The Wilmingtonian, and Delaware advertiser., 1826-10-05


it in my power to do any thing more than to
refrain from plunging my knife into the bosom
of the i'll fated wretch till the life which still
fingered at his heart had vanished forever?
True it is, that if had reflected for an in
slant, would have known that the debt OF
Justice had been paid, and that the criminals
life, if it still remained to him, had then be-
come his own. But did not reflect at all,
what ! did was done almost without thought,
but much thought have since expended on
it. But there is another reflection that tor
ments me. have reason to think that the
man was innocent of the crime for which he
died. have been twice in Paris making in
quiry as to the facts Of his case, and this is
the conclusion to which have been brought
All that learned has increased my mise
ry, but it satisfied for moment the restless
feverishness of my soul. | found THAT the
unfortunate man had been farmer in re-
mote province in France and that he had
been tried at'Paris for the crime of robbing
certain travellers in a wood near his house.
The evidence on which he was convicted
was circumstantiai and he asserted his limo
cence, as the reader already knows at the
very hour of his death. have heard more
over, that two men who have been since ex-
ecuted, acknowledged their guilt of tins crime
and declared that the person who had for
merly died tor it was wholly innocent Alas!
that that person had been destined to perish
BY my hand after he outlved, in the strength
of innocence, the horrors of the scaffold.
In vain do ! seek relief from the thoughts
that oppress me, in pcrusing the works Of
moralsts and of jurists, & in tracing through
their pages the various distinctions OF Grim
inality, that may exist in the act of taking a
way human life. In vain do | reason with
myself, and say, "There was nothing in the
act which ] committed that amounts to the
legal and moral definition of murder,--there
was no prcmeditation-no design previously
conceived to take life" Still the reflection
occurs, that life ! have taken away,--that
the deed was done calmly and deliberately
without royocaton--without heat of blood.
If it is true that is was done by carelessness,
or by accident, it is not murder; but was it
so done? Was it not 10 overcome and DESTROY
the weak and struggling life, that pressed
my hand against the yonng mans bosom, and
it so, am not murderer Why have /
concealed the whole transaction up to this
hour, unless | was conscious of guilt Why
did IAnot Immediately declare to Luback all
that had taken places Such are the reHec-
tions which have occupied my mind for the
greater part of long and singularly I'M
happy life; and now that II am. in the course
of nature, approaching the grave, the pain
ofthese thoughts, instead ofbeing ntigated,
has become sharper and more severe. Of
ten do | say i'll the morning. would to God
that 1t were evening and in the evening,
would to God that it were morning There
is but one subject which is for ever dwelling
in my mind, and no exertion, no art, can ban
isf it even for single hour. Many time
do start from sleep with the whole dread
tul scene full before me; the pale arm Of the
murdered wretch lifted up, and his eyes gilt
terng upon me with terrible brightness. If
| place my hand upon my brow, or if | lay
it upon the pillow, it is all the same:-the
throbbing of that heart, which by my act
was stil'ed for ever, are distinctly beating
there; and the same fearful voice, which
first awoke the fury Of conscience, is pcaling
my ears,-"Thou murderer thou mur-
derer %