as being frozen. Huge cakes lowered
about us, rubbing against US. and 1t
seemed at times that they would crush
us or overturn US into the cold. black
water
There were other craft. too, with
wild looking persons In them. pulling
at huge oars, trying to keep free Of the
ice or to go somewhere. And / saw
persons struggling in the water, all
with agonized expressions en- their
faces. Some Of them tried to cling to
our frail craft, but our gondolier push
ed them of All was confusion In my
brain, for. while l was on the Grand
canal in Venice, l was at the same
time out at sea.
But the most frightful part of this
experience was yet to come. The
lights that 1 had been watching and
which stood on the waters very edge
slowly changed their position. Those
at one end disappeared, and those at
the other were elevated. Then the
latter slid down and went out.
There were shrieks that froze me
with horror.
shook myself in my bed and by an
effort succeeded in throwing of my
trance. 1 knew that while my body
had been in a warm bed my soul had
been elsewhere Some great catastro-
phe had occurred, and from the first
! l connected Margaret with it I lay
shivering. shuddertng, till l could lie
no longer, then got up and, putting on
a warm double gown, walked the floor.
| l was in an agony of fear about Mar
garet
She was out on the ocean, and as
/ thought over the vision In which
!
marine disaster had happened to the
ship In which she had sailed. There
was no more sleep for me that night.
and when morning came l was unable
to arise from my bed.
Fearing that some disease had at
tackled me in the night, l sent for
doctor. who came and said that l was
threatened with pneumonia. He treat
ed me, and when he came again in
the afternoon he found me out of bed.
The physical strain had left me, but
the mental strain remained. If there
had been a catastrophe l had surely
been in it. and the shock had remained.
When in the afternoon took up an
evening paper and saw that the ocean
liner on which Margaret was coming
to me had struck an iceberg. but was
being lowed to land. all of her passen-
! gers and crew having been saved. l
knew that the announcement was not
correct. l knew that an ocean trag-
edy had occurred What concerned
me was whether Margaret had been
saved.
Then came a brief period during
which the extent of the disaster was
not known. followed by the news that
the ship had gone down, and but
third of those aboard her had been
taken from the boats into which they
had been hurried 10 a steamer and
were being brought to port. The names
of those persons were being telegraph
ed l saw among them the name OF
my beloved.
a
she had died and exercised super
natural power to take me over miles
of space 10 witness that terrible scene.
| waited eagerly, not only to be re-
united with her after her terrible ex-
perience. but for an explanation of my
strange vision.
When the steamer bearing the res
cued arrived | was at the dock. One
by one | saw them come ashore, but
not Margaret. Then upon inquiry
came the blow. She had been removed
with others to one OF the boats, had
been taken from it into the rescuing
steamer in a serious condition and had
died on the inward trip.
/ will not dwell on my loss. That Is
one of the constantly recurring be-
reavements that concern us as lndl-
viduals. The other part Of my story
concerns US ms human beings Each
is welcome to draw his own inference
The only conclusion have arrived at
is that Margaret was gifted with the
power while living and In the face OF
death to draw me to her that | might
take part with her in what she was
enduring.
But back Of this IL another infer
ence. though / admit 1t is entirely my
own-that this desire. made good by n
power to bring me over hundreds Of
miles to her, was an expression of the
fact that two individuals may become
one in soul by the power OF love. Re
this as it may. | am living out the
remainder Of my life impatiently wait
ing for a reunion with my other soul
part Since the events | have describ-
ed I am as Cne detained In foreign
land
Aug. 2 in American