Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1864-01-23
I went toTbes, and slept profoundly till past

went to bed, and slept profoundly till past
| four in the afternoon.
| That evening went down to the factory
| quite early; for ] had restlessnes IS upon me,
and wanted to see George before he left for
| the night This time found the gate bolted,
| and rang for admittsnce."
"How early you are Benz said Steve
| Storr, as he let me in.
s'Mr.f Barnard's not gomez" asked quick
| ", for saw at the first glance that the gas
| was out in the counting-hopse. -
He's not gone" said Steve because
he's never been"
| "Never been?"
"No; and what's stranger still, he's not
been home either, since dinner Yesterday"
"But he was here last night :"
sob, yes, he was here last night, making
up the books. John Parker was with him
till past sixyIand you found him here, didn't
you, at halfpast nine 2"
! / shook my head.
/ "Well, he's gone, anyhow. Good night !!
"Good night !" &c -
took the lantern from his hand, bolted
! him out mechanically, and made my way to
the bakipg-bopses like one. in, a stupor.-
George gone? Gone wthouta word of warn
! ing to his employer, or of farewell to his fell
I low workmeni | could not understand it.
! could not believe it, | sat down bewildered,
ineredulous, stunned Then came hot tears,
doubts, terrifying suspicious. remembered
/ the wild words he had spoken few nights
back the strange calm by which they were
| followed: nv dream of the evening before.
/ l had heard of men who had drowned them
! selves for love: and the turbid Severn ran
+ close bs--so close, that one might pitch a
/ stone into it from some of the workshop win.
/ dows
/ These thoughts were too horrible. dared
not dwell upon them. / turned to work, to
1 free myself from them, if could; and began
examining the ovens. The temperature of
all was much higher than on the previous
night-the heat having been gradually in
creased during the past twelve hours. 1t
was now my business to keep it on the in
( crease for twelve more; after which it would
\ be allowed, as gradually, to subside, until the
pottery was cool enough for removal To
! turn the seggars, and add fuel to the two first
/ furnaces, was my first work. As before, l
! found number Three in advance of the others,
and so left it for half an hour or an hour. /
l then went round the yard, tried the doors, let
| the dog loose, and brought him back with
me to the bakng-houses for company. After
that set my lantern on shelf beside the
door, took book from my pocket and began
/ to read. ssSfUFf Goa. 80
| remember the title of the book as well as
! possible. 1t was called Bowker's Art of Ang-
| ling, and contained little rude cuts of all
kinds of artificial flies, hooks, and other
| tackle. But could not keep my mind to it
for two minutes together and at last gave
it up in dispair, covered my face with my
hands, and fell into long absorbing painful
train of thought. A considerable time had
gone by thus, maybe an hour, when | was
reused by low .whimpering howl from Cap
tain, who was lying at my feet. looked up
with a start, just as ! had started the night
before, and with the same vague terror, and
saw, exactly in the same place and in the
same attitude, with the fre-light full upon
him, George Barnard!
At this sight, fear heavier than the fear
of death fell upon me, and my tongue SEEM
1 ed paraylzed in my mouth. Then, Just as last
night, he rose, or seemed to rise, and went
slowly out into the next room. A power
stronger than myself appeared to compel me,
reluctantly, to follow him. / saw him pass
| through the second room, cross the threshold
of the third room, walk straight up to the
oven and there pause. He then turned, for
! the first time, with the glare of the freight
pouring out upon him from the open door of
the furnace, and looked at nae, face TO face.
In the same instant his whole frame and
countenance seemed to glow and become
transparent, as if the fire were all within him
and around him; and in that glow he became,
as it were, absorbed into the furnace, and
| disappeared
uttered wild cry, tried to stagger from
the room, and fell insensible before reached
the door.
a2When | next opened my eyes the gray
dawn was in the sky; the furnace doors
were all closed as | had left them when last
went round the dog was quietly sleeping not
1 far from my side; and the men were ringing
at the gate, to be let in.
| 4 x
| told my tale from beginning to end and
was laughed at, as matter of course, by all
who heard it. When it was found, however,
that my statements never varied, and, above
all, that George Barnard continued absent,
some few began to talk 1t over seriously,
and, among those few, the master of the
works. He forbade the furnace to be cleared
out, called in the aid of celebrated natural
list and had the ashes submitted to scientific
examination. The result was as follows:
The ashes were found to have been largely
saturated with some kind of fatty animal mat
ter. A considerable portion of those ashes
consisted of charred bone. A semi-circular
piece of iron, which evidently had once been
the heel of a workman's heavy boot, was
found, half fused, at one corner of the fur
mace. Near it lay tibia bone, which still re-
tanned sufficient of its original form and tex
j-ture to render Identification possible. This
bone, however, was so much charred that it
fell into powder on being handled.
After this, not many doubted that George
Barnard had been foully murdered, and that
his body had been thrust into the furnace
Suspicion fell upon Louis Laroche. He was
arrested, coroners inquest was held, and
every circumstance connected with the night
of the murder was as thoroughly sifted and
Investigated as possible. All the sitting in
/ the world, however, failed either to clear or
condemn Louis Laroche. On the very night
of his release he left the place by the mail
train, and was never seen or heard of there
| again. As for Leah, l know not what became
of her. | went away myself before many
weeks were over, and never have set foot
among the Potteries from that hour to this.
A Cop OF TAsTE.-At the opening of the
new Free church at Crathie, in Scotland, DR..
Guthrie said: 81 highly approve of the res
olution of our friends that led them to build
such house as this; because there is no
greater mistake in the world than to fancy
that while God is God of holiness, asGodP Of
power, and of justice, he is not also God OF
| ;nct Youcb He ica God Of