Sunbury American. [volume] (Sunbury, Pa.) 1848-1879, 1856-08-02

could free myself by no means, dealt him
blow with my left hand which sent him stag
gerng to the other end Of the carriage. He
recovered himself in an instant, and rushed
at me again but this time was on my guard
and as he advanced | seized his hands by the
wrists, and being much the more powerful
man, forced him into seat. and kept him
| there, never for an instant relaxing my grip.
Let me gow he hissed between his teeth,
| speaking in q foreign accent. "T.et me go
Scoundrel, coward l-=release mel"
Had any third person been present they
could rot have failed to be amused at the
| matter offact tone of my remarks in contrast
to the high flown speech of the stranger
"What the deuce do you mean, sir, by at
tacking an inohensive man in this way?"
said !, "whats your motive? You don't look
like thief"
NO." he screamed, '"tis you who are the
thief you who would steal from me all that
| cherish in the world p
"Why, | never set eyes on you before /" |
exclaimed. getting bewildered and not feeling
quite certain whether | was asleep or awake.
NO, but have heard of you," he replied,
"heard of you too often. ITEMS did not
you just acknowledge you were going to
Bottoms .'
"Well, what if am ?" asked "You
shall never reach your destination" and with
Il sudden twist he shook my hand from his
neck sprang at my face and struck me with
such force that | fell on my back on the
floor of the carriage. In falling / dragged
my adversary with me, but he was nimbler
than |, and succeeded in planting his knee
on my throat while be pinned my hands to my
sides. Seeing me at his mercy he gave cry
OF triumph, then STOPPING over me he scan
ned my face with such a wild and soaring
glance that glimmering Of the truth for the
trst time flashed across me--the man was
mad. | turned faint sick at the idea, and
closed my eyes. "Ah ha !" shrieked the
lunatic, you pale, you tremblc You, an
Englishman, change color like girl You
shall be yet another color before | leave you,
your cheeks shall be blue, your eyes red,
Entends tn miserable ?" And as he spoke he
knelt with such force on my throat that !elt
my eyes were starting from their sockets; |
struggled convulsively, but the more l
writhed the more tightly did he press me
with his knee, until ut length the anguish
grew nsupportable, and tainted
How long / remained insenSible, / know
not; it can have been but very few minutes,
| however, wien | came to myself | found the
fresh night air blowing over my face, | saw
, the door OF the carriage open, and felt the
madman endcavoring to drag me to the aper-
ture with the evident intention of throwing
me out upon the line.
And now | felt that the crisis was at hand,
and that it was but question Of time
whether | could hold ont until we arrived at
the station, or whether should be murdered
by the lunatic. We were both young men,
and though, perhaps, l was naturally the
more powerful, yet his position gave him
great advantages, as i was still extended on
my back, while he was stoopng over me, and
while my limbs were cramped he had full
play for all his energies. On seeing me re-
covering from the swoon, he uttered short,
sharp cry, and bending lower, twined his
hands in my cravat. Now was my opportu-
nifty his back was to the door his face so
close to mine, that | could feel his breath on
my cheek. Gathering all my remaining
strength together | seized him by the ancIes,
and literally hurled him over my head on to
/ his face. lie fell heavily, striking his head
against, the opposite door, and lay stunned
and bleeding. In second ] was on my feet
ready to grappe him, but as | arose the
engine shrieked our approaching advent to
the station, and al rost before could raise
my fallen foe we ran into Tamworth. The
! first person | saw on the platform was Ellcn's
brother, to whom. after hearing that she was
out of danger, |, in few words, narrated my
adventure, and pointed out the stranger, who,
still insensible, was supported by some OF the
| pOrters.
Lets have look at the fellow said
| Fred Luttrell-an unsophisticated youth
| but he no sooner had eyes on the pallid face
than he drew back, exclaiming, by Jove, It's
| BOde."
And so it was and by the aid of explana-
tion, | received afterwards from Fred lut-
/ trel, | was. in some measure enabled to
account for the attack made upon me. 1t
appears that Nicomte dc Bode had seen
/ Ellen while in Burgundy and fell desperate
| ly in love with her; but his addresses were
utterly discouraged by her friends, for one
reason alone--but that most powerful one.
! His family were afflicted with hereditary in-
sanity, and he himself had already on two
occasions shown the taint. or course it was
| impossible to declare to him the real reason
of his rejection and he was accordingly in
formed that Ellen's parents had long since
pledged her hand to connexion of her
| own.
After her departure be grew moody and
irritable and it was judged advisable to have
him watched but he managed to elude the
observation Of his keepers, and to escape to
England. Ellen's address was well known
to him he was proceeding thither, and when
he heard the very house mentioned by the
porter at Crewe as the direction of my lug
gage, he doubtless, in his wandering mind,
pictured me as his rival and supplanter.
My dear Ellen recovered, and so did the
NicOmte-that is to say, from my assault.
AS TO his madness, it stood by him, poor iel.
low, until he died.