Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1873-10-04
WHOLE No. g,gss.

to obtain spark from them, when one
) yillager, then another arrived in
breathless haste When the ferry
mans lantern was casting a sickly
gleam on the wounded father. and the
K daughter bending over him, the num-
Der of those awakened from their first
\ sleep had increased to eight, three of
/ them shivering, anxious, inquisitive,
sympathetic women, ready to offer as
4 slstanee, or get wet through, or specu-
late upon the motives of the crime, as
circumstances might occur.
II Jacob Wisford was laid upon his
bed IN the ferry-hOuse ut last; an old
lamp, half filed with oil, was diseov-
cred on the mantle piece, and lighted /;
the men and women came into the
room, increased as if By magic, filed
the little hut, glared over each others
4 shoulders in the doorway. The rob
bers had been busy, and old Jacob
.Wisford had evidently fought hard
before receiving his death-blOw. The
table and chairs were overturned, n
sideboard in one corner had been
cleared Of its freight of glass ~and
croekery, and the fragments strewn
about the floor; the contents of an
old chest of drawers had been empted,
and every hole and corner had evident
ly been ransacked in the search for the
! little hoard accumulated BY many years
of misery thrift, but still of honest
labor.
One glance at the old mans face, by
the light of the Oil-lamp held above it,
told of the vanity of human hopes,
and of the heetiBg nature of human
life. A few more minutes and the
world would close with the ferryman,
and all be over There was no need
to break the news to her crouching at
the bedside, and clutching at the old
mans band, as If her grasp could stay
his feetfng soul; child might read
the story imprinted on that face.
He will die 2 she murmured, look
ing up at me.
| nodded my head.
And never know that I am here at
last. OH my God, if he would only
speak once more. r1fsaad
THE money!
Itwas the answer to her prayer-sO
quickly and suddenly answered, with
the eyes distended and the disengaged
hand grasping so wildly at .he air, that
more than one stepped back and
changed color. The woman sprang to
her feet, and bent he- face close to the
murdered mans. 73 aai 81
Fatherl" .r rar. sr
No answer. ..-...,il,r
. Father, it is Jenny come back
VIII you say one word to her? Win
you make some sign2 Your own Jen-
n.y. b,q ,ibiglI
The money They have taken it
do you know them ?" asked.
The old man appeared to understand
me ior he shook his head, and sighed.
| repeated my question and he shook
his head again.
ASK him, sir, for mercy's sake If
he remembers his daughter Jenny
she who broke his heart PIT
at her request l put the question,
and received for answer the old reply:
'sThe money!"
Money had been next his heart for
twenty years; in his dying hour, he
seemed to love that best on all the
earth, and to find it hardest to part
with at last. Butthe woman made one
last heart-rending appeal, and as the
word father escaped her lips third
time, the dying mans eyes lighted up
as with new life, and he made one
with his hand, as if to push
her from him.
Back" a sc m .7oH
mo, Mol" shrieked the woman
Not now; not in the last awful mo-
ment we are ever to meet, on earth or
in heaven-not nowl l have come
hundreds of miles to see you once
again, to ask your mercy, to tell you [
am not so bad: never was SO wholly
and unnatiraliy bad. Ididn't kill the
child; it fell from my arms crossing
the ferry, and the black water swept it
away. 1t was my bitterest curse to
lose it, Heaven hear a guilty woman
witness. You believe it, you will be-
lie" lsi
She stopped, and her arms fell heav-
ly, rigidly to her side Jacob Wisford
was dead to all belief forever Had
he died with the knowledge OF his
innocence of that one aw-
ful crime with which the world had
charged her2 or had he passed from
life to death in ignorance? God knOwsl
He had died peacefully, at least, and
With calm smile on his face that re-
minded those who had known him in
better times of the Jacob Wisford of
I'D days before his daughter stole away
rom him. Did it matter whether, in
hat life, suddenly ended, he knew al?
In the life beyond, do not all the
mysteries of our past humanity vanish
lway, aud all the doubts and cruel
nistrusts roll back from the real?
This is my story, ladies' and gentle
men. | have little more TO say. The
Issassins of Jacob Wisford were traced
md comfortably hanged The money,
! matter of some hundred and twenty
,Ounds, was harder to discover than
he thieves, and passed away no one
,nows whither-no one ever knows
ghere all the money vanishes land
he daughter, Jenny, broke upsudden-
y beneath the shock Of that strange
light, and was buried in Mantle church
ard with the ferryman.-lN. w. Rob
nson' -.
We make the following extract