Alabama state intelligencer., 1831-08-20

I suh-ISht which thou blaSphemOuSly call 'S to witness, and certain as the death which surely awaits thee, thou man of sin, is the truth of thy horrible crime in the eyes of all men. What fool art thou then, when all men are justly thine enemies, to refuse the peace of one whose friendship is yet open to thee, and to reject that balm which can alone sooth thy broken bonese Know'st thou not, how all hate thee feel'st thou not, that thou deservest all hatred and dost thou, for the forlorn hope of deceiving men, cast away the true stay of the ALMIGHTY, who has given to his ministers the power of absolving sin ners, though dyed if possible deeper than thou art /! "l see," replied the Protestant, "that all men hate me, and that can still pray for them, suggests hope that am not so all- aoandoned of Gods spirit as thou woudst nave me thlnk. l cannot, my good father, accept of thy mediation, nor acknowledge thy ministry; yet may thank, and do thank thy good intentions; but death, though he meet me in fouler raymcnt than he," turning his eyes towards the cxecutioner, "has clad nm m, cannot be avoided when the alteIna- tive IS purjury." Here the conversation was interrupted by the magistrates signal to the deathsman to begin his murderous work he giant lifted a club of iron, and with it struck the extended limb of his victim. Ne - full force ot the text which says, "the iron entered into his soul" You cannot conceive the intense suffering depicted through the heaving trunk, and on the convulsed features, by this brulsing between iron and iron. The blow took effect at the knee joint, and, though gwen with force was not intended quite to break the leg, but merely to try the spirit of the sufferer, and to give specimen of what was to follow The mayor, however, seemed afraid he had begun too violently, and, beck onng Boucher, said in an under tone, "nnless you make the culprit last the two hours, you lose your place." Boucher replied with leer of horrid purport, which triumphed in gauging human suffering, and, resting on his arms, stood awaiting further orders. How ever, the sufferer resumed his composurc, the monk his lecture. "Think, my son." said he in softer tone, "how little able art thou in this case of flesh and blood to abide the tor ments this worm of the earth can inflict; how then will thy immortal spirit, and sensitive essence, endure the eternal bruisings of Cops wrath Repent my son, while there is way left, or one to show it thee. Thou art one of the many who have lived in abominable here sy, and one of the few who have taken life l from them to whom under Con thou gavest 1t. Living thus and doing thus, thou coudst
 
 Oh then, how doublydamned thou diest! her. etick in creed! murderer in heart Murder CT of son, will reconcile thee to thy father" |" As the man of Cop proceeded, temporary enthusiasm animated his features; the saliva ton of sinner so lar overcoming the apathy with which he usually looked on earthly things,as partly to dispel the sullenness which commonly wrapped his mind, in the same de- gree as may you suppose his solitary lamp to have illuminated the cold damp walls of his mopasterv. as he glided to yespers. With kindling animation he ran through his dis course, urging all the arguments that memory could supply, or imagination suggest, for the conversion of the sinner, or the terror of the heretic. "I thank thee for thy honest pains, |" said in answer the patient Calas, "but the terms accept not; though it might procure me quiet death, it would not ensure me a more peaceful grave. l thank my GoD, am of a sect which does not think them damn ed who do not in all things like themselves; and l thank my conscience that it acquts me of the foul crime for which, if committed, damnation were my due." ''Obstinate here tic!" muttered the father; and the second blow fell with heavy hand. l had turned away, not equal to the sight, when the din of the iron against the bone, and the groan which followed, convinced me it had been more vio- lent than the first; In truth it had completely broken the leg at the tibia: so exquisite was the torture, that he tainted instantly, but as quickly recovered. He uttered no articulate complaint, and it was only by the painful com pression of his lips, and the starting of his eye-balls, that the agony of his spirit could be discerned. ....
 But l must, my dear Spalingrier, pass quickly over this distressful tragedy, which was two hours in the acting. The blows oc- cured at regular intervals of fifteen minutes, with such direfn effect that, after the eighth stroke, every joint in his body was disocated, and every bone broken. He frequently faint ed, and was as often recovered by the diaboli- I cal skill of his tormentor, who employed all Il the arts of the most practised physician to de- I tain the last f1ickering beam of exhausted na- ture. I think he looked less horrible when I engaged in the open functions of his office, \ crushing flesh and marrow, than when em- l ploying all the most refined arts of usual kind ' ness for the prolongation of misery; nor can Il l ever forget the smile with which he ushered in returning sense, after the eighth horrible l interval. The stern disciple of La Trappe looked at the opening eyes of the tortured. and saw that in ten minutes they were to close II forever. He kneeled beside him, and conjur- ed him to sever himself from his sin. The old man, with a voice firm as heretofore, turn ed himself as far as he was able, to the con- lessor, "Think st thou, my father," said he, "that it were worth my while for these shrcds of being, these rags of existence," moving as he spoke his shattered right arm, "to throw myself impenitently into the furnace that ever burnethe Of what service is concealment now to me? it cannot conciiate the good will oi man, it must have already doubled the anger of Con; it cannot bring me back to my fami- ly, and much fear," said the good man, with the first tear had seen him shed, "it will not save my family from following me- Of