Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1860-05-31
THURSDAY, MAY 81, 1850.

where | have endeavored to discharge my
duties faithfully, honestly and we'll. Al
though | dare not hope and | do not wish
that my life shall be spared, yet it is my
devOut and earnest desire that the stain of
this crime may not rest on my name. l
devoutly hope that my good mistress and
her kind, excellent daughter may yet be
convinced that they have not nourished
and befriended a highway robber. have,
therefore, in humble devotion, offered a
prayer to Heaven, and believe it has been
heard and accepted. | venture to assert
that if [ am innocent of the crime for
which | suffer, the grass, for one generation
at least, will not cover my grave Nv
lord, await your sentence without mur
mur, without a sorrow, and devoutly pray
that all who hear me now may repent of
their sins and meet me again in Heaven.
The unfortunate man was condemned
and executed, and buried in Montgomery
church yard. Thirty years has passed
away when [ saw it, and the grass had not
then covered his grave. 1t is situated in
a remote corner Of the church yard, far
removed from all other graves. 1t is not a
raised mound of earth, but it is even with
the surrounding ground, which is for some
distance especially luxuriant, the herbage
being rich and abundant. Numerous at
temptS have, from time to time been made
by some who are still alive, and others who
have passed away, to bring grass upon that
bare spot. Fresh soil has been frequently
spread upon it, and seeds of various kinds
have been sOwn, but not blade had there
ever been known t. spring from them, and
the soil soon became u smooth, cold and
stubborn clay. With respect to the un-
happy witnesses, it appears that Parker's
ancestor had once owned Oakfeld. and
that he had hoped by getting rid Of New
ton, to remove the main obstacle there was
in his re-possessing it, and that Pearce had,
at the time of Mr. Morris death, aspired
to the hand of his daughter, in whose affec-
ton he felt he had been supplanted by poor
Newton. The former soon left the neigh
borhoOd, became drunken and dissolute
man, and was ultimately killed in some
lime works, while in the act of blasting
rock. Pearce grew sullen and dispirited,
his very existence seemed burden to him,
and as thG old sexton of Montgomery ex-
pressed it, he wasted away from the face
of the earth
| have not seen the grave SINCE 1850,
but have AeaFd that some person has COW
cred it with thick turf which has united
itself with the surrounding grass, except
at the head, which is still withered and
bare, as if scorched by lightning. The
prayer, however, of poor Newton, that his
grave might remain uncovered for at least
one generation, has been heard and his
memory vindicated in most remarkable
manner. The name given to the grave
was singularly inappropriate; it should
have been called the grave of the inno-
cent The widow with her daughter left
Oakfeld, and went to reside with her broth
er. For some weeks after poor Newtons
burial, it is said his grave was, from time
to time, found strewed with wild foyags,
by whom done was unknown-but it was
observed that after Jane Morris had left
the neighborhood, not flower was found
on the grave.