The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-03-27

MuRDERis ''MIRAcULoUs ORGAN. n-eMurder,n
SAYS Shakespeare, Though it hath no tongue,
vet speaks with most miraculous organ" Among
the numerous accounts Of homicides which have
made so prominent feature in the newspapers
of the Union, in the last twelve months, we
can call TO mind scarcely one, which il was in
tended by the perpetrator to conceal, that has
not, by means oftentlmes the most trivial. been
laid open TO the eyes of the world. A most
striking instance was that of the murder in New
Jersey After the deed was done and no human
eye had seen IL when the body of the victim
was buried beneath the floor, and even an expla-
nation OF its anticipated decay prepared for. the
perturbed spirit of the murderer beheld in every
man an accuser, andlnevery eyea witness. Blood
had been spilled, and the damning dye "wouId
not out" So he must needs purchase two rab-
bits, and go round with them in his hand to his
acquaintance complaining that they had bled
upon his person, and on his floor, and offering
them for sale; and in the s'back and dark night
he dared not go near his own dwelling alone, but
offered artlZans extravagant terms TO sit up with
him all night, for she could not sleep.o Con
science was in this case the miraculous organ''
that ultimately plucked out the heart of his awful
mystery. So too OF a recent murder in Virginia
II occurred on Friday night; all day on Saturday
the body remained; and the wrecked prisoner says
he endured all the agones of hell during the day.
He drank deep, to keep down the feelings that
agltated his bosom. He dared not flee, for fear
of the pursuer; he was afraid TO look his fellow
men in the face, lest his guilt should stand burn
ed in characters off fire upon his forehead AT
night he essayed TO remove the body, but the APP
prehension that he was watched, prevented him:
so moving few things out Of his house, he set
it on fire, thinking thus to destroy all evidence of
the murder. But after the last rafter had fallen
in, and the dying embers had begun to pale,
there, in the midst of the fire. lay unburned the
headless trunk Of his victim He next bethought
him Of conveying away the body; but after he had
raked II from the ashes, it was so hot that he was
compelled to leave it to cool, before he could re-
move it. The day was dawning, and his work
was not yet accomplished! He then dragged the
corpse up beside rail fence, where it lay about
twenty steps from the road all day, frightful
wreck of mortality; the arms burned off, the legs
calcined to cinder, and only small portion of
the head clinging to the trunk SAT light he took
the body and buried it in a potatoe-hole; but
still the fear that it would be discovered, tor
mented him sore, and he again took it up and
carried 1t IN has arms about two miles through
the dark old forest and buried it in hollow tree.
In the course Of Monday, he again went to the
spot where the body was inferred, terrified lest the
dogs, in ranging the wood should discover his
| crime. But there was upon him an Eye from
| whose glance he could not hide; and his own con-
science haunted him with its terrible thunder
ings!n