The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1856-11-01
TWO Hundred Pounds Reward
i DEATH BED sCESE.

If ! were to tel vol all, sir. thcy cannot
! drag me from my doath-bcd here and hang
| me, can they: BESIDES, am innocent But
what does that matter: More innocent men
T than have been hung for less crimes than
nlnr 'er, before this. will not tell YOU"
Murder" said !, with unfcigued aston
/ iShment Murder, Char,ton:' Por this
man was attending in my capacity ne house
surgeon Of the Marlborough wori. house. I
had known him for years. and OF al my pre-
sent patents, be had seemed the Simplest
ana least violent. His anxious oycs--yh h,ri
closed so lightly even in s'eep-h;s averted
/ looks whcn spoken 10, his nervous tirni.iiiy
at the sight Of arg s;rauge face, ! had set
down as the outward signs of = broken spirit
and waning b.ain, f,r he lad had enough
o! sorrow to shake s;rougFr mind than his
] could remember him wIi wife aud cit!!-
Grc9 about HIM :, sf-An,-,ii- r -
extensive way Of hu4iuVSs, and why u Sasi-
denly fell off and was given up, and what
misfortune had changed the couple who had
before been so b,ithr, had often wondered
Their sen, Robert, was now IN the Crmea
a sergeant; their daughter, Cara, MILL
ner's apprentice in tn North Mrs Charl-
ton had died fc'r months after the failure
ot their trade, Of a lingering and somewhat
strange disease; Ler husband was indeed a.
he has sail, upon his Icalh-J-d. had olcr-
ed to send for Clara It my own charge, but
. he would net hear + K
/" would not have 4 soul at my bedside,
save you, doctor, for worlds" he said.
He was quite friendlcs<, too. His cham
Der was common TO five other workhouse
folks, bat it was July day, and they were
summing themselves n the paved court out
side. The MONDAY beams which poured in
to the long, bare room found nothing fair 10
rest upon; no point ~ on the white-washcd
wall; TO commoncst wild flower in any Of
the few drab-co,ored mugs that strcw,d the
table; 10 signs Of comfort anywhere. The
sick man lag upon his little IRON bed, aid
was sitting on the wooden stool beside it
his hand lay upon mine and his face was
turned towards the door, listening. rose.
and locked it; and it was then that he be
gan, as have said, to speak OF murdcr, and
his innoccncc-;o as. if il would lie danger
Gus 20 conf,ss al.
szu, 4,v, ..~.n,"s can harm you now.
What you say to me is a secret as long as
you live; you may speak as if | was a cler-
gyman'-whom he had refused for some rca-
son, know not what, TO see. ''lf it will
ease your mind TO tell M. anything. say on"
You have known me, doctor, this twenty
years, and viii easily believe me when | say
that TO more expected 10 become depend
ent on the parish and die in this work house,
than | dreamt of the possibility of my CON-
miiting-any very terrible crime. | was
young to the world then, and foolish; and
my wife was not older or wiser. We were
not stroug-minded folks-nor, alas! even
straightforward. Though plausible story
of dear times coming hich may yet have
been partly truc-we sold many pound Of
ht,tf Of ND
always pound nor always an ounce, it was
never over the just weight, but under
Spirits, also-there being no public honse
close by-which we of course had no license
TO sell, we would let our best customers pur-
chase, and drink in our back parlor, which
appears in their weekly bills under the head
Of candles, or what not; so that speaking
before our own children, we had to fabricate
strangc stories, and give things their wrong
names; and many other devices We had,
which, though they got US little gains, SEEM
cd not much on the whole, 10 benefit us. j
have purpo>ely told youthe worst of Us be-
cause 1t vii explain our luture conduct the
more easily but you must not suppose that
we wr!e thieves, OF very wicked people
We scarcely knew what wrong we were do
ing to others, and far less to ourselves, and
| don't think in other respects We were
lad pair | krov Sarah loved me, and l
her and our two hi:dren, dearly. Our shop,
as you remember, was between Henborough
and Swalfha which were then quite sepa-
rate towns, with Struggling houses and long
lines of railing TO connect them. Our house
was tie farthcst OF the last row not dctach-
ed" Here the sick man raised himself on
bis hands and whispered" arc You sure
there is nobody 1t the kevhole ?-nebody
at any crack or Granny, nor AZ the skyight?"
assured him that there was not; and
the wretched creature pulled out from a sort
of opossun pocket in his very skin, and un-
der his flannel vest, thin piece of paper,
folded, keeping 1T carefully beneath the bed
clothes, so as to prevent It's being visible
from without He opened it, and | read
these printed words:
TWO HUNDRED POUNDS REWARD.
"The above will be given to any person,
not actually concerned in the crime, who
shall give such information as shall lead TO
the discovery of the murderer or murderers
Of John Spigot, in the Swat haln Road,
Marlborough on the night of December 3lst,
1888.
"Why, you, Charlton, were one Of the
iurvTncn. if remember right, who We're
upon the inquest in the matter!' said |.
81 was. doctor-are yon sure there's no
body under the bed, or behind the chimney
board and his murderer also!'
"Good Heayenst" exclaimed. "Why,
what hypocritical rufiian you must have
been."