The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1857-07-29

moving down-sinking slowly, regularly
silently, horribly, right down through.
out the whole of its length and breadth
right down upon me, as lay under
meath - ii'7Ha m
Ny blood seemed to stand still; a
deadly paralyzing coldness stole all over
me, as 1 turned my head round On the
pillow, and determined to test whether
the bed-top was really moving or not,
by keeping my eye on the mau in the
picture. The next look in that was
enongh The dull, black, frowsy out
line of the valance above me was within
an inch of being parallel with his waist
| still looked breathlessly. And stead
| lily, and slow livery SLOWLY saw the
figure, and the line of frame below the
figure, vanish, as the valance moved
down before it.
..a. I am constitute -nally anything but
timid I have been, on more than one
occasion, in peril of my life, and have
not lost my self possession for an instant.
but when the conviction first settled on
my mind that the bed-top was really
moving, was steadily and continuously
sinking down upon me, 1 looked up for
one awful minute or more, sbudderiDg,
helpless, panic stricken, beneath the
hideous machinery m for murder, which
was advancing closer and closer to suf-
focate me where lay.
Then the instinct of selfpreservot tion
came and nerved me to save my life,
while there was yet time. got out of
bed very quietly, and quickly dressed
myself again in my upper clothing
The candle fully went out. l sat down
in the arm chair that stood near, and
watched the bed-top slowly descending
was literally spell bound by IL. If
had heard footsteps behind me, could
not have turned round; if a means Of
escape had been miraculously provided
for me, I could not have moved to
take advantage of 1.-THE whole life in
me was at that moment concentrated
in my eyes. @
| It descended-the whole canopy
with the fringe around it, came down
down-close down; so close that there
| was not room now to squeeze my finger
between the top and the bed. I felt at
the sides and discovered that what had
appeared to me, from beneath to be
the ordinary canopy of four post bed,
was in reality thick, board mattress,
the substance of which was concealed
by the valance aud its fringe. 1 looked
up ard saw the four posts rising hide
ously bare. Iu the middle of the bed
top was a huge wooden screw that had
evidently worked it down through a
hole in the ceiling, just as ordinary
presses are worked down on the substance
selected for compression. The frightful
apparatus moved without making the
faintest noise. There had been no
creaking as it came down, there was
not now the faintest noise in the room
above. Amid dead aad awful silence
| I beheld before me-in the nineteenth
century, and in the civilized capital of
.France-sueh machine for secret mur.
der By suffocation, as might have exist
ed in. the worst days of tie Inquisition
invthe lonely Inns among the Hartz
Mountains, in the mysterious tribunals
of Westphalia! Still asiI looked on it
could not move; I could hardly breathe
but l begau to recover the power of
thinking; and in a momen discovered
the murderous conspiracy framed against
me, in all its horror.
My cup of coffee had been drugged AMI
drugged too strongly. 1 had been saw
cd from being smothered, by having
taken an over dose of some narcotic
How I had chafed and freted at the
fever fit which had saved M life by
keeping me awake.-How recklessly l
had confded myself to the wretches
who had led me into this room, deter
mined for the sake of my winnings, to
kill me in my sleep, by the surest and
most horrible contrivance for secretly
accomplishing my destruction. How
many other winners like me had slept,
as had proposed to sleep in that bed,
and never been seen or heard of more
shudde.ed, as thought of it.
But ere long all thought was suspended
by the sight of the murderous canopy
moving once more. After it had re
mained on the bed-as nearly as l
could guess-about ten minutes, it
began to move up again. The villains
who worked it from above evidently
believed that their purpose was now ac-
complished. Slowly and silently, as it
had descended, that horrible bed,top
rose towards its former place. When
it reached the upper extremities of the
four posts, it reached the ceiling too
Neither hole or screw could be seen
the bed became in appearance, an or
binary canopy, even to the most supi-
cious eyes.
Now for the frst time, I was able to
move, to rise from my chair, to consider
I r f