The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1855-06-09
SIR HARRY HIGHFLYER:
THE SUICIDE 5 LAST CAEOUsE.
From the British Mar,y;re

'"0 "e'o O0''Ct AHOwn dUOut tOWn, or VINO
knew the town better, than Sir Harry High
flyer: lie was, as the phrase is, IN every
thing and the best man at eve~ything-su-
prcmc in each pursuit that had fashion for
It's sanction. lie was member of the Four
INLAND Club; and it was universally admit
ted that no gentleman could drive his own
coachman to Salt Hill in better style. lie
was the best dresser in London; and ruined
three tailors by The disintcrested readiness
with which he exhibited their choicest produc-
tions on his we'll formed person. His dinners
were the most rechercheS, his wine the most
exquisite that money could purchase-and
certainly they had cost dearly to the tavern
keepers, whom he had promised to paw for
them. lie wa, celebrated in the Elves Court:
and il he was unable to lick young Bc!chcr,
who, from constant practice had the advan-
tase of him: or the boxing coal-heaver, who
was his superior in weight he had done that
all that could be required of a gentleman
he had tried. lie was the best shot in Eng
land. Twice did he brush the morninr dew
! from the grass at Mary-lc- bone Fields in his
way to Chalk Farm; and on both occasions
he had the good fortune to kill his man. The
/ first was OBlaze, Scounlrel, as Sir Harry
Justly termed him, who had scduccd the Bar
onet's mistress the other, Mr. IIardacrc. A
plain country squire, who had the tcmcritv t.
cali Sir Harry scoundrc tor elopinc with his
wife. Here again had Sir Harry done all
that could be required of gentleman But
these were not his only claims to that title
In single night he had won seventeen thou
sand pounds of young Lackbrain, tvro in
those matters, at hazard. Finding that bv
selling his commission in the -- Dragons,
drawing upon his agent to the utmost farthinc
in his hands, and rledSing his pictures, his
books, and the lease of his chambers in A.
bany, young Lackbrain could raise no
more than nine thousand pounds towards the
amount of his loss he generously, with res
pect to the remaining sum, declared that as
he should hold i: unbccoming friend and
gentleman to press for lis immediate payment
MIR. Lachbrain might set his mind perfectly
at ease about it, upon signing bond for
principal and intcrest,to be PAYABLE in twelve
nay even fifteen months
Sir Harry began lic with fortune of
eighteen thousand a year. Having some
thu. Ul turn fox a,ith,nut,, he at u.,c
perceived that it would be imprudcnt to
spend more than twenty thousand and wise
; ly resolved to limit his expenditure by that
sum, or twenty-five at the utmost. But cir
cumstances, which might have bafllcd the
wisest calculations, so ordered it, that thirty
was usually much nearer the mark; and how
ever extraordinary it may appear to persons
unaccustolncd to investigate such matters
the consequence of these continued discrep-
ancics between the income and the OUTGOING
was, that one fine, sun-shnv morning, his
debts we're found to amount to 102.3j.I. lSs
9,i.-a very complicated and ugly-lookinc
row of figures his assets were grace
/ fully pictured forth by that simple and clc-
gantly formed symbol co.. representing
SoUGIIT. TO use his own emphatic phrase.
Sir Harry Ilighhvcr found himself 'most
magnanimously dshcd." Tt'was towards the
close Of the London season of 1917. that he
made this wonderful discovery. What was
to be done? lie could not at the moment
determine. Free air and solitude we're ne.
cessary to put his mind into fit state for re-
Il 'ction; so, calling forth his hat and gloves,
he sailed forth, and avoiding dear Bond
street. anu all the more frcquentcd avenues,
he crossed St. -Nbans street, sidlei through
st. Jamcs's Market, felt his wav along dir
ty, dinsy defile, called Swallow street, and
after passing through sundry dark passages
on the north Of Oxford-strect. he at length
found himself in the Mary-le-bonc fields
There he sauntercd about for some time, but
to no purpose one-hundrcd-and-two-tho
sand and odd pounds, shillngs and pence,
were not to be picked up in the Marv-Ie- bone
fields and what else under Heaven could
set him af1oat again? The more he thought.
the more desperate did his position appear
to him. But there is an old French proverb
that tells us that force de chercher Ton
'roure and so it happened to Sir Harry -
for by dint Of walking and thinking, he all
at once found himself on the identical spot
where he had killed his friends IIardacrc
and Major OBlaze. Here, through that fine
operation of the mind, called the association
OF Ideas, an easy and certain mode of arran-
ging his affairs occurred to him. us it DOS
sbIe.." he exclaimed, that | can be such an
idiot as, for nearly two hours, to have over
looked so obvious an expedient. Is it possible
that !, man Of unqucstionabIe courage,
as this very spot con attest, should have been
TOR an instant in doubt about the means of
escaping from an exposure Of my cut up-an
event never should have found nerve to en-
counter. Is it possible that |, a rational be-
ing, should have failed to think of the very
thing that would have occurred to an ass in
London, at the first blush of the affair. What.
shall put down my four-in-hand? ShaIol
send my racers to Tat.ersalrs? Shall
break up my snug little establishment at Kill
burn, and confess to my pretty Julia that it
sail up with NE? Shall l tell my friends
that ! can squandsr no more thousands, for
the reason that have no more thousands to