THE WASHINGTON HERALD — DECEMBER 25, 1910
[ Untitled ].
“One of the best friends I every had was ‘K.’ who was a fellow-student with me when I was reading in Dublin. K., who came of a very distinguished military family, and was the nephew of the Baroness B., used often to chat with me about the possibilities of the future life.
“ ‘Look here,’ he said to me one night. ‘I’ll make you a promise. If anything happens to me within the next few years I’ll appear to you.’
“I laughingly told him I should be very pleased to see his ghost, and that I would do all that I could to make it feel thoroughly at home. Some months later he went to South Africa, where he eventually joined one of the mounted police forces. One evening, when I was sitting alone in my room in D, I suddenly felt very cold and on glancing toward the window saw a figure standing in the recess.
“Though the figure was misty, luminous, and not at all clearly defined. I had no difficulty in recognizing it as the phantasm of ‘K.’ who had certainly not been in my thoughts for a long time. He appeared to be wearing a khaki uniform, which was very much torn and bloodstained. His face was deathly white and shockingly mutilated, and his eyes, which were wide open and glassy, were fixed on me with a blank stare.
“It was a horrid spectacle, and I was so shocked that I fell back in my chair, feeling sick and faint. I do not think the manifestation lasted more than a minute at the most. A few days later I read in the paper that Maj. Wilson's party had been ambushed and cut to pieces on the Shangani River, and among the names of the victims was that of ‘K.’ ”
From— The Washington Herald. (Washington, D.C.), 25 Dec. 1910. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
