Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1855-05-12

room, ano take no denial Tor entrance
an instant my course was determined on.
hastily dragged the body to the closet, place
3 it upright, and taking my duelling-case irol
the place OF its usual bestowment, closed tn
closet door. then threw on my great Goa
put on my hat, and tossed the chairs in col
fusion round my room. ] had scarcely don
this when | heard the steps Of the party o
the stairs. and. us they entered the room,
gave tremendous oath, with every other e,
dence of counterIeited passion.
Halo p exclaimed Harry Pierce, what
the matter with you Going out ?"
81 have this moment come in" said I, at
get my pistols. thought Id practice thi
morning-and some vagabond has been i
my room, and turned everything upside dowr
It's too bad by Jove there's whole pile Q
shirts. just from the wash, tossed on tn
hoor."
My friends burst into wild laugh. ant
Tom Needham exclaimed
Served you right. What business have
you to own so many shirts ] have only one
In fact that was what kept me from you yes
terday so long. / had to lie in bed while il
was being washed and ironed-and the woman
kept il two hours beyond time, because
owed her little BILL"
WELL" said ]. ~ wish you'd stop your
nonsense and fix up matters; and we'll GO
out and take crack or two this morning"
"Not with me-" answered Tom. Its too
cold for the fingers Tell you what Wen do
we'll have game Of whist. There's just a
snug party; wonder where Fred is ?"
Il don't know" said ! "he promised yes
terday to come and see me-"
I'll bet sous" cried Jack Fry, "that he
was the Robin Goodiellow who upset your
wardrobe" ....a
Just like him" replied "but neverthe-
less, am bent on shooting this morning"
$50 you shall shoot, old fellow" cried Tom
Needham. 80 you shall; and you needn't
cool your fingers either You leave this old
rat-trap tomorrow, don't you ?"
"Yes."
Very good Then we'll give our landlady
proof Of our solid regard Here :" and he
took piece of coal from the hearth as he
spoke-"l'll chalk out the old lady on this
closet door Load the pistols-it,s about
twelve PAGES from the other side of the room
and wen put more balls into the old femi-
nine, than she puts pepper-corns into her
mock-turtle soup"
a general yell Of approval greeted this
novel proposition amid which Tom gravely
proceeded to sketch what he called a remark
ably correct portrait of the mistress of the
house and Harry Pierce set to work to load
the pistols. When Harry had finished, he
claimed the first shot for his pains which
Tom claimed for the same reason. insisting
that as h. had set up the windmill, he ought
to tilt at it. A mock alteration followed,
which was finally settled by toss up, which
Harry won. He grasped the pistol accord
ipgly, and fired.
A noise Of something followed. The con-
cussion had disturbed the body, which in
falling, had struck side shelf and overturned
some books. we all started. Needham,
however did not notice it. and presenting his
pistol. fred again, but entirely too low, ex-
claiming when he saw the result, There's u
ball in her lady yshir's calf by Jupiter"
Harry turned TO me as white as ashes, and
said: Did you hear anything
Il did," replied, 1.-The ball from your pis-
tol' and be hanged to you, has upset some of
my books, suppose"
"Oh, my God p exclaimed Harry. II have
terrible presentiment. Suppose my brother
should have hid himself in the closet" And
he sank down on the chair as he spoke. We
gathered round him: and Tom Needham
burst into a fit Of laughter.
Upon my SOUL" said he, "you are worse
than the bakers daughter" Here he cried,
in q squeaking tone. "If ! were TO be married,
and were 10 have little baby, and it were TO
come here and to get into the oven and he
burned to death-boo-boo J" Then resu-
ming his natural tone. he exclaimed, You
are the most ridiculous fools, the whole Of
you, | ever saw. Have you any brandy in
your den? must have Il little to revive me,
after this scene. You'd better give Harry
some. Lord knows he needs it,"
Nv hoo thrnbhoA u,;tb ca Jo1i0ht
The web of my difficulties was being rapidly
unraveled-my escape WAS almost certain;
but what if they should discover the fracture!
/ walked boldly forward to the closet. and
placing my hand on the catch-knob, aid "In
order to dissipate your doubts, will open
the mystery" AS spoke / threw the door
wide open.
Mine was an affected shout, but not so that
of the rest l shall never forget the wild
shrek of despair which left the bosom of Har-
~ Pierce. as he knelt forward and raised the
body OF his brother, nor the terrible tones of
Tint hoarse whisper, in which he said, I'm
Cain-God forgive my folly!' and then he
sank into the arms of Tom Needham.
My companions examined the body. The
ball of Harry had evidently gone through his
heart The absence of blood was at once
accouns FIR by inward bleeding, and as we
were examining the body, we heard the shrill
voice of our hostess lady outside scolding be-
canse we were firing pistols and shrieking in
our room.
A debate now ensued in regard to the dis
posal of the dead body. / knew that the
blow on the head would be discovered, if the
thing was divulged. and at once suggested
that we had better bury the body secretly. !
told them that it could be packed in the long
box which lay there and that one of us
could meet the conveyance out Of town, take
it TO some out Of the way spot, where would
assist to bury the body. In the meanwhile,
Needham could purchase coffin and other
necessary materials, as though to send it off
to the country, and at night we could bury it.
Harry Pierce made no opposition he was
incapable of anything The plan was carried
out as suggested, and each parted The
rest were convinced, and are still. that
brother had been the unwilling murderer of a
brother. Harry Pierce died last year in
madhouse. and / am here. twenty years after,
with gray hairs on my head, and an unsullied
to tell you the tale.