Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1849-05-24
MlSGEL l. AN Y ,
JASON CREEL.
An IncideMt in Pennsylvania.

heavily on the mountain top, above the
village of Redcliff, but the roads which
led towards it were crowded with the va
ried population of the surrounding coun-
try, from far and near. At Aylesbury
the shops were closed, the hammer Of the
blacksmith laid upon its anvil; not wa
gon Of any description was to be seen in
the street, and even the bar Of the tav-
ern was locked, and the key gone with
its proprietor towards the cliff, as token
of an important era which was without a
parallel in the annals Of the place. And
save here and there solitary head look
ing through broken pane in some clo-
sed-up house, with an air of said disap-
pointment; or the cries of little nurs-
ling were heard, betokening that. in the
general flight, it had been left in unskilful
hands; Or, mayhap, here and there a
solitary, ragged, and ill-natured school
boy was seen, or not less solitary and
ill-natured dog, either seeming but half
appeased by the privilege Of holiday,
granted on condition of staying at home
the whole village exhibited picture of
desertion and silence which had been un-
known before. But in proportion as you
drew nearer the ponderous cliffs, in the
midst of which the little town of Redcliif
was situated, yeu mingled again in the
busy world, of men, and women, and
boys, and horses, and dogs, and all living
and creeping things that 'nhabit the wild
districts of Pennsylvania.
The village itself was crowded to over
flowing long before the sun had gained a
sufficient attitude to throw its rays upon
the deep valley in which it lay. There
the bar of an inn was crowded, and the
fumes of tobacco and whiskey, the jung
ling of small change, and the perpetual
clamor of the throng, were sufficient to
rack brain of common fuxibillty. In the
streets there was a greeting of old and
long parted acquaintance the bartenng
of horses the settling of accounts; the
buffoonry of half intoxicated men; the
clatter of women the crying and Ea'loo-
ing of children and boys, and the bark
ing and quarreling of stranger dogs. To
look upon the scene, to mingle with the
crowd, to listen to the conversation, or to
survey the conutenances Of the assembled
multitude, led to no satisfactory solution
of the cause for which this mass Of het-
erogeneous matter was congregated.
Within the walls of the old stone Jail
at the foot of the mountain different
scene had been that morning witnessed.
There, chained to stake in a miserable
dungeon, damp, and scarcely Illuminated
by single ray Of light, now lay the ema-
ciated form of one whose final doom was
near at hand. A few hours before, his
wife and little daughter had travelled a
hundred miles to meet him once more on
the threshold Of the grave; they met.
and from the gloomy vault the hymn as
cended with the ascending sun; and the
tailor, as he listened to the melodious vol
ces of three persons whom he looked up
on as the most desolate and lost of all in
the wide world, almost doubted the evil
dence of his senses, and stood in fixed
establishment at the massy door. Could
these be the voices of a murderer, and a
murderer's wife and child.
The brief and to be final, interview had
passed however; those unfortunate ones
had loudly committed each other to the
keeping of their heavenly Parent, and
parted he to face the assembled multi
tude on the scaffold, and they, as they
said, to return by weary journeys to their
sorrowful home. The convict, worn out
with sickness and watching now slept.
His name was Jason Creel, his place of
residence was said to be in Virginia. He
had been taken up while travelling from
the northwards to his home, and tried
and convicted at country town some
miles distant, for the murder of q travell-
err who had borne him company from the
Lakes, and was ascertained to have a
large sum of money with him, and who
was found in the room in which they both
slept, at country inn near Redcliff, with
his throat cut. Creel always had protes-
ted his innocence, declaring that the deed
was perpetrated by some one while he
was asleep; but the circumstances were
against him /; and although the money
was not found on him, he was sentenced
to be hung. and had been removed to the
old stone jail at Redcliff for security, the
county jail being deemed unsafe. This
was the day the execution was to take
place; the scaffold was already erected /;
the crowd pressed round the building.
and frequent cries Of Bring out the
murderer" were heard.
The sun at last told the hour of eleven,
and there could be no more delay !; the
convict's cell was entered by the officers
in attendance, who aroused him with the
information that all was ready for him
without, and babe him hasten to his ex-
ecution; they laid hands upon him and
pinioned him tight, while he looked up
towards heaven in wild establishment, as
one new born, and only said, "The
dream-the dream?' "What dream Mr.
Jason said the sheriff; "you would do