Sioux City register. [volume] (Sioux City, Iowa) 1858-1871, 1867-03-30

for me = man, fashioned in the image OF
the High God--so much for insuflsrable wo
Alas neither by day nor by night knew
the blessing Of rest any more. During the
former, the creature left me no m"ment
alone; and in the latter l started hourly
fon the dreams Of unut,-rabIe fear to fni
,hr hot trra.h Of the thing upon my face,
and its vast weight an incsr"ale nightmare
that had no power to shake .f- mount bent
eternally upo" my heart
b. Meath the pressure Of torments such as
these the feeble remnant Of the good within
me succumbed. Evil thoughts became my
sole inmates. the darkest and most evil Of
thoughts. The moodiness of all mankind,
wh'ie from the sudden, frequent and ungov-
ernab'e outbarsts Of q fury to which b ind
y abandoned myse {, my uncompIsi"ing
wife, alas was the most usual aud the mos,
patient Of sufferers.
Que day she accompanied me, upon some
household errand. into the cellar Of the old
building which our poverty compelled Us to
inhabit The cat followij pe down the
steep stairs, aud, nearly thro<'ng me head
long, sxasperatcd me ~ madness. Uplifting
u" axe, aud forgetting, in my wrath, the
childish dread which b d hitherto stayed my
hand, | aimed blow at the \ imal, which,
Of course, would have proved Instantly fatal
had II descended as | wished. But this blow
was arrested by the hand Of my wfe. Go.d-
ed, by the interference, int, q rage more
than demonicsl, | withdrew ny ATM from
her grasp and buried the axe IN her brain
She tell dead upon the spot, wi bout u groan
TINS hideous murder accomplished, | set
myself forthwith, and with entire deiberation,
t. the task OF conc-sIlng 'h- body. knew
that could not remove II from the house,
either By dao or BY night, withou, the risk OF
being observed by the n~'gbbor-. Many
prof -cts entered my mind At one p-riod |
'heukhs OF cutting the corps into minute
traemen,s, and d-.tro, ing hem ny fire. At
another resolved to dig grave for it in
The 4 ,or OF the cellar Again. deIib-rated
aoou, casting it in the we'll in the yard
| abont packing il in u box, as # m-rch .ndize,
with the usual arrangements and so getting
| a port to take it from the house. Finally
| h,t up n what consid-ret q tar better ex
pedient than either OF these determined
to wall i, up in the celar-ss the monks Of
The middle ages are record i to have wal ed
up their victims
For a purpose such as this the cellar was
we'll adapted It's walls were loosely con-
st. ucted. and bad lately been p'as,ered
throughout with a rough plaster, which the
damp,ess Of The a'mos phe'e had prevented
from hardening. Moreover, N one OF the
wallis ~as a protection. eau ed hy false
chimney, OF FIRE place, that had been al ed
up, and made t. r-senble the rest OF the
cellar. ! made no doubt tha, | could read
lily di>place The bricks nt this point. inse,t
the corpse, aid wal the hole up as before,
| so that no eye could detect anything sus-
picious.
And IN this ca'cuati was not deceived
By means Of u crow bar | easily tisludRed
The bricks, and, having carefully deposited
he body against the iuner wal. ! re laid The
whole structure Is it originally stood. Hav,
ing procured mortar, sand and hair, with
every Possible precau,ion, prepared a plss-
ter which cou.d not be distinguished from
the old, and with this l very carefully went
over the new brick work. When had fin-
ished, felt satisfied that all IVES right. The
Wall did TO, presen, the slishtes, appearance
Of having been disturbed. The rubbish on
the aoor was picked up with the minute st
care. | looked around ,rnmphantly, and
said to "y-elf-" Here a, least, then. my
labor has not been in vain
My "ext step TO look for the beast
which had been the cause Of so much
! Il
resolved 10 tut it to death. Had been atl-
to meet with 1t, a, The moment, there could
have been no doub, Of its fate; bat it appear
ed that the crafty animal had been alarmed
at the violence Of my previous anger, and
forbore 10 present itself in my Iresen, mood
1t is impossible to describe, or to imag ne
the deep, the blisstuI sense Of relief which
the ab>ense of the de,es,.d creature occa-
l.,
appearance during the night-and thus for
one night at least. since its introduction into
the house, l soundly and tranqully slept ;
aye, slept even with the bur.en Of murder
upon my sui.
The srcood AID the third day passed. and
still my t,rment"r came not Once again |
Dr. shed AS freeman. The monster, in
t'rror, had hed the premises forever. |
n uld behold it no more Ny happiness
was -upreme. TIE guilt of my dark d, ed
disturbed me but little. Some few inquiries
had b, en- made, but these had been readily
answered Even a search had been inst
,uted-but Of course nothing hal been dis
covered l looked upon my future felicity
rs secured.
Upon the fourth day Of the assassination.
party OF the police came, very uns xpecs-
edlv, in,o the house, and proceeded again to
make rigorous invesiigotion ofre premises
Secure, howeser, 10 the iascru,abili'y of my
place Of eoncealm-nt, | felt no embarrass
ment whatever. Tie officers bate me ac
company them in their search. They lef, no
nook or corner unexplored. At length, Tor
The third or fourth time, they decended into
the cellar. | quivered not y muscle. My
heart b-a. calmly as one who slumbers II"
innocence. | walked the cellar from end to
end. folded my arms upon my bosom, aud
r,an'.d easily 10 aud fro. The police We're
thoroughly satisfied and prepared t" depart.
be glee at my he'rt was to- strong TO be
rss,rained. burned to say. ii but Que word.
by way Of triumph, aud to render doubly
sure their assurance OF nv gu'hlessness.
"Gen,le lemen,' | said at last, as the party
ssce, d.d the steps, :" ! delight to have sllay
ed your suspicious. l wish you sll health,
end q little moro courtesy Bye the bye.
gentlemen, this this ia a very well con.
1t, ,uc,ed house In The rnbid desire to say
something easily, | scarcely knew what J
uttered ~t all II may say an excelen'ly
well constructed house These walls are
you going, GENT. me.?- these walls are solid
tv put together aud here, through the mere
phrenzy # bravado, l raped ea.'ly, with n
cane which held in my hand, npon 'ha,
very portion ut the brick work b, hind which
s,nrd the corpse Of the wife Of my bosom.
But may God shiaid and deliver me from
the tsnys OF thu Arch-Fiend. No sooner
had the severherat;on G: ny blows sunk in:s
silence, than | WAS answered by vsice from
within the tomb-oy = cry. 1T FIRST muffle
and broken like the sobbing Of child, and
then quickly swelling into one lorg, loud and
continuous scream, utterly anomalous and
inhuman-a howl-a waiting sh,iek, half ol