The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1869-07-01
a STRANGE STORY.

Our readers must remember what a thrill
of horror pervadcd the community one bright
morning in the autumn of 1862. The night
previous a storm had swept over the coun-
try, making houses shake to their fcunda-
tions, and deluging the earth until roads be-
came rivers and rills expanded into torrents.
In the early edge of the right the evening
train from the city had thundered into Fish
kill-on-the-Hudson, and cut again, leaving.
among others, one passenger, who, without
word or sign, struck off into pathway lead
ing up among the hills.
1hls person was young man of fine ap-
pearance, not more than twenty-six years of
age, dressed with scrupulous elegance. His
elastic step betokened vigorous health, and
his half-smiiing face indicated both miud
and heart at ease. And why should they
not he at ease, when one was waiting for
him by the parlor window of the mansion on
the hill, whose love it was worth a dukedom
to possess? She. a beautiful, noble woman,
was his affianced +; and that night, SO threat
enlng IN its elemental war, was one of sweet
contentment of soul-it was to name the
moment of their marriage.
Ere the young man had fairly disappeared
under the deep shadows of the trees which
overhung the hillside path, the storm burst.
The wind !ashed the trees with demnniac
fury, and the leaves few in binding clouds.
filling all the air. Then the rain came down.
h.lIns up all the pauses Of the storm with a
roar like the booming of the sea. The young
man staggered before the blast, but kept on
on, up the path now become a rivulet's
bed-on, beneath the swayiag branches of
the elms and past the evergreens, which in
tie cense darkness, served to indicate the
wRy-on-
A second form glides from the evergreen
just passed, glitter of STEEL quick, single
stroke in the back, and the young man falls
forward on his face, his dear heart pierced
and the pulses stlled in an instant. Not a
word, look, or groan il was death instant
aneous, unannounced, catching on the lips
the sweet smile that stayed there as if to tell
her what was his last tn ught
Oh, 1t was pitiful-the form so full Of life
and grace destroyed at a stroke! And there
all through the dismal night, the beautiful
face pressed to the wet earth, all that was
mortai of young Mr.. Embury lay, while
she watched from the window locking down
The road for the coming of one who was
never more to come.
What night-watch it was! Where was
heE Surely. neither tempest or rain could
%''''S 90 "a ftC1 ItSl. NltRCl VIII love. nor
could they have stayed his. What could
have happeued? The demons in the air
shrieked and moaned at the threshold: the
lights, one by one, went out, and the sad
watcher went sobbing to couch to which
sleep would not come
A early day the dreadful tragedy was re-
Vealed. passer-by discovered the body,
still lying on its face as it fell, not drop Of
blood visible Tor wound or injury percepIi-
BILE. So calm was the face, 50 undsturbel
the dress, so seemingly unviolated the per-
son, that the amazed beholder could hardly
believe he stood in the presence of DEATH
But the pulses were still, the body stiff and
cold, and the hight IF that early autumn dav
shone only upon what was dead-dead in
deed
The alarm was given; the servants of the
mansion were aroused BY the cry "A dead
man lies in the path below - and with
blanched faces they FASTENED to the spot.
A dead man! Who was he?
A cry burst from their lips: at is the
dear fellow for whose coming we waited!''
Tears were shed. not for the dead alone.
but for the living. for what now would be
the world to the beautiful girl who loved so
well Who would bear the tidings All,
all shrank from that! and the messenger
was the cold body itself, borne by gentle
hands up the pathway into that room where
loves tryst was to have been kent.
Over what followed we drop the VEIL
Who killed young Embury?
What was the motive for the monstrous
deed
These were the questions upon all lips.
but no answer could be made. Even sur
mise seemed baffled. He had no enemies.
His character had been siDgularly pure
The vices which curse so many young mems
lives-stain so many naturally noble natures
had not defled him. Nor had he known
rival for the hand of the lady of his choice.
If such rival existed he was unacknowl-
edged, unbetrayed. Yet there lay the dead
to testify that an enemy did live, who, i'm
PEELED by hate or revenge alone, had done
the bastard deed.
The spot where the crime was committed
revealed not trace Of another's presence
the storm had obliterated every footprint.
NO stranger had bcen soen to come or go to
whom suspicion could be attached. In the
Vinage ana vicinity every man, woman and
chllu were Known, and not one could be re-
garded distrustfully. The detectives. quick
ly on the alert, exercised their Subtlest skill
to penetrate the mystery, and failed utterly.
SO the deed, from being a seven davs,
wonder, passed into memory. Never a
trace of the criminal was discovered. So far
rs the public knew. and young Emburv silent
IN Greenwood nnavenged
This community experienced a second
thrill when. after the lapse of few years,
romance" commenced its serial publica-
tion, which, from its initial paragraph be-
trayed knowledge of the crime and attend
ant circumstances that at once arrested at
tention. 1t seemed like a flash of lightning
across dark sky, bringing out faces and
acts with viyidness at once startling and in-