The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1857-05-30

heart, as he says himself, he lay down to
sleep.
In the morning the whole town was IN ex-
citemcnt at the horrid deed. Beauchamp's
host suspected him, but his calm demeanor
did away all suspicion, and he was allowed
to leave Frankfort without molestation. As
he drew near home, his wife, who had been
anXiously awaiting his return saw him APP
proach waving a red flag, which had been the
token of success agreed upon between them
She was full of joy; like himself at the fulfil
ment Of her just vengeance, as they thought
it and they talked over all the details of the
crime with fearful satisfaction.
Beauchamp was soon arrested, as he expected
to be bnt contrary to his expectations, he
found that all his plans to destroy evidence
had been fruilleSs, Circumstances--th
fatal troopers to sure witness, and
where link was wanting III the chain of
testimony, 1t was easily supplied by exagge-
ration or perjury. He was convicted on the
10Th Of May, 1926, and in spite of the doubts
ofmany eminent lawyers, who maintained
that there was 10 existing law to punish
murder, he was executed on the 7th Of July
following. He had in vain tried to throw the
crime on some other person. and to obtain a
pardon from Gov. Desha, who to be sure
had pardoncd his own son, twice convicted
OF murder and robbery.
These details may seem like those of
common murder, too common in these days,
unfortunately, deriving their interest only
from II morbid craving for Knowledge Of
such horrors. But thele is deeper reason
why the atrocities Of Beauchamp and his
wife stand forth in prominence on the sad
calender of crime. The feeling which mpel-
1,l ~,
ance, it is true; but this finds some excuse
IN the greatness of their victims guilt: while
while it is exalted above the fury of the ordi-
nary murder by the solemn fanatciSm which
made them rcgurd it as a duty, and by the
tenderness of their love for each other. No
thing can be more touching than the gentle
ness and reverence with which every where in
his confession, Bcauchanp speaks Of his
wife, and she in turn, seems to have felt the
most enthusiastic affection for him. lie
was her chevalier-her champion. and the
champion of injured virtue everywhere:
and in her steady refusal to oullive him,
she showed the constancy of Roman matron
and died as heroically as Brutus' Porta,
or the more famous Lucreta.
After his conviction she spent much time
with him and IN the hope Of dying together
they both took poison, which however proved
Intellectual They were then carefully guarded,
but in spite of this, on the morning of his ex
ecution. they coutrived to stab Themselves
Beauchamp was not mortally wounded, but
his wife fingered only few hours after his cx
ecution. AS he was carried to the sallows,
too weak to sit on his coffin in the cart, accor-
ding to the barbarous custom he asked to be
taken to his wife, then lying unconscious from
her wound. He laid his hand on her face,
and sought in vain to make her recognise him;
then bidding her the tendercst farewell, and
bowling to the ladies at the windows as he
passed along the streets, he went on to the
scaiiold.
Some verses by Mrs. Bcauchamp, written
just before her death, and printed in the yam
phlet above mentioned, support the conccp-
ton other character formed from her Won
deiful story. They all relate to her husbands
crime and fate, and the style indicates a cult
waited mind and a lofty and poetic nature. A
single stanza in which she speaks of her hus-
band S dying with her. may serve as Il spcci-
men:
''And welded to his side my form shall lie
Encirclcd by his arm. for naught but Fate
Could move my stubborn spirit free to die
With all my soul holds dear, good, or great"
Novels and plays have been built on this
story, and perhaps that Of Mr. Simms is the
best among them; but it is impossible for fic-
ton to equal the awful simplicity with which
Btaucilamp's confession portrays the whole
series of events. Not even Othello so much
absorbs our interest or moves our emotions.
The action rocceds with the dreadful certainty
of the Greek tragedy. where an invincble fate
drives On the noble and generous to crime
In the wilderness of Kentucky, among attor-
MES, and planters, and back -woodsman, you
see again Orcstes and Electra, Clytemnestra
and Agamemnon: and the events are as sub
lime and terrible as any which Eschylus or
Sophoces have immortalized in verse
Zone touch of nature makes the whole world kin