Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1868-10-23
WHOLE NO. 474.
A DYING MANS Confession.

Give me some wine, James, / am get
ting wrsls"
Thebld servant filled n vino glass
and handed It to his dying master,
who quailed j.'sevsrlshly, and then
fell back upon his pillow with II long,
shuddcring moan.
"If the morning, would come = If
the morning would oniytconre pc
'"Try to sleep, Mr.. Errold,p said the
attendant, soothingly.
"Slccp" gaspcd The sick man. "I'
shall never know sleephgahiupon the
earth. l am dying, Jamts,, ana my
conscience will keep Iiit awake until
death speaks to my soul. How dark
1t is! Turn up the light--I-I--can't
see your face, Mere!. Nowsittlown
beside me; but first give me more
wine; l will need strength. ! am
goirg to ysiake confession. / am
going 10 tel you the dark secret whose
horror has never left me by night or
day for thirty-flve years"
The bright, soft light of the astral
lamp fell upon John Errold's face,
fully rcvcaling.to the frightened gaze
of the servant the awful anguish of
the white, trembling lips, the unnat-
urel glare of the eyes, and the quick,
fierce dilating of t1icnbstr.is.,
~ sold my soul to the devil for
gold--dO you hear, man? There is
blood upon my hands, innocent blood,
the-blOod of n little child-my baby
brother-I murdered him just thirty
five years ago tonight"
"You are raving," said the old man,
trembling; "thirty-five years ago you
were G childyourself."
$50 T was, James-so / was, n boy
Of ten years, but not less a murderer.
Listen am not, as you know, an
American.by birth, but an English
man. Twas at Newcastlc-upon-Tyne.
My mother died in giving me birth -
Eight years aftcrmy father took sec
ond wife, a young East Indian heir
ess, daughter of the famous Col. D.,
of the --th regiment. She was an
orphan her fortune was at her own
disposal she was the sole inhciritrix
of sixty thousand pounds. When
my father died, which he did in a year
after the marriage, my young step
mother fell in rapid decline, brought
on by the violence of her grief. In
three months after my fathers death,
she, too, was ut rest. Her will be-
queathod her entire fortune with the
exception of five thousand pounds to
myself, and five to her only living re-
lative, a cousin, n barrister in Len
don, to her infant son, Percy; in the
event of whose death the bulk of for
tune was to be divided equally be-
tween tho aforesaid cousin and my
self. Our appointed guardian wasa
Doctor N, q famous London divine,
to whose home Percy and I were re-
moved in q few weeks after the de-
cease of my stcp-mother.
"James, was accursed with a pre-
cOcions mind. At ten years of age /
was not child, but brooding,
dreamy man-with all ofman's long
ing forpower and riches-all of mans
innate, intense ambition for honor
and fame. l held aloof from COM
panions suited to my age, prefcrring
rather the society of grave, elderly
men, and read the works of Rossea,i,
Montcsguicu, Hume and other pro-
found and dangerous writers, with an
eagerncss and understanding which
seems almost incredible to me now as
| look back upon that period of my
life, which was childhood in nought
save years.
"After my stcp.mother's death, I
brooded incessantly upon the thought,
that were II not for her siclSly, or
phaned babe, should bc the inhcri-
tor of a splendid fortune; and I grew
at last to hate the little creature who
stood between me and the wealth for
which felt an embryo miser's long
ing.
"I told you that I was accurscd with
a procoious mind aye, and with an
evil nature-a nature wholly devoid
of nobility, and eculiarly susceptible
to every species of temptation.
"Onc night satan entered into my
soul; swift, silent and strong his evil
power thrilled through my veins
My little brother was i'm my arms, q
rare occurrence, for the child feared
and dislikcd me, hut this night our
gurdians's wife had requested me to
carry him up stairs 10 his nurse,
which request / was obeying at the
time.
"At the head of the staircase
paused and looked down. During
my ascent had been thinking, think
ing, think ng.
"Twenty high steps lay beneath
me-solid marble.
at was very dark; the lamps had
not yet been lit in the halls. No one
was near. The child clung to me In
fear; his little arms were clasped
tightly around my neck, his baby
face buried upon my shoulder.
"What followed then? L unloosed
his-I held him over the stone stair
case, and simultaneous with his
shrek of terror, dashed him down
the steps; his little body rolled, rolled,
rolled, and fell with n sickcning thud
upon the lower landing.
"a frcnzicd horror and remorse
came over mc-my brain whirlcd-
my limbs refused TO support my
body; ono awful scream issued from
my lips, and then consciousness for
sock me. The awakening Of that
swoon was the beginning Of the tor
tured, haunting life, which has been
mine ever since. From the moment
in which I said Il tripped and fell,
and he SLIPPED from my arms, my
young sonl-shuddering ut the CHASTITY
lie, took up its burden of guilt aud re-.
morse, aud turned away from the
bitterness Of the world into u dark
ncss self-crcated and hopeless ~ des-
pair itself.
"Attwcnty-llve years of age left
England, aud came to America with
the ill-goiten gains which became
mine upon attaining my majority.
~ hoped in the change from the Old
to the New World, 20 find IA pleasure
and excitement which might serve IL
deaden the rcmorse which gnawcd
incessanty at my heart.
'ln vain! The awful shadow OF
guilt fell across my footsteps; lot me