Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1830-11-20

in the blood of the most innocent creature .''at
ever looked on the day. Yet a sore trlal IL was
to his Christianity to find the criminal so obdu.
rate. He would make no confession. Yet SAID
it was 6t-that it was far best he should de
that he deserved death But ever when the deed
without name was alluded to, his tongue was
tied-and once in the midst of an impassioned
urayer. beseeching him to listen to conscience ana
confess-be that prayed shuddercd to behold MN
frown and to hear bursting out IN terrible eher.
gy. ..Cease-cease to torment me. or You VIII
drive me to deny my God!
No father came to visit him in his cell. On the
day of trial he had been missing from N0oreslde'
and was seen next morning, where he hau Deeh
all night never was known-thpugh 1t was alter
wards rumOured, that one like him BAD been seen
sitting as the cleaning darkened, on the very
spot Of the murder -wandering about the HILLS,
hiher and tlither. and round and about IKE d
man stricken with blindness. and vainly seeking
to find his home When brought INTO the mousse,
his senses was gone. and he had lost the powero Oh
speech. All he could do was to mutter some as
jointed syllables, WHICH he did continually
without one moment sscessasIol, one uhihteiil-
chile and most rucful moan The figure of his
daughter seemed to cast no image on his eyes
blind and dumb he sat where he had been placed,
eyebrows drawn high up his forehead, and the
fixed orbs-thoueh stone blind. at least to real
thin"s-benea,h them flashing fire. He had borne
up bravely almost To the last-buthad some tongue
syl!ablrd his sons doom to him in the wilderness,
and at that instant had insanity smitten his soul:
Such utter prostrati0h Of intellect had been ex-
pectcd by none; for the old man. up TO the very
night before the trial, had expressed the most con-
fident trust of his sons acquittal. Nothing had
ever served to shake his conviction OF his Inno-
cencc-thoueh he had always forborne speaking
about the circumstances OF the murder;& had com
municatcd to nobody any of the grounds on which
he more than hoped in a case SO hopeless; and
though trouble in his eyes often cave the lie to
his lips. when he used TO say to the silent neigh
bors, - We shall soon see him back at MOorside.
Had his belief in his Ludovcs innocence, ana
his trust in God, that that innocence would
be established and set free, been,so sacred. that
the blow. when ii did come. had sntten him like
hammer. and felcd him to the ground. from
which he had risen with brain rent and rlven:
In whatever way the shock had been given. 1t had
been terrible: for old Gilbert Adamson was now a
confirmed iunatic. and keepers were IN MoorsIde
not keepers from a mad -house-for his daugh-
ter could no, afford such tendance-but two of
her brothers. friends who sat up with him alter
nately, night and day. while the arms of the old
an, in his distraction. bad 10 be bound with cords.
That dreadful meaning was at an end now. but
the echoes of the hills responded to his yclis and
shrieks; and people were afraid to go near the
house. 1t was proposed among the neighbors to
take Alice and little Ann out of it: an asylum
for them vas in the Mansc; but Alice wonld not
stir at all their entreaies; and as, IN such case,
Ii would nave 5eea ,ao shocking to eas her away
by violence. sh" was suffered to remain with him
who knew her not, but who oftcn-it was said
stared distracted'y upon her, as if she had been
tiend sent in upon his insanity from the place
Of punishment. Weeks passed ON. and still she
was thcre--hidins herself at times from those ter
rifed eyes; and from her watching corner. wait
ing from morn till night, and from night till morn
for she never by down to sleep. and had ne
yer addressed herself since that fatal sentence
for some moment Of exhausted horror, when she
might steal out, md carry some slight CLEAN of
comfort. howeyet evanescent. to the glimmer or
the gloom in width the brain of her Father swan
through dream of blood. But there were no
lucid intervals; and ever as she moved towards
him, like ptyiIE angel. did he furiously rage
against her, as if she had been fend. At last,
she who though ret 50 Young, had lived to see
the murdered copse of her dearest friend-mur-
dercd by her owl only brother, whom, in secret.
that murdered maiden had most tenderly loved
that murderqis brother loaded with prison
chains. and cpVicmnef' to the gibbet for inexpia-
bic and unparbnarle crimcs--hrr father ravinc |
like a demon, s,t-murderous we're his hands but |
free. nor visited by one glimpse of mercy from !
Him who rules rs skics-after having borne more
than as She med " said. had ever poor girl borne,
she took to herled quite heart-broken, and. the
night before thchay of execution. died. As for
poor little Anns he had been wiled away some
weeks before: al in the blessed thougbtlcssncss
of childhood. vs. not with out hours of happiness
among her piavstes on the braes.
The Morninof that DAY arose. and the Moor
was all backera with people round the tall Glib
bet, that seemt 10 have grown. with its horrd
arms, out Of thEronnd. during the night. No
sound Of axes Cd hammers ha3 bcen heard cIink-
ing during the dt hours-nothing had been pass
ing along the rcj for the windows of the hous-
es from which ~ thing could have been seen. {
had been shut flt agtins; all horrid sishts-and {
the horses hooiL land the wheels must hav" been !
muf'ed that ha brought that hideous Frame {
work to the M9r! But there it now stood-a c
dreadful Tired The sun moved higher and high /
er up the sky ant all the eyes of that coDgrera n