The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1857-12-17
III. WASHINGTON c., THURSDAY, DECEMBER H. 1857

his room door as went by, to follow rushed
out into the road, and ran in the direction Of
the river. Five or six persons, could see in
the glare, were running that way also, and
noticed lights being struck in houses az went
by. We had got as far as the top of the bank
l outsrlpp,ng the others; we could see the tall
column of hame rising up from the rapidly.
consuming howell, as / had guessed, and were
about to plunge down the slippery path toward
1T, when an awful sound arrested US all, and
froze my blood, for / knew its portent. 1t came
from the river, the centre of the river, q wild,
shrill, prolonged, demoniac peal of laughter.
that rose above the still midnight, and was
echoed from the hollows of the banks and from
the forests, until one could have fancied it the
exultation of legion Of fends. 1t needed but
look to tell me all. Out in the middle of the
river, in small skiff, just on the margin of the
space illuminated by the glare of the fire, was
my friend, Franz Werner, standing up, and
waving his hands exultingly. The crowd be.
gan to gather now on the bluff and heard
one man say, That's my skiff, but the ID
Dutchman shsnt carry it off," l turned, and
saw him in the act of aiming a long Derringer
pistol at Franz. With quick gesture struck
up his arm, crying
"No, no. The man is mad, do not harm
him. hundred dollars to whoever will bring
MIN eaie 10 enOre.
Two or three boatmen sprang forward at my
words.
"We can catch him with the fat. boat cried
they, springing down the bank.
=" Take rope, and do not harm him." cried
l after them.
GAY, ay, sir; we'll bring him SAFE"
They ran down to the whsrf.boat, unm oored,
put out their long oars, and commenced push
ing out into the stream. They had not more
than three hundred yards to 60. And now over
the rush OF the waters the notes of "Teufeslied"
began to rise, and the crowd ceased to utter
word, as that strange weird melody broke upon
their ears. Higher and higher it rose, wilder,
ever wilder as the boatmen drew near. shrek
irg out its terrible fiend chorus as it never had
before. Oh, it was terrible, the scene The
glare of the red and now expiring flames over
the water, the crowd of rough, anxious faces
upon the high bluff, the long fierce strain of the
boatmen at their "sweeps," ard, out there, the
madman, dancing in his frai skiff, and playing
the maddest tune that ever encountered human
ears And nov they near him fast. On good
boatmep, on for tits an GRAND of mercy We do
on II on Hark, the pealing wall, the wild, des
pairing, desperate agony of the chorus higher,
higher, shriller it screams, then dies down as
yon flames die down, slowly, slowly, into a sob
bling, awful moan. Now they reach him; one
more stroke, good boatmen, one more steady
stroke. But bark what sound, what awful
sound is thst-thst makes the boatmen drop
their oars-that sends a sensible shiver to every
heart in that gathered crowd That wild
maniacal yell of laughter. gathering in oftta.
kemp and oft-repeated echoes from bank to
bank-oh God when will my ears be freed of
the horrible sound See beam has fallen
into the smouldering Goals there, and again the
flames fare up brightly, and the sparks rice in
myriad flight towards heaven. What does he
now? Erect, stately, statuesque, he stands q
moment, raises both hands aloft-let US hope,
oh, let US hope, in prayer-and then, silently,
and calmly, and resolvedly, leaps over, flashes
a momentary white thing in the glare, dashes
the muddy water up a second, and is gone
Whittier, oh whittier Let US not ask.
find him. All, let US draw the veil.
Frustrated, COMPOUNDED, stupefed, by this aW.
full scene, had sunk down upon the bank, and
closed my eyes, when rough but friendly
voice startled me. looked up, and saw sever
al men gazing curiously at me. One, who bore
a torch, said, in kindly tone
STRANGER, guess the Dutchman was your
friend, warn't hep"
l answered, that he had been dearly.cher-
ished friend.
swell, ere's somethin' we found down yon-
der, that gifts ahead of our lsrnin' maybe you
can make it out. Any how, you're welcome to
it." And he handed me Franzs chess board
As took it in my hands, and thanked him, he
held the torch close up to me, saying
There's something like writing inside; may
be you can read it."
l opened the chess,board, and there, written
in long struggling letters Of red, as if he had
sealed his missive with his blood, made out
these words:
Fratercule, Herr Urian iSt der besser
Schachspieler :"
And that was ALL