THE DREAM.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 591, 20 August 1909, Page 3

THE DREAM.

HOF MBS.' PENNEY'S BODY WA.S FOUND. -.'" "Hqw'did I, dream it? I'-.. doh|t.know/.' said Mr. ! Rugh. Downs; wliOj discovered Mrs. Miir-, gar'e't Periney's body' in the hills at the back of -York Bay on- Sunday/ as the result , of: ii dreami "I had been reading arid talking about the .'missing,, woman. . I .knew her. years. ago; but in those days she was. much slighter—much 'smaller : altogether."'V- ... , . . .■•■■■ : . ; ■:, 'When '"did' you have the. ,dream ?; ", .-, . "On -Monday night of last weak, and I was so sure; thift! there;was sbmothihg in , it that I court'have fm(nd-it .the/jiieit day":(Tiiesday) j^t bufiuy «-ork preyeutetf file go_ing:so 'fa'r|;from;'ffip'"Bay.".,.' . : How-far—was it?-•■ " •'.'..;.-'-''-; ! .'.' .'•'....- : .

;',The spur; is above' York Bay, '.wall back,- and it takes,:aboutiaii hour' and- three-quarters to walk from the.^Bay .to the 'spot-,-.not that it is.'so.'far.liut because of the rough road.you have ; to take..;.' ; •• .. . .. ■■["'. ~. ' ■•'

.; "I did not. sleep . well- at--aU'tUat Mouday night, and could nave only been dozing a few minutes when I had the dream. I, could see it all: so', plainly. Eighteen-months ago I had beeii'-over the. ground .clearing: a'line in the bush to oheck the spreadof: fires, in the sum-mer-time, just at the , .time a fire was on'at the: end of a long dry summer: ." Isaw her lying "just tin the edge of the line,' with her left, hand-under her head, her right hand resting, on her bosom,-: and : the body lying with the head towards the north, and her , feet to the : south.". : ; ' , ' ..' .;■■'•■,■ '

i Did -you dismiss-it .as a-dream? "No, I told-my ; wife about it.in the morning," and between, that and Sunday last she told, lots of other'people.-. Then after I found the body,-I asked the.'youug follows with mo to .question ;Mrs.; Downs as, to what I liai! ureamed,' and to them 'she corroborated all I had "said before we: told'-her anything.' .' -" "On'iSaturday aftornopn I told; Constable Simpson :that'l:was but.:on Sunday to the:, body jri— l 50... confident that thero in my dream. ' ,';)Vhen ,we found'the body'if- was in , such a position dreamed, except for the righti'hand, which was resting- nearer the shoulder than on'her bosom. She .was without her hat, skirt, stockings, and shoes, which; with the exception of her hat, were lying round her.-.lt looked as;if.she. had made a strugg'o at the end, but had been too weak-to regain her- feet. . ' '. . - .i ■ ■ . '

. "When we went to get the body on Monday last,- I remembered that I had not seeu her hat; .and had a look,round for. it.. -I found it some'.distance away; about avchain .from'the edge, of; the big , precipice. ..There, too, I saw her.-tracks... She must have.-been'., th'drb' during me. of the wet. nights, for. there was. the deep ilean. impress,of-her boot in the ground, and nine, could maW-no impression on. Jloiidnv' l.ongside hers."-.: - ■'. .■.."■ ■*■ ■ -~.' "

The spnr on- which -the body was. fouha is lightly covered- with, birch, most of which suffercd:.in the. fire eighteen months ago. ■■ Mr. Downs would-havo lent the readiest assistance to bring tho body, into town oh' Sunday, but Hβ was suffering'considerable pain from the acqident sustained to his hand. On one occa-' sion- his feet■ slipped from under him, and, in falling, the, palm;of his right hand fell on to a sharp point of manuka, the point penetrating 'to between the bones of the two, middle'fingers about the , centre of-the palm.■•■ •;■■... The iriqnest on Mrs. Penney will take place at 10 o'clock this morning. .;'•,.■•■