The Portland daily press., 1866-02-02

Inlrty-SN years ago iaSL august there died in
one of the narrow and gloomy cells of the
Kennebec Co. Jail in Augusta, a man whose
noble mien and strange history attracted the
attention and commanded the fees of nearly
every man, woman and child, who visited that
village, and had time to behold so singular an
object and listen to his tragical marathon
This was the venerable HENRY McCAUs-
LAND. In that stone cell, SOLITARY and alone"
ne spent life OF thirty-sir years-,between
the ages OF SO and 72-) awaiting, and all the
time earnestly demanding, the sentence of
death, for the crime of wilful murder-a sem
tence which, though he was found unquali-
fiedly guilty" in court, was never pronounced
upon him! His person was one of the noblest
specimens of the genus honao-full six feet in
height, well proportioned in body and limbs
straight, erect, with a kingly countenance, and
Allowing beard of snowy whiteness, which,
for all that time, had felt only the friendly
salutations of huge horse-mane comb. Like
the beard OF the great Hebrew priest, it "went
down to the skirts OF his garment" It was
not common or fashionable then, as it is now
for his modern jmitators, to exhibit such bar
barian, because unbarbered, visages; and con-
sequently his Jewish physiognomy was a ter
ror to juveniles and the wonder Of all.
The circumstances Of his lifelong imprison-
ment, without sentence, or execution of legal
punishment, were very singular, and will bear
| narration even at the present day.
HENRY MoCAUsLAND was a mill-wright in
Gardiner. He was patriot of the Revolu-
ton, and served his country well in the war
for Independence. During violent religious
excitement, produced by certain New Lights,
he became convert and his impressions were
so strong, that he thought he held direct spir-
itual communication with the Almighty, who
required him, in order to insure His final fay-
or, to make Burnt Offering and a Sacrifice.
On every other subject but that of religion. he
was perfectly rational but on this he was de-
luded, in fact, a monomaniac. For time he
resisted the heavenly calling; but the more he
resisted, the clearer were his visions and the
thicker came the texts of Scripture which
urged hun to 'obey God rather than man.
But what should be his burnt offering? and
where should he find the victim for sacrifice?
These were revealed to him on this wise:
there was an English Episcopal Church in
Gardiner, built by its legalized patron, VII
liam Gardner, for whose name the town was
"aled. This church, In the phrss o2y of the
| New Lights, was child ofthe Mother of Har-
lots-the whore of Rome 1t was a proud,
scornful enemy of true religion and of its re-
1 yivals. The ediice where Satan had his sane
tuary must needs be put out of the way; that,
therefore, was doomed for burnt Offering
Accordingly on the night Of the 22d of Au-
gust, 179S, he filed childs shoe with live
Goals and repaired to the church which he
soon succeeded in burning to the ground
That same patron Of the church had no wife,
but married woman who kept his house, and
who, as McCausla,r I'd believed. had given birth
to three Legitimate chi,.aren by the church
patron, thereby committing the "unpardon-
able SIM" against the three perssrnns of the
blessed Trinity-the Father, the Son, I'd the
holy Ghost. Evidently she was proper VIC
tim for the Sacrifice. 1t happened that upon
certain night in October, this woman, Mrs.
warren, was called to watch with sick sister
up the Cobbossee stream. Thither he repaired
at midnight by means of his canoe. entered
the house and sick room without ceremopv
ana proceeded to the discharge of his pious
z duty. Mrs. W. was partially reclining by the
side OF her sick sister, supporting her aching
head upon her own bosom. McC. had taken
no weapon or instrument of death with him.
knowing that If the Lord had called him to
make the sacrifice, he would provide him
with the means; and so, casting his eye over
the head-board, he espied newly sharpened
butcher knife stuck to the beam; sand then, y
said he, "all had to do was to take down the
knife with one hand, while seized her head
with the other, and draw it sharply across
her throat-and she bled to death like stucb
calfr
He had now fulfilled his mission, and cheer.
fully surrendered himself to suffer the penal
ty of the law. This was part of the pro.
gramme which he coveted as much as the
| other performance. He wanted to "suffer for
. righteousness sake" and thus go to heaven a.
a reward for obeying the command of God.
He was Immediately arrested; the Grand Ju
ry found a bill of indictment against him o
murder in the first degree, and he was brough
4 before the full bench of Supreme Court an.
arraigned for trial. When the clerk read th,
Indictment to him, and, at its conclusion, re
quired him to say whether he plead guilty o
not guilty to the charge, with clear voice an,
an honest face, he responded,- d,--@.uurYi
The Judges, believing that the man was NOR
of monomaniac than base murderer, di
not wish him to put in that plea, but desire
that he should plead not guilty, in order tina
the jury might bring in such a verdict q
would authorize the Court to pronounce
sentence OF perpetual confinement, rathe
J, than that of death, which as the law the
was, could be obviated only by Executive pal
don that would not be safe in his case. An
: so the Chief Justice said to him, that he wa
not bound to plead guilty to the charge; taa
was thing for the Government to prove; anG
he earnestly advised him to withdraw tn
plea be had made, and, instead thereof, pu
." in the plea of Not Guilty. @WhatP exclaim
ed the prisoner, MeCausland, would tn
: Honorable Justice of the Supreme Court o
Massachusetts advise me to lie to their Honors
. ssd kill the woman; meant to kill her;
!, nm, ouitv. and want to suffer the penalty
What could the Court dop They could nc
II feel it rAsir duty to order him hung; and al
'd ter consultation, directed the Sheriff to tax
the prisoner to the jail whence he came an
leave him there to assqit his sentence. An
:. there he staid in that murdsrer's cell a,oai
ing sentence from Oct. 20, 1894 to Aug. %, 1872
: period which, with years confinement b.
fore trial wanted only two months of thirt,
sic gears, when death released him fro,
a prison that had so long been his solitaI
home, and from world whose bright sun an
green fields he had not seen for more than on
third of a century. rr .s-.
AS often as the Court sat during all th,