Gallipolis journal. [volume] (Gallipolis, Ohio) 1837-1919, 1855-10-04

1t was a portion of my reportorIal
duties to go daily to the police office,
and there gather and collate, that the
curious world might know them, the
annals of crime. In pursuance of this
duty, / was one day turning over the
pages of the police book, when my
eye was struck by the following
TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS REWARD!
The above reward will be paid for
the arrest, or any information which
may lead to it, of G. A.
NJ, who is charged with the COM
mission of forgery four years since,
and who has recently been seen in the
city of New York. He may be known
by the following description.
And then followed an exact descrip-
ton of my poor friend, even noting a
peculiar birth mark, which he wore up
on his neck. To say that was horror
struck, would poorly convey an idea of
my feelings on reading and drinking in
the contents of that damning page be-
fore me. read it and re-read it, again
and impulsively, mechanically, scarcely
knowing what l did or why did it,
copied the whole of it, in my notebook.
l was still pouring over it, in state of
utter forgetfulness to all else, when l
was aroused from my sad reverie, by
the gruff voice of policeman, who
wished to examine the book, and who
asked me in surly tone, if l was "go-
ing to keep it all day?' 1 made some
fippent reply to him and handed him
the book. His eye rested at once on
the glaring caption, 1.-TWO hundred dol
lars rewardl" and after reading it care
fully, he turned To me and said:
''If l amt very much mistaken, l
saw that chap with you, on Fourth of
July"
1t was true-we had been together
all that day, and on that very day had
together entered that same police Office
and conyersed with that same disciple
of Dogberry.
simply replied that 81 guessed not"
and as soon as l could safely, and with
out creating suspicion, left the police
office.
With a speed as rapid as I was capa-
bic of, started for the Office of the
Morning A friend, whom 1
met on the way next day, laughingly
demanded an apology of me for the
rough manner in which had jostled him
aside. when he grasped my hand and
would have spoken to me. But l re-
membered it not. The busy street was
all blank space to me that afternoon.
The din of carts and carriages, and
newsboys' cries, fell not upon my ear.
But one thought filed me-but one
hope animated me, and that was to see
my poor friend G. in time to
save him from the clutches of the law.
I rushed madly into the Office and found
quietly sitting at his desk en-
gagged in writing. l seized him wildly,
and bade him not to speak, but follow
me to my room. Arm in arm we went
together. 1 pulled him along with a
rapidity that must have alarmed him.
Not word was said till my attic cham
Der was reached; and then, when l bid
him be seated, l pulled out my note
book and told him to read the trans
script l had made-the record of his
crime. He read it through calmly and
when he had reached the ending the
notebook dropped from out his hand,
and he following it, fell upon the floor.
where tears and sobs for a moment
choked his utterance, as he tried to
speak to me. 1 babe him be calm and
whispered words of hope into his ear;
and when the first gush of sorrowful
despair had passed away, he seated
himself upon my bed and told me the
sad secret of his life; and for the first
time l fully learned why it was he had
SO long been hoping for the Lether of
forgetfulness. aa~a.
He was the only son of a somewhat
celebrated divine in the State of -,
/ and his mother WIS a widow. His faith
Ter, ere he died, had intended him to
follow in the footsteps Of his sacred cal
Hing, and all that paternal fondness
could offer was lavished on his educa-