Smyrna times., 1867-09-04
MISC ELLA n + o u S.
Delaware N eWs.
TIE WAY OF THE TRANsGREssOR

THE WAY OF The IhANSGREoSOh.
Our readers will doubtless remember an
item in our issue of Aug Dist about the sui
eide of one Richard Greenwell at Seaford.-
The Denton, Md, Union gives the following
account of this desperate man:
Quite number of our readers are acquaint-
ed with this man, Greenwell, he having sold
beef in this market several years ago. He was
also known here as one of the men implicated
in the torcible entrance into the jail OF this
place, and the taking therefrOm one James
Wilson, (negrO,) who was arrested, imprison-
ed and awaiting trial for the murder of little
girl in this county, and hung In the rear of the
jail yard. Alter he was hung, shot, aud throat
cut, this same man, Greenwel, cut and carved
him as though he were a beet and then roast
ed and burned to ashes the pieces. lie reserv-
ed the right hand of the negro and carried it
home to Delaware with him, in which State he
then resided.
But what a change has taken place since
that Saturday night. Since then the fearful
| judgments Of the Almighty seem to have visit
ed him on all occasions. About a year after
this transaction he lost his wife by the most
agonizing of deaths-that of burning. Since the
death of his wife, Greenwell lost his ght hand
| by the cars passing over it and crushing it
/ On several occasions he came near losing his
| life by being thrown from his carriage, and
two or three times was taken up as dead Fl
nally, on Thursday, the 18th inst, he remark
ed to some one that God Almighty would
not kill him and he would go and drown him
self" which he did and put an end to his ex
istence.
He was an Englishman by birth, and wa
said to be desperate character before emigrat
ing to this country. He was an infdel-diC
not believe in God, or in future state of ex
istence He would stand up with an open Bl
Bile in his hand and curse the God that made
him-contend that blind chance formed tn
world, and fixed the planets in their spheres
Awful indeed, has been his end, and fearfu
must be the responsibility that meets him i
. that unknown future.
. ESCAPE OF A CRIMINAL.
We noticed some time ago the escape an
r re arrest of George johnson, who it will be re
5 membered was sentenced to death by q coul
IS martial for murder and desertion to the en-,
u nv. and whose sentence A. j. commuted
Imprisonment for life at Fort Delaware. Ii
former escape was very ingeniously planned.
,. He has again escaped, and this time his pai
d indicate more than ingenuity ; an actual genil
'r for this kind of work.
Sometime ago johnson, who writes a goC
f hand, commenced writing a series of lette
apparently from young lady of this city to
w alter Leon, q OergeaHb dL HOIC OCldWdle.
:, The fictitious young lady represented that S
60 60 had been at Fort Delaware on an excursion a
. seen Sergeant Leon and had conceived for hi
W a violent passion, that she was a student
le the Wesleyan Female College in this city, W
ed worth $50, 900, and she laid her heart, ha
y and fortune at the feet of the gallant son
us Mars.
ny The Sergeant was delighted, enchanted,
Va was willing to take the boon Providence h
lat bestowed upon him but then he was in the
aay my with no hopes of speedily getting out.
If His fair dulcnea suggested desertion, n;
10 insisted on it, she was not willing to wait,
est was this all, she told the Sergeant that she /
A friend. George johnson, at the Fort VIII
10 he must bring with him when he escaped
The dupe went to johnson and asked hin
J.. he knew the girl Of course johnson V
nd, able to give him the fullest information ab
10 the creature of his imagination, and equally
course it tailed with the assertions in
Young lady's letters. The Sergeant was c
yipced On Saturday night he was Serge
of the Guard and on the same night he
the prisoner were missing. On Sunday mt
inc a raft was found on the Jersey shore.
former in his hasty fight left his letters
hind him, and from them the plot, by wi
the two susceptible young men had been
away was discovered. They were cleari!
Johnsons hand writing, and had even
DDS. mailed in the Fort. the stamps ON them b.
). Of taken from old letters. This the dupe N
Kid seems to have discovered, though the dlsg
was very fimsy in one case, the piece OF e
;nes' lope with the stamp on it having Deen pa
'' on the new envelope.