The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1871-05-26

SAt 4o1SS oSk1Cuitur6 Q1eLrlcI. "A
wealthy farmer was found dead, al
early morning, within one hundred
yards of his own house. He had
been killed by blows administered
by heavy stake, which lay near the
body, covered with blood and all
his pockets had been rifled of their
contents, inclrding a considerable
sum Of money, which he was known
to have received the previous even
ing for some sheep sold by him i'm
the neighboring market town.
When the awe and excitement Gre
ated by this event had subsidized a
little, every exertion was made by
the authorities to ferret out the per-
petrator of the crime. A reward
was offered for the discovery of the
murderer, proclamation of which
bounty was made for several success
sive Sundays at the church door. At
last some disclosures were made, inn
plicating young man named La
roche-a sfripling of eighteen years.
Ion who brought the charge
against young LarOche was man of
the name of Landry-a stranger in
the district, but who had lately been
appointed by the lord of the manor
as one of the keepers of his game
preserves. Landry testified that he
had seen Laroche cutting a stake
from hedge on the afternoon previ-
Gus to the murder, and that he had
reported him for il, and, taking the
stake from him, had stuck it i'm the
bank of the hedge at particular
spot. The stake was the same one
that was found lying near the BODY
of the murdered farmer. Landry
could swear to it, because, after tax
ing it from Laroche, he had nicked
it in peculiar way with his knife.
Now it SO happened that the MUIR
dered farmer had many and influen-
tial friends, while LarOche had but
few. Therefore, Laroche was con-
victed of the murder, and sentenced
to be hanged on a certain day, at a
certain place; until which time he
was placed for safe keeping i'm the
goal of the district-the third floor
of large stone building, the lower
part of which was a mill.
The prison consisted of a single
apartment, lighted Dy one small win
dow at a hight of about sixteen feet
from the floor. The side of the
building from which the window
looked ran sheer down to the water
ola dark and deep river, which crept
lazily by the mill, but quickened its
pace little lower down, until it
gradually became a rushing torrent,
leaping wildly on to its fall over a
perpendicular ledge of rocks. Bod
les carried over that fall were said
never to have been recovered; and
it was fixed notion among the coun-
try people that there was a suctional
force in the whirlpool below, by
which everything falling into it was
carried down into the UNEMPLOYED
abysses of the earth.
1t was the day before that fixed for
the execution of young Laroehe
and the priest of the parish, Father
Allard by name, had been left alone
with the prisoner, in order to prepare
him, by the consolation of religion,
for his approaching doom. To his
words of comfort Laroche listened
with humility, and in silence, until
the good father began to dilate upon
his chances of forgiveness in the next
world for the terrible crime commit
ted by him. Then the prisoner cleo
trified him by declaring his perfect
innocence of that crime-a position
which he meant to maintain, he said,
with his latest breath.
To be brief, the youth of the pris-
Oner, his earnest reservations of in
nocence, and a watering doubt OF
his guilt which had all along troubled
Father Allard's mind, SO wrought
upon the worthy man, that he at last
consented to commit himself to a
plan for giving the prisoner a chance
to escape, if not from death, at least
from the ignominy of dying by the
hands of the accursed hangman.
If die by the gallows, most rev.
crend father" said the young man
"a great sorrow will some day fall
upon all concerned i'm my death
The real murderer is sure to be dis.
covered, sooner or later; and then
shall have been murdered man
and the just retribution of HEAVIER
will pursue my murderers. Aid mt
to escape, rather than risk grea
tain upon your conscience. STAND
.pon this chair, which / place upol
the table, this; and then, by mount
ing upon your shoulder, can reacl
the window, and drop from it."
"But the river below!' #.s|
Il swim like an otter; and, at all,
rate, it is better to be drowned thar
hanged"
Convinced of the young mans in
nocence, Father Allard consented t,
aid him in his escape. A momen
sufficed to carry the plan into execu
ton. The prisoner gained the win
dow, and disappeared.
Parading in struggling way out
side the building, went one of tn,
minor officers of Justice stolit
peasant, vino had been placed Their,
by way of sentry, and who, at THU
moment, happened to he looking to
ward the river wall Of the mill. Hi!
sight nearly left him, as he afterwart
stated, when he saw a man drop from
the goal window, strike on TO plat
form that protruded from doorway
in the second story, and reboundins
from that fall into the water with 8
heavy plunge, reappearing at intes.
yals, until he was carried into the
rapids below.
The alarm was at once given
Yelling officials rushed to the prison
door, when they found Father AL.
lard alone seated OH the chair, pale,
and as if just recovering from the
sight of some supernatural vision.
TO the question put to him, he re-
piled that, as he was administering
the consolation of his holy Office to
the prisoner, a voice sounded through
the apartment, accompanied by the
shadow of mighty pair of wings,
on which the prisoner mounted to
the ceiling OF the apartment and was
no more seen by him. The voice, he
added. proclaimed the prisoner iIfno-
cent. and that the real circumstances
of the murder would soon be made
manifest.
IL was miracle; and the rood
country people, ever ready to accept
that form of interposition, were east
ly persuaded TO do so on the present
occasion.
Meantime, Laroche, when he leap
ed from the window, had forgotten
all about the platform. AS he fell
upon it, he displaced sack of grain,
which splashed into the dark waters
of the river, appearing to the eyes of