The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1869-04-27


s4As S - 3 Hseifs s
Count TolsboPs sSevastopool n May'
In course OF publication in Hours at
Home, gives very remarkable dssczip.
ton of the death of man who WAS in
stantly killed-as the living say instant
" killed-by piece Of shell which
strikes him. But to him, the dying man
his death seems . different affair. This
surely is extremely powerful writing: :
Michailof looked behind him. The
shining point of the bomb, seemed to
stand at the zenith-in that position
| where it is impossible to tell its direc
ton. But that lasted only . minute
the bomb came nearer and nearer, 20
that you could see the fatal sparks from
the tube and hear the fatal whistltng.
and directed its course straight as the
middle of the battalion.
Lie down cried a voice. ztasws a
Michailof and Praskukin lay down on
the ground. Praskukin, tightly closing
his eyes, heard only how the bomb fell
heavily somewhere very near on the
hard ground. A second passed-it
seemed an hour-and the bomb did not
burst. Praskukin began to be afraid
that he had done a cowardly act without
any reason, that perhaps the bomb had
fallen far away, and that he only thought
he heard the fuse Sizing. He opened
his eyes and saw with satisfaction that
Michailof lay immovable on the ground
nc ar his legs. But his eyes at that mo-
ment met the sparkling fuse of the whirl-
ing bomb not yard from him. A hor
ror-cold horror excluding all other
thoughts took possession of him. He
covered his face with his hands. e
Another second passed--a second in
which a whole world of feelings,
thoughts, hopes and recollections pass.
ed through his mind. 't4s s.A si7-
Whom will it kill, me or Michailof..
or both together If it hits me, where
Twill it hit in the head, then It's all
over; If it hits my leg, they will cut it
off, and I shall ask them to do il by all
means with chloroform--and I can still
get through alive. But perhaps it will
only kill Michailof--then I can tell how
we were walking together, and he was
killed and was spattered with blood.
No; its nearer to met will kill me )!
Then he recollected the twelve rubles
that he owed Michailof; he recollected
also another debt at Petersburg that he
ought to have paid long ago; gypsy
air that he had sung in the evening came
into his head. The girl whom he loved
appeared to his imagination in cap
with lilac ribbons; he remembered a
man whom he had insulted years before
and who had never paid it back, al
though at the same time with these and
q thousand other remembrances, the
feeling of his present circumstance
the expectation of death-neyer for
moment quilted him. However, per-
- ,ot hn rht nd
with despairing decision wanted to open
his eyes But at that instant, through
the still shut lids, he saw red fire, and
with horrible noise something hit him
in the middle of the breast.
Thank God am only bruised was
his first thought, and he wanted to feel
of his breast, but his hands seemed to
be bound down, and weight TO keep
down his head. The soldiers shone in
his eyes and he unconsciously counted
them one, two, three soldiers, and
that one whose overcoat has slipped
down is an officer he thought. Then
he saw flashes, and he thought what are
they firing from, mortars or cannon
They are firing again, and there are
more soldiers, five, six, seven soldiers,
and they all go pact He all at once
became afraid that they would leave him
| there. He, wanted to cry out that he
was wounded, but his mouth was 30 dry
that his tongue stuck to his palate, and
a horrible thirst tormented him. He
felt how wet he was about the breast.
Really I. fell into some blood whom
lay down. he thought, and yielding
more and more to the fear that the sol
diers who were going past would leave
him there, he collected all his forces and
tried to cry out: Take me along;' but
instead of that he groaned so horribly
| that it was awful to hear his own voice.
Then some red fires danced in his eyes,
and it seemed to him that the soldiers
were laying stones on him; the fires
danced quicker and quicker the stones
which they laid on him oppressed him
more and more. He made an effort to
throw off the stones, stretched out, and
then neither saw nor heard, nor thought
nor felt. He was killed on the spot by
a fragment of shell in the middle OF his
breast.
| MorL Two;n m &ha DaosAo = Rasfar~ry