Litchfield enquirer., 1872-07-18

rayless. $. My wife, blessed angel of mercy, has come, and tells me she will stay by my side, and that she loves me and trusts me as much as ever And yet-and yet how can permit it2 What terrible ruin have | brought npon her, deeply as love heS. How have bIghted all her hopes; dashed to the earth her cup of happiness; and shall Ianow suffer lerstoadrag out hen life in tness prison wails,, for and with me? No! no! She must leave me to my despair. have brought it upon myself, and none should share it with me- Oh, that could diei Oh, that had died ere this dreadful day! Yes, ere I committed such sin, and thus dishonered God and brought such utter wretchedness on my family, my friends, and myself.
 April 24. She will not leave, and it is we'll perhaps that she will not, for naught but her presence keeps me from madness; yet might better be a maniac, than her health and life be the penalty of her de- yotipn. r..-t--zs .-.
 June 16. I have been brought to the grave, and though mercifully preserved by delirium from the consciousness of suffering, my piteous wailings, for death to release me from my agony, almost broke z the heart of my poor wife. During this time my friends have been untiring in their efforts to procure my pardon They succeeded in arranging with my creditors for their claims, and they have been plead ing, with the governors general for con- ditional pardon, but thus far without ef- feet He insists that must be made an example. Ohi God! can nothing but my death on the gallows appease the majesty of the law? To-day my aged mother and my devoted wife have gone once more to make 8 last, earnest and urgent appeal, T hardly dare hope for their success.
 June IS. God gave power to their pleadings. My wife returned last night almost frantie with joy, and completely worn-out with excitement. The governor general, she says, at first endeavored to that as deeply as he sympathized with them, he could not interfere; the law must take it's course. Bnt they were not repulsed. My mother insisted on an in- terview, and with tears streaming from her face and her feeble frame shaking with agony, plead for her frst-born, re- minded him of his mothers love, and sought to make him change his purpose; he was evidently distressed, but still re- mained firm. He had refused to see my wife, probably fearing that her pleas might be too strong for him to resist, but his wife with her womans heart could not witness such suffering as my poor Louise manifested. unmoved, and taking her arm within her own, brought her into the gov ernor's presence, in direct violation of his commands At first he drowned ill anger, i and they feared that all was lost, but at length the eloquence of my wifes plea for her husbands life-a plea in which she 1 seemed to have received superhuman aid, moved him to tears, and his own wife joining her in pleading for me, lie yielded so far as to consent to my being set free, 1 if I would never return to Canada. I hardly dared indulge the least hope of 1 this, and the transition from despair to hope has completely prostrated me. We'll, I life is sweet, and though it must be in ex- 1 ile, far from the home of my childhood, yet, if may but live in freedom, I may be able to regain by years of penitent and honest living the position in society have 1 forfeited. s8
 July l, 1888. Escaped last week to g., N. Y., and, under an assumed name, have obtained employment in a grocery store. No matter. An honest livelihood, however humble, is preferable l to dependence and debt. -.-..
 1 July 31st. Have been getting along very pleasantly here. suiting my employer, come to me, when, this morning, took up an S. newspaper, and found the following cruel paragraph: ''We cut from the Canadian Gazette the following. We l think the young man is in a store, not a 1 thousand miles from G. street:
 "The consummate scoundrel and hypo- succeeded in bribing justice and eluding punishment has, we understand, made his escape to S., N. Y., and Is employed there under an assumed name in grocery store. We are sorry the gallows is robbed of it's due, but we advise our S--f friends to look ont for him, for greater villain never went unhung.'" ~
 l had hardly read this when my en- 1 ployer came in. Henry" said he, s'does that paragraph in the paper mean you?'' 'I suppose 1t does, ? said, utterly over- whelmed at the question. ''Wel then, J he replied, you will havet to leave here; I'll have no jail-bird on my premises" ''But, '' I urged, almost in despair, '1 am not the hypocrite or scoundrel that paper calls me. Give me chance for an honest life. y "I can't do it-should lose my business if F did, was his reply. ''Here, " he added, tossing me five dollar gold piece, ''take that and clear out. 1 don't know how much you have stolen from me already" My wages due were over thirty dollars, | as had drawn nothing and was hired at thirty five dollars per month, but this pal | try five dollars was all he would give me, and I started on foot for Albany, with no acquaintance or character.
 | Poor James met with similar treatment at Albany and at one or two of the towns on the Hudson. At1ength he found em- ployment in New York, and fortune for a little time seemed propitious. Humble, industrious, prompt, and careful, he sue. ceeded in winning his way to the affections and regard of house in the wholesale trade, and finally ventured to send for his devoted wife. Gladly did she come to him, and as gladly was she welcomed. | Would space permit, we would willingly copy the passages of the journal, which describe this meeting. It required the hand of master to portray the loving fidelity and outgushing affection of the wife, the tenderness and love, mingled with pride and gratitude, of the husband, so admirably as it is done in this little notebook. But their happiness was oi short duration. The devoted wife, whose constitution had been undermined by hel voluntary imprisonment and anxiety fol her husband, soon sank under that deadly
 disease, consumption, and James, when
 he closed the eyes whose last look was one
 of the purest and deepest affection for him. felt that he had lost all that made life en
 durable. To add to his distress, his en- ployers failed, and all of his little gains,
 which he had deposited with them foi
 safe keeping, were swept away in the
 wreck. When the poignancy of his griei
 at the loss of his wife was a. little abated
 he again sought employment. and found
 it; but the enemies, who had SO often be. 1 fore annoyed him, were on his track, and
 again and again deprived him of situa
 tion. Once she went to the West Indies
 and obtained a good place as an account
 ant there, when he was thrown out of il l by reports sent from Canada and thi.