North Branch democrat. [volume] (Tunkhannock, Pa.) 1854-1867, 1865-01-18

o nat crlme-a position Wnlch ne meant 10
maintain. he said, with his latest breath.
To be brief, The youth Of the prisoner, his
eArnes' as>erva tl"n of innocence, and wa
v ring d. ub' e his guilt which had all along
{ ubeG Fali,r A lard's mind, 80 wrought
u u thai worthy man thai he ar last cor
med commit himself to plan for giving
the prisoner chance to escape, If not from
death, a, least from the ignomy of dying by
the hands of the accursed hangman,
IF die by the gallows, most reverend
father" ~ The young man, great sorrow
W II -oint lay fall up'n all concerned IN my
death. The real murderer is sure To be dis
Covered, sooner ur ia'er, AMI then | shall
have been murdered maH, and the just ret
ribntIun al Heaven will pursue my murder
ers. I'D me To esc.pe, rather than risk a
great stain upon your Conscience. Stand up
on Tins char, which place upon the table,
thus, snd ,nen by mounting upon your
shoulders, | can reach the window. and drop
from It,"
''Bul The river below 2"
II can swim like an otter; and at any rate
II lie better to be drpu ned than hanged"
Convinced of the young mans innocence,
Faith Alard cn"ser;ed t. AID him in his
escape. A m"nent sutficci 10 carry the
plan III execution. The Prisoner gained
the window. and disappeared.
Parahng in a stray ging way outside the
| building, went one of the mInor officerS of
Ijuol!ee-a stoird peasant who had been plac
I'd there hy way of srntry, and who, at this
moment, ha"rened t. be looking towards the
! r,v.r wall of the mill. His sight nearly left
o in, as be afterwards stated, when he saw a
man tfrep irn the jail window, strike on
| platform hat pI"rrud,d from a doorway IN
! he sec ,ul story. and rrb b)undng from thai,
| all into the water with a heavy plunge, ne
! appearing at intervals until he was carried
away into rbe rapids below,
! TIE alarm was al onc- given. Village off
! Gals rushrd to the prison room, where they
found Father AIlard alone, seated in the
char, paI', and as If just vering froao the
| sight OF s"u.e supernatural vision. To the
questions pat to him, he replied that. as be
was administering the consultations of his hu-
| y office to the prisoner, a voice sounded
through the apartment, accompanied by the
| shadow OF a mighty par ot wings, on which
| he m"uted 10 the ceiling Of the apartment
and Was no more seen by him. Tue voice
he added, d,Ir"camed the prisoners innocence,
nd hat t.i> reai circumstances of the mur
! er would ,oon be made manifest. Il was
m "ac'" and the good country people, eveI
r.ady to acc. pt that firm of interposition,
re ea:,;. persuaded to do so on the pres
ems cca>iun.
NJ antIme, Laroche, when he leaped from
fhe w,hdo~, had forgotten all about the pla'r
form. As he fell upIn it, he displaced a sack
of grain, whcn spashed in the dark waters
I 1t the river, appearing to the eyes of the be
! wIldere sentry TO be the body of the man
who had dropped from the prison window
Laroche lay upon the narrow platform, suns
ned by his heavy fall. Sprride, the m'Ilyr's
diuehter, say hm fall. There was no one
else in the mill at the time. She drew him
q nckIS behind the sacks an great heaps of
al. on ,ks Fl +, and having administered
I'm ,uch re-t"ra''veS as her yang exre
I,rncr sng- e,gtd, threw some "use sack
v,r f'u, and l"id hrm t" lie still.
That night Spride and her Inver- Laroche
and she had been lovers for about six hours
onN - ma de Their way to where boat lay
moured bell the falls, and, cmbarxpg IN it
| G r. soon carried lar beyond the reach Of
! .nr>ui'. l. was supposed by the aftrlghrrd
villagers thar Splrde have been carried
! fr IN the llAtf,rm when the body from the
! induw above tad bten seen To >tr ke upon
| , ; and a. The whlrI,"'nl below the torrent
| mad been nPv"r XIV L. < We up us dead but
IttIe search was made Tor her, and her
| friends resigned themselves to mourning for
b r awful ta,e
Y Less than SIX months after this, Landry
war tried for the murder of brother keeper,
and was convicted and hanged accordingly
| Previous to his execution, however, he made
a clean tr, ast of II I" Father Alard, confess
| ing ;ha' hr had murdered the farmer { hi
money, killing h,m with stake cut from.
| ne hedge by y"ung Lar cae, which. as he
stated, sing ularIy enough, suggested TO him
! IN" idea # committing IN" crane.
| Two years elapsed, aud Father AIlard had
been promoted t" a parish at a distance of
some fifty miles from the one of which he had
been pastor for So many years.
| Shortly af ar his arrival thpro his dutias
led him to take jnurn'y on horseback some
miles INTO the ,n'crnr of the parish of which
hr bad chalge. Part Of the road travelled by
hrm wnuud through a swampy forest region,
and after ride "f several miles, he came to
sluggish stream hat had formerly been
spahned by bridge, of which nothing but
| The ahni Inants rnuu -nnained hnvazer-