The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1858-12-29
10 WEDNESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 90 1.1s58sss

MY hands, which sAencea me the ihstantl1
looked at it, -1tSwas- written from the prison
BIZ Mr. Fauntferey, and If ntaiRedi t~oeknes
only, entreating me to apply for the necessary
order, and to go and see-hin ianinediatelsaI
az shall not attempt te-deseribe the futter of
expectation, the strange Hlixture of dread and
hope that agitated me, when recognised his
handwriting, and discovered what itlsIvas that
he desired me to do. 1 obtained the order,
and went to the prison. The authorities, know
ing the dreadful situation in which he5stood,
were afraid of his attempting to destroy him
self, and had set two men te,watch him. One
came out as, they opened his celldoor. The
other, who was bound not to leave him, very
delicately and considerably affected to be
looking out of the window the inomentI WAS
shown in = s.u5E 5..U .s.71I.ffIq z-;7.aa4I
He was. sitting on the side of his bed, with
his head dropping and his hands hanging list
lessly over his knees, when first caught sight
of him. At the sound of my approach, he
started to has feet, and, without speaking a
word, flung both arms round my neck. zoz.
My heart swelled up "Tell me it's not
true, sir For Gods sake, tell me its not
true ~ was all l could say to him.
He never answcred-oh, me he never an
swered, and'lle turned away his face e,s..
There was one dreadful moment of silence.
He still held his arms round my neck; and
ON sudden he put his lips close to my ear.
'Did you get your money out?" he whispered.
"Were you in time on Saturday afternoon"
/ broke free from him, III the astonishment
of hearing those words. 80 g; ftss - =
What L cried out loud, forgetting the
third person at the window. 'That man who
brought the message"
"Hush!' he said, putting his hand on my
lips. 'sThere was no better man to be found,
after the officers had taken me-I knew no
more about him than you dol paid him well,
as chance messenger, and risked his cheating
me of his GRAND
'Iou sent him
81 sent him.. E-- - .,-z;. -5--
My story is over, gentlemen. There is no
was found guilty; and that he died by the
hangman's hand. 1t was in my power to
soothe his last moments in this world, by taking
on myself the arrangement of some of his
private affairs, which, while they remained
unsettled, weighed heavily on his mind
They had no connection with the crimes he
had committed, so l could do him the last
little service he was ever to accept at my hands
with clear conscience. | say nothing in de-
fence of his character, nothing in palliation of
the offence for which he suffered But ]
cannot forget that in the time of his most fear
ful extremity, when the strong arm of the law
young man whose humble fortunes he had
helped to build; whose heartfelt gratitude he |
had fairly won; whose simple faith he was |
resolved never to betray, i leave it to greater |
intellccts than mine to reconcile the anomaly |
of his reckless faisehood towards others, and |
his steadfast truth towards me. 1t is as GER |
tain as that we sit here, that one of Fauntle |
roy's last efforts in this world was the effort he
made to preserve me from being loser by the |
trust that had placed III him. There is the
secret of my strange tenderness f0r the memo
ry of L felon-that is why the word villain
does somehow still grate on my heart, when ] /
hear it associated with the name-thc disgraced
name, / grant you-of the forger Fauntleroy.
Pass the bottles, young gentlemen, and pardon
man of the old school for having so long
your conversation with a story of
he old time