The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1864-09-21

began TO dllato upon his chances of forgive.
ness in the next world for tho terrible
crime committed 10y him. Then the priso.
nor electrified him 10y declaring his perfect
| inroCvuCe oithc cTmC--a position which he
meant 10 maintain, ho said, with his latest
| breath.
TO bc brief, the youth OF tho prisoner
! his earnest assevcration OF inuoceuee. and
q waverpg doubt of his guilt which had
all along troubled Father Aard's mint
| SO wrought upon that worthy man that he
at last consented to commit himself to plan
for giving tho prisoner chance tor os-
cape, il not irom DEATH at least from il.
nominy ot dying by the hands Of the &C.
cursed haugmau.
ali die by the ylllOwS, most reverend
father said the young man, "a great sor.
row will some day all upon all concerned
in my death. Tie real murderer is sure to
be discovered, sooucr or later, and then
shall have been murdered man, and the
just retrbutou of Heaven. will pursue
my murderers, Aid me to escape, rather
than risk II great stain upon your con
science. Stand upon this chair which
place upoa the table. Thus, and then, by
mounting upon your shoulders, can reach
the window and drop from it,
But the river below!'
81 swim like an otter; and, at any rate,
it is better to be drowned than hanged"
Convinced Of the young man's innocence
Father Allard consented to aid him in his
escape. A moment sutliccd to carry the
plan into execution. The prisoner gained
the window, and disappeared.
POradma in Il strag cling way outside the
! building, went one Of the minor officers of
Ijustjcc--a stolid peasant, who had been
placed there by way OF scntry, and who
lat this momcnt happened 10 be booking
towards the river wall of the mill. His
sight nearly left him, as hc afterwards ST. ted
W he saw u man drop from the window,
strike on to platform that protruded ffum
a doorway in the secoud story, and, re-
bounding from that, fell into the water
with heavy plunge, reappearing at in
tervals, until he was carried away into the
rapids below.
The alarm was at once given. Village
officials rushed to the prison room, whore
they found Father Allard alone, seated in
the chair, pale, and as if Just recovering
from tho sight of some supernatural vision g.
To the questions put to him he replied
that, as he was administering the consola-
ton of his holy office to the prisoner, q
voice sounded through the apartment, ac-
companied 10y the shadow of a mighty pair
of wings, or which tho prisoner mounted
to the ceiling OF the apartment, and was
no more seen by him. The voice, he add
ed, proclaimed the prisoners innocence,
and that tho real circumstances of the muir
der would seen ba manifest. 1t was u mir
acle, and tho good country people, ever
really to accept that form of interpostion,
were easily persuaded to do SO on the
present occasion.
Meantime, Laroche, when he leapol from
the window, had forgotten all about the
platform. As he fell upon it, he displaced
\ sack Of grain, which splashed into the
dark water OF the river, appearing to the
eyes of the bewildered sentry 90 be the
body Of man who had dropped from the
prison window. Laroche lay upon tho
narrow PLATFORM stunned by the heavy fall.
Spride, the miller's daughter, saw him fall
There was no one else in the mill at the
time. She drew him quickly behind the
great heaps Of grain on the lloor AMI, hav.
ing administered to him such restoratives
rs her young experience suggested, threw
some loose sacks over him, and told him
to lie still.
That night Spirde and her over--La-
roche and she had been lovers for about
SIX hours only-made their way to where
Il boat lay moored below the falls, and en.
barking in it, We're soon carried beyond the
reach Of pursuit 1t was supposed by the
alrighted villagers that Spirile must have
been carried from the platform when the
body rom the window above had been
seen to strike upon it; aud, as the whirl-
pool below the torrent had never been
known to give ap its dead but little search
was made for her, and her friends resigned
themselves TO mourning for her awful fate.
Less than six months after this Landry
was tried for the murder of Il brother keep.
er, and was convicted and hanged accord.
ingIy revious to his execution however.
he made clean breast Of it to Father AL
lard contcssiug that he had murdered the
farmer for his money. killing him with the
stake cut from the hedge 10y young Lmo.he
which, as ho stated, singlarIy enough, sug.
gested to him tho idea of committing the
crime.
Two years elapsed and Father Allard
had been promoted to parish at a distance
OF some fifty miles from the one of which
lac had been pastor for so many years.
Shortly after his arrival there, his duties
led him to take journey on horseback
some miles into the interior OF the parish of
which he had charge. Part OF the road
Travelled by him wound through q
swampy forest. and, after a ride of several
miles he came to sluggish stream hat
had formerly been spanned by bridge,
Of which nothing but the abutments now
remained, however. The priest turned his
horses head, and rode along the bank OF
the river, hoping to find another brid se, or
at least a ford by which he could cross to
the further side; nor had he gone far when
he disceTned, by hoof marks, place where
cattle seemed to be in the habit Of wading
through or coming to drink. The water
appeared TO be shallow; so lie urged his
unwilling horse into it, and got about hall
way across when tue aailnal began to
plunge and struggle violently, sinking AZ
the same time, as If drawn down by some
Invisible power. Aware, now, that he had
fallen into one of those quicksands which
are not uncommon in that part Of France
the good father knew that to throw him
self from his horse would be certain death,
az the water was not deep enough to swim
in, aud the hungry sand at the bottom was
gasping for him. lie held his horse, there.
fore, and shouted for help.
The water was gaining upon him, as the
terrified horse sank deeper aud deeper in
tho treacherous stream. Up, up il came,
until it reached his saddle flaps, and then
his knees, and he gave himself up for lost,
when distant shouts came in response TO
his, which were growing feeber witt! each
repetition. And now a man bursts his way
through tho brushwood on the river bank,
and, laying his axe upon q tall, slender,
o,,tg - 11,p,, sx.tif1, f,ur n. n