Martinsburg gazette and public advertiser. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1826-1833, 1829-06-18
CONFESSION OF A PRISONER

The following confessions, OF = prisoner IN
/ one Of eur State penitentlsries, present some
interesting facts in relation to the insidious
progress OF the vice OF intemperance; and the
power of vicious habit against the remon.
s,Faaces OF reason and conscience. They are
contained in communication addressed some
months since to the General Agent OF the A
merican Temperance Society. The unhappy
author d,scloses his own history with much sp.
parent islhiuIness. In the course ola private
noe, he frankly remarks 'certsinly \ do not
write now for fame, aud have endeavored TO
dwell more briefly upon the favorable than the
unfaTourable parts OF my unhappy story"
Sir,-I address you from the solitary
cell of penitentiary prison. The spe
eifc crime alleged against me is forgery
but the cause of my present condition,
and of all the calamities which have at
tended my devious career of life, 10 the
iasbrIating bopi Nearly four years
have passed since | entered these drea-
ry walls, and more than three others re.
main for me to spend here. An offend
ed God, in wrath remembered mercy.
The morning bitters, the drains of the
day or OF the night, have not reached
me. Eyes that were once iDfamed have
acquired their native clearness, tremb
lug limbs have resumed their wonted
fuactions; internal fevers and burnings,
Ne auenched. Ruined, degraded, and
tetched as my condition may seem, it
svery possible. that when the sealed
bok shall be opened, it will appear that
nth me the prison was substituted for
hs tomb; that while Intemperancc
vas hurrying thousands to the gates of
eath, | was rescued as a brand from
he burning IL the graves which in
importance, this prime minister Of
Death had peopled, should burst their
marble jaws" to raise warning voice
TO the living, the church yards would
'sarfuily yawn, as by a mighty earth.
quake. and the united aonitions of all
that is loathsome, appalling or fearful,
you'd cry to the vetariSs of the cup, in
more than human accents, Be,Uaref
But though no spirit may rise from
the tombs OF the dead, "a warning voice
may come forth from the dungeons of
the living And whenever punishment
whether considered as the necessary
sanction TO human laws, or as the dis.
pensatioa Of an overrulng Providence,
has produced its legitimate effect;
whenever the pride of the human heart
IS BUNDLED under the mighty hand of Of
tended heaven, there will be no besita-
ton 10 stating the causes which led TO
tnlamy and ruin.
While | could wish to spare the feel.
,nss OF the connexions of my family;
for myself | should be willing that the
story OF one, whose earthly hopes in
temperance bad blasted, should be writ.
Ten upon the walls of the city, and find
us way to every tap room in the nation.
ind myself surrounded with more
'nan tive hundred beings. in the same
condition with myself. Che atmosphere
l breathe is agitated with signs and
sr'ans; and my individual calamity
seems lost in the wretchedness that sur
rounds me. Where shall we look for
Inc source oil all this miseryl Let the
keepers docket tell. Theft, forgery,
burglary, bestialty, rape, murder: eve.
erp species of crime, at the name of
which the soul recoils, appears in The
PACK catalogue These are specific ac-
mons, upon the perpetrators of which
m "a. law can fix its hold. But the vice
wnlch leads to every other, sludes the
grasp of the law.
J. ihhamed eyes, bloated visage, palsied
"nos' sickness, poverty, or even death,
ar are not the things which give to this vice
rs most appalling aspect. 1t unnerves
,ne soul more feartully than it does the
Dooy 1t gradually destroys the moral
:: oil the heart, and rouses the
II ,o'en' posslons of our depraved nature.
~ mars the soft and re fined emotions of
"e SOUL like the hideous trail of the
Ip1pent over the brightest blossoms of
zen II the pillow be sometimes the
p ,h OF serious thought, the libation of
40 "orning obllterates the salutary les
| u' one draught calls for a second,
e second still more loudly for the third
s auo.ner for another, until every other
ran, and feeling is lost in the insa
oOo o.s cry-"gips, give" Such was
S "Ce my condition. saw indeed that
n's s"Gcslon was before me, aud still ap-
bOaened, with accelerated peace. the
a'Itla gulf When child. once saw
Of ofa Charmed by the sparkling eyes
san,n serpent, and approaching near the
wpp 'lle which lurked for its destruction.
'nen, from niiv I haslnnuAd Aha m