Eastern times., 1856-03-06
S}listellanp.
THE DEATH WARNING.
{" The last, the fatal hour has come"

The mlsts of the mountain still hung heavi-
ly on the mountain top about the village of
the Rodcliff, but the roads which lead towards
1t were crowded with the various population
OF the surrounding country from far and near.
At Aylesbury the shops were closed the
hammer Of the blacksmith laid upon its anvil
not wagon Of any description was to be seen
In the street, and the bar of the tavern was
closed, and the key gone with the proprietor
OF the cliff, as token of an important era
which was without a parallel in the annals of
the place. And save here and there sol-
tary head looking through broken pane in
some closed up house, with an air of sad dis
appointment, or the cries OF the little nursing
were heard betokening that in the general
flight II had been left in unskillful hands or
perhaps here and there solitary, ragged and
ill-natured school-boy was seen, or not less
solitary and ilI-naiured 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, that had forever been unknown
before.
But in proportion as you drew near the
ponderous cliff, in the midst of which the little
town of Rodclff was situated, you mingled
again in the thick hustle and motion of the
world, men and women, and boys, and hors-
es, and dogs, all living, moving things that
inhabit the wide district OF Pennsylvania.
The village itself was crowded to overflow
ing long before the sun had gained sufficient
altitude to throw its rays upon the deep valley
in which it lay. There the bar of the inn was
crowded, and the fumes of tobacco and whis-
key, the jingling OF small change was sufficient
10 rock brain of common flexiblity. In the
streets, there was the greeting Of old and
long parted acquaintances the bartering OF
horses; the settling of old accounts the buf-
foonery of half intoxicated men the clatter of
the womea the crying and hallooing of the
children and boys, and the barking and quar-
relling of strange dogs. To look upon the
scene, TO mingle with the crowd, to listen 10
the conversation, or TO survey the countenanc-
lead 10 satisfactory solution of the cause for
which this mass OF Heterogeneous matter was
congregated.
Within the walls of the old stone Jail at the
foot of the mountain, a different scene had
been that morning witnessed There, chained
to a stake in the miserable dungeon, damp and
scarcely Illuminated by one ray of light, now
lay the emaciated form of one whose final doom
seemed near at hand. A few hours before,
his wife and daughter had been with him, hav-
ing travelled hundred miles to meet him once
more on the threshold of the grave they met,
and from that gloomy vault the song of praise
ascended with the ascending sun and the
jailor, as he listened 10 the melodious voice of
three persons whom he looked upon as the
most desolate and LOST of all in the wide world
blended sweetly together and chanting the
beautiful hymn,
:" 1t is the Lord should distrust,
Or contradict his will -
almost doubted the evidence of his senses, and
stood fixed in astonishment at the massy door.
Could these be the voices of a murderer, and
a murders wife and child
This brief and to be the final interview pass
ed, however; those unfortunate ones had loud
ly commended each other to the keeping OF
their heavenly parent, and parted he to face
the assembled multitude on the scaffod, and
they, as they said, 10 return, by weary jour
neys 10 their sorrowful homes.
The convict, worn out by sickness and
watching now slept.
His name was Jason Creel; his place of
residence, Virginia. He had been taken up
while travelling to the northward of his home,
and tried and convicted at the county town
some miles distant for the murder of fellow
traveller who had borne him company from
the likes, and was ascertained TO have a large
sum of money with him, and who was found
in the same room in which they both slept,
with his throat cut. Creel had always pro-
tOStCu iuuOCCuSCs NCSioiAuS thO NCOu "uo
perpetrated by some one while he was asleep
but circumstances were against him, and
though the money was not found on him, he
was sentenced to be hung, and he had been
removed to the old stone Jail at Rodcliff for
security, the county prison being deemed un-
safe. Thus was the execution TO take place
the scaffold was already erected the crowd
pressed round the building, and frequently
cries OF bring out the prisoner, 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 were ready for him without, and bid him
hasten to his execution and then they laid
hands on him and pinioned him tight, while
he looked towards heaven in wild astonish-
ment, as one newborn, and said The dream,
the dreaml sAnd what of the dream, MIR.
Creel 9 said the sherif:-'you would do me a
great kindness if you would dream yourself
and me both out OF this cursed scrape.' Il
dreamed, replied the convict, that while you
read the death warrant to me on the scaffold,
man came through the crowd and stood be-
fore US in grey dress, with white hat and