Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-03-29

intervals, a pretendedly belated citizen
inquiring whether certain person
whose name he would mention, LIVED
there, would make known his presence
at the door by rapping. When the dool
was opened-and ID was always opened
by the old woman, unless that person
were absent, and in this case it was mo-
opened at all-the inquirer, while asking
his questions, would seek by peering into
the room to gain some insight into the
strangers mode of life, and would retire
at the close of the interview disap
pointed. Then, again, small boys play
ing in the street would toss ball ovei
into-the yard, and would plead to be
admitted for the purpose of regainine
it; and little girls, carefully instructed
by their parents, would call timidly
through the keyhole, begging the gift Of
flowers, of which many kinds grew in
the yard. But all these attempts proved
unsatisfactory, for the reason that the
requests were always attended to, OIL
refused, as the case might have been, by
the attendant, who never permitted q
strangers foot to cross the threshold Of
her employer retreat. And in this way
was it that the confning days rolled into
weeks, and the weeks into months, unit
that fatal night supervened wherein the
soil was ripe for the planting of the Tree
and the doom Of the Traitor was accom-
plished.
The month was February-at least SC
goes the chronicle. The night was one
of the stormiest known in the annals OF
the city's history. The nine clock gun
had long been fred, the guard upon the
streets had been set, and the people, re.
firing from the fierce blasts of wind and
rain, had sought their houses. Dismally
walled the wind around sharp corners
and the rain fell upon the roofs with a
sound of melancholy import. The noise
of the storm was broken into only by the
creaking of rusty signs and the monoto-
nous calls of the gnafd as they pro
claimed the passing hours, II was such
highland there are those yet living
who remember it-as might well have
been chosen for the incarnation OF
witches, or a night wherein dark and
damnable crime might have been con-
ceived and committed. The very heavens,
as it were, put on mourning for the time
and the hour, and the elements grew un-
ruly in their prologue to the drama OF
pain and suffering which was upon the
point of enactment. .ftH
1t was hard upon twelve o'clock. And
as the great bell of the Cathedral clock
struck the hour of midnight, q large
yawl, containing fifteen or twenty meh,
emerged from the darkness of the river,
drew up to the wharf in front of the
Place de Armes, and was made fast to
the piers. From this boat band rapidly
disembarked, forming themselves in mil
itary order upon the leFee. In minute
more word of command is given, and
the band is In motion, approaching the
Cathedral, with a regularity and precision
of step which dennta .ae lie discipline Of
soldiers We can imagine that no man,
on that eventfpl night, witnessed the
spectacle of this advancing band. Indeed
it is on record that no man did observe
their progress, although the sound of
their footsteps, and the c,anking of their
weapons, crept through the walls of
houses, and became mysteriously audible
to their half.sleeping occupants. Itneeds
no stretch of fancy to picture the sloth-
full guard at this hour, shrinking from
the tempest crouched in alley-ways or
slumbering I'M forbidden places, and ig-
norant of this strange irruption of dark,
foreign-looking men, clad in an unfa-
miliar garh and armed with alittering
swords, whereof the scabbards rattle as
they walk, passing swiftly beside the
Cathedral and making their way up st.
Anne street, until they had reached Royal
street AS they cross the street, the
swinging lamp, suspended by a rope from
its gallows-looking frame, brings the
party into bold relief They have the
look and bearing either of Turks or of
buccaneers. Upon their heads are fez
caps, each furnished with a scarlet tassel,
and their wide, baggy trowsers are thrust
into their boots. Their faces are hard
fixed in expression and swarthy in hue
such a hue as might possibly have
come from the influence of tropical suns,
or which is given to men in their birth
on the shores of the Golden Horn. At
their head strides one who is evidently
their leader. He is tall and slender, and
the tassel Of his cap is gold.
The band has progressed up Royal
street until it reaches a cross street.-the
street upon which the stranger lives, and
where he sleeps beneath the roof a the
ancient dwelling. AT this street the
band, at the quick, low tones of COM
mand Of the leader, turns 10 the right,
marching in the direction Of the house.
The rattle Of scabbards accompanies the
movements of those who compose it,
reaching the ears Of other uneasy sleep
ers, and lamp after lamp sheds its dis
NAL light upon them as they near the
house wherein slumbers the victim of
their wrath. They reach the house finally
and are ranged in front of il. The oncu-
pant is called upon to open the door.
when, in response 10 this demand, the
door is opened, the leader, followed by a
detachment, enters. The party that has
entered the house remains in II for ten
minutes or more. There are confused
sounds within the house. ss seoFds cross
ing in deadly combat and Of struggle
for life and death. Then all grows silent
again, and the party emerses oace more
into the street The band, at awOrd from
the leader, retraees its steps, and the
march is taken up once more under the