Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1871-03-02

The Death Warrant.
"The last fatal hour has GOMEZ .D6 Z

) nunS neaVlly on the mountain Top,
above the village of Redcliff, but
the roads which led towards ii
were crowded with the varied
population of the surrounding
country, from far and near.
The village itself was crowded
to overHowing long before the sun
had gained sufficient altitude TO
throw its rays upon the deep val.
ley in which it lay. There the
bar of the inn was crowded, and
the fumes of tobacco and whisky,
the jingling of small change, and
the perpetual clamor of the throng
was sufficient to rack a brain of
common flexibiIity. In the street
there was a greeting of old and
long-parted acquaintanees; the.
bartsring of horses; the settling
of old accounts, the buffooning Of
half intoxicated men; the clatter-
ling of women I; the crying and hal
looing of children and boys, and
barking and quarrelIing of stran7
gers dogs. To look upon the
scene, to mingle with the crowd,
to listen to the conversation, or to
survey the countenances of the
assembled multitude, led 10 no
satisfactory solution of the cause
ltor which this mass of heterogene.
GUS matter was congregated.
Within the. walls of the old
stone Jail at the foot of the noun
tain, a different scene had been
that morning witnessed. There,
chained to q stake in the miser-
able dungeon, damp and scarcely
Illuminated by one ray of light,
now lay the emaciated form of
one whose final doom seemed near
at hand. A few hours before, bis
wife and little daughter had trav-
elled a hundred miles to meet him
once more on the threshold Of the
grave; they met and from that
gloomy vault the song OF praise
ascending sung, and the jailOr as
he listened to the melodious voices
of three persons whom he looked
upon as the most desolate and lost
of all in the wide world, blended
sweetly together, and chanting
the beautiful hymn, -.-.---.-..-
"Itis the Lord ! shosld distrust
Or contradict his will ?''
almost doubling the evidence OF
his senses, and stood fixed in aston.
ishment at the massive door.
Could these he the voice Of a MUIR
derer and murderer's wife and
child z
This brief and to be final inter-
view had passed, however; those
unfortunate ones had loudly COM
mended each other to the keeping
of their heavenly parent, and part
ed; he to the assembled multitude
on the scafFold, and they, as they
said, to return by weary journey
to their sorrowful home the
convict, worn out with sickness
and watching, now slept.
His name was Jason Creel, the
place of residence said to be in
Virginia. He had been taken up
while travelling. from the north
ward to his home, and tried and
convicted at a county town some
miles distant, for the murder of q
tellow-traveler, who had borne
, his company from the lakes and
was ascertained to have large
| sum of money with him, and who
! was found in the room in which
they both slept, at a country Inn
, near Redcliff with his throat cut.
, Creel had always protested his in
nocence, declaring that the deed
was perpetrated by some one while
he was asleep, but the oircumstsn-
ces were against him, and though
the money was not found about
him. he was sentenced to he hung,
and had been removed to the old
stone Jail at Redclilf for security.
!. the county prison being unsafe.
This was the day the execution
: : was to take place; the crowd
! ! pressed round the building, and
! frequent cries of bring out tbs
murderer were heard. s
; The sun at last told the houl
of eleven, and there could be nc
more delay; the convicts cell wal
entered Ey the officers IN attend
!. ance, who aroused him with the
information that all was ready fol
him without, and bid him haster
|, to his execution, they laid hands
: : upon him and pinioned him tight
" :. while he looked up towards heay
J; en- in mild astonishment, as ons
: new born, andonly said the dream
the dream And what Of tn
! dream, Mr.. Jason 2" said the sher
: iff-,yop would do me a great kind