Sioux City register. [volume] (Sioux City, Iowa) 1858-1871, 1858-11-18


a4aes vn4a@ sa GR& .7a& sae5a al s1s'
aaA .a.t sfzah .,a.s d ats .-ests
I au The suspected one. have 40 mean,
Of proving my inaocsnes, unlsss. perhaps
proving bic guilt. That, most like, il in.
possible. At any rsse, what . terribls stsr
for man 70 take against his dead moth
err only other child I And Ne hos slove.
y wife whom it would shy. Yet I myself
have-O God shut out her image from
mel ] must not sss III shall 70 msd
In THE groove my shoaghts rolled back
and forward through the night Faciua
this alternative stood I'll the dsy Of my
trial Just one moath. Ny brother came
often 10 see ne; he lavisbed tears and
embraces spon ne 10 retained for me
the best Of council-yet he always seemed
like enc in dslirium Of fever, and ever
just ~ the turnkey swung back the heavy
door 70 let him out hs would stop for Z
momest trembling, and with his lips bali
opened - if sbout to say something nors
70 ms-thsn, without meeting n. ~ he
would rush from the cell. SufIsr. ~
was, suffering still more, - wsa abos,
70 b, from the consequences Of his sin-
| could rity him deeply. ooaA 5orbsas
With the cowasdics which ceuld not eonfsss.
for knew how priceless liberty mast Be
to man Who. losing it leaves his o.ae,
soul in that most heart broken Of oil wid
owhood--ths widowhood Of . convict.
wife. ......... -. ,..4 .t....-..
She whom ! loved visited me many
times--always bringing me sweet nssss.
ges in her presence from the birdie. and
the flowers, and the free sky ou.side-al-
ways talking with voice intensely aus
tained into cheerfalness Of my acquittal,
and restoration to our old hopes. l told
her was innocest, and she believed me.
l could not tell her Who WAS guilty.
Ny trial came on. need not pain my
self With long recital Of the throaxed
cocrt. the weary ques.ionings asd cross
questioaings, the audible silence of the
crowd when the pleas were made, the mo
ment whose shadow fell upon nae vhen
the foreman solemnly sad "guilty"-ihst
other moment wheu 1 Vas condemned to
the awful alienage of prison for the fifteen
years 70 come. .fs,ssa
Thea l partsd from hsne and friends
Ms brother did not bid me goodbye BE-
lay sick Of raging fever on whose chanc-
e. hung life. But she, the holy, the hero
ie-vho had borne all things, came % see
me 60. She c'asped my msnacled hands in
her own she pressed ono lose last kis.
upon The convict's Iips, snd said. with a
solemn cheerful"ess, IN wait for you T.
Then. with superstition which, frivolous
though it seem. still crept i.to the awful.
ness Of that hour, | stopped my watch,
and vowed inwsrdly that its hands should
never more move till We met again.
After that the gates Of my prison open
ed to let in but one message from the life
outside. The chaplain brought me lock
Of we'll known soft brown hair, and told
me, with = tear in his eye, tha. an old
man had given it to him for me, saying,
MY daughter is with God. She died
whispering that she would wait for John
Markham"
] endured the knowledge Of her death
with senumbed patience, plain.
inely, rarely weeping . single drop.
went through the unvarying round Of day
labor in the prisoa yard with steady
mechanical industry which surprised IN,
taskmaster-for heretofore l had been
taunted as the weak gentleman" "xhite
fingers" and Whatever other epithet or in
suit the hardened bullies Of discipline err
accustomed, at discretion and without fea,
Of resentment, to confer upon the wretch.
ed n their grasp At evening. ! held "
the tress into that faint twilight, which Just
futtesed through my CRATES, and kissing it
seemed to see her BY ,ne-for could nsv
or think Of her - dead. That realisatioz
vas kindly spared me By the fact that %
new void can be felt. no new unnatural,
nsss, IN the eternal void cad unustarslnes,
Of prison.
But one night coming from work I found
the trsss gene. Asking the tsrDksy 81
Il, I vss told, ''Prisossss sss allowed NJ
useless articles." FroE tAat monens
knew that she whom I loved was dead
Like wild freshet The agony Of the know
hedge rushed 10 spon ne. With il cam,
the memory Of ny burning wsongs-sh'
scorn ef naa spent spoa ny iasocen
head The per6dy Of ~ only brcsher-
The irredsemsble helplessaess Of I'll things
Asd l shs. myself up in sullen. silen
madness. 4 most dangerous madness i
Vas. Rson the time tAas lost the tres
Eve years we're 70 slspss before l went o.,
and il in thsG time . revolt he'd spra.g =,
in prison | bod died Aghsiag IN ID from,
for l was ripe for any crime. Az Il wss
only bods my time. Oses oss I wssl'
wresk .oondignsss vsngsaoes on society
on lsw-on my brosbes. as b
The five years passed-6vs years Of dus
and clinking in the yard-of darkness
muttsring, low, smo.hsred hcartburninl
l - ~. III A. l..s 80 .uo-u... a.