Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-10-03

to the shop. / there found two bailiffs
to arrest me asa. prisoner. What shall
| I tell you They accused me Of hav-
/ ing poisoned four persons in the city,
besides my wife,-among them being
the sister of the Judge, who was stern
old Lutheran. They searched my
shop, and from the many adulterated
articles there they drew bad infer
ences against me. The disappear
ance of my clerk, who did not return,
was taken as anotherpr of my guilt.
| In short, | was condemned to be hang
! ed, and the sentence was quickly car
ried into execution. By a privilege
which is not rare, l had fault of con-
formation of which | had never boast
ed, and you may call it fortunate or
unfortunate as YOU choose. My throat
was ossifed, and the rope did not en-
trely stop respiration and that even
ing, when they had delivered me to a
young surgeon, who had bought me,
instead of dead man, he found on his
table only an insensible man. Being
alone, he gave me his best care, on
1 the following night he assisted me to
escape, wishing me better luck.
You see that hurry over this reci-
tai. The recollections that it awakens
| are not Of such nature that l care to
( dwell long upon them. ] was very
grateful and full of Joy ut finding my
self alive and free. With only twelve
forms, which the doctor had given me,
| was not rich; but / was only thirty
six years old. I reached the Rhine and
Obtained passage on coal boat, In re-
! turn for which | was to do some light
work. | went to Holland where every
German is well received, and present
| ing myself to n grocer in Amsterdam,
1 obtained employment in his shop,
where by zeal and activity | soon won
| his good opinion He also adulterated
his merchandise, but he was prudent,
and did not trust so delicate business
| TO clerk, as had done.
| However, ut the end of year | had
| gained his confidence to such an ex-
/ tent that he proposed to initiate me in
! to its mysteries. But l had SO many
reasons for regarding such a custom
with horror, that ] honestly declined,
Mt the same time showing deep repug-
ance to fraud of any kind. Wonderful
to relate, probity, which is too often
neglected in this world, proved for me,
as it always is, an element of success.
And, by the way let me assure you
that this element is not yet worn out
My master, seeing that | was an honest
man, said to me;
! l"Herman (this was the name | had
assumeD, ! now appreciate you fully;
we shall never part : ~ Z tf.
/ He contided the cash-b box to my care,
and at the end of the second year he
made me marry his daughter. She
was very quiet girl, twenty-eight
years of age, and endowed with all
those qualities which distinguish the
women of Holland. Her name was
/ rrudie.
/ | was happy when toward the end of
the third year my patron, who was now
my father.in-law, and of whom | had
become the partner, gave dinner to
his son, Capt Thomas Cromme, who
had Just returned from Batavia. had
never seen him. My wife could not
contain her JOY, for she deeply loved
| her brother. | was much surprised
when, on being presented to Capt.
| Cromme, | recognized the face of an
old acquaintance / concealed my
emotion but the sailor was more frank.
Halo is that you, Prochinet y
/ he cried for he haa twice transacted
! business with me at Lausanne and had
even sold me some very bad tea.
4 | feigned astonishment. His father
| told him that my name was Herman,
and that in me he beheld his brother.
lu-law Thomas Cromme appeared to
/ be convinced. But my voice troubled
I his mind, and my Swiss accent added
I to his perplexity, and it was with a
/ very bad grace that he concented to adj
nit that | was not Prochinet, This
singular incident disturbed my tran
! guilty. The captain remained Il month
| at Amsterdam. He told his sister,
! who repeated it to me, that rescmbled
a grocer OF Lausanne rs nearly as one
drop of water resembles another, and
( that he was surprised to find in Ger
many two persons SO exactly formed
after the same model. / had said that
| was from Strasbourg, and that my
parents were Swiss, which accounted
for my Swiss accent. He asked
questions which put me to the torture.
At last | was relieved to learn that he
had gone.
/ But it appeared that his suspicious
had extended to his family, fer hey
told me that he had returned to- the
Indies, when in reality he had gone TO
Lausanne. The investigation which,
unknown to me, he had made at Stras-
I hourg, had convinced him that [ had
/ told talsohood, and he determined to
know the exact truth.
Arriving ut Lausanne, he learned
that Claude Pochinet had been hanged
n few weeks previous to nv first APP