Rapides gazette. (Alexandria, La.) 1869-187?, 1873-04-12

pillow, and was in the act of lying down
beside bady-not to sleep, as till two
O'Clock, should hope for Arthur-when
sound, awful, wild, unearthly, broke the
stiffness of the dark December night.
1t was a scream from a woman's
voice in dire distress; another followed,
and it came from somewhere within the
house. Not a moment did hesitate.
Springing out of bed, and putting on
only my slippers, happily having kept on
my dressing-gown, l seized up my child,
pausing only to snatch up her little shawl
that lay beside her on the bed, unbarred
my shutter, opened the window, and the
next moment was on the verandah. Ii
needed not a third wild shrek to impel
me to speed beyond what L had ever
dreamt of as possible.
In second or two l was beyond the
gate flying for life, for my own and an
other existence, dearer far, in my arms
clasped tightly to me-fying through the
lanes, past the dreaded hedges, on, STUN
bling now and then, but recovering my
self only to resume my race for life with
greater desperation. Death surely was be-
hind us, but refuge was already loom
ing in front of me. If the pale, piercing
face of the outside watcher overlook me
uOW, WIldI WOulQ Dc ldJCs
God was merciful indeed to me, and
gave me power to proceed in my awful
extremity.
Heavens portals could hardly have been
more rapturously reached than the bar
rack gates, as [ flew inside of them.
saw group of men standing in the door
way, and towards them l rushed, recog-
nizing, to my unutterable thankfulness,
amOnOst them nv hushand
His amazemeDt may be better imagined
than described, as he beheld us; and as
could not do more than point behind me,
| believe poor Arthur must have thought
had gone suddenly raving mad. l only
heard their voices murmuring round
me, and l felt baby lifted out of my
arms, though they told me afterwards
held her so tightly they could scarcely
separate us. The next thing | knew was,
that Arthur had laid me on a sofa in a
bright, warm room, and that we were
safe-Arthur, baby and land together
But the servants! | conveyed to Ar
thur, as coherently as could, the events
of the afternoon and night, and my con-
viction that nothing short of murder had
been committed. In less than five min
utes he was off, with some of the others,
to the cottage, where an awful scene pre-
sented itself to their view as they en-
tered.
In the passage from the kitchen to the
entrance hall lay the dead body of our
unfortunate cook. A blow from some
heavy weapon had actually smashed in
the back Of her head, and life was quite
extinct: our other servant was found in
an insensible state, but, after some time
recovered sufficiently to be able to give
the particulars of the attack, and a de-
scription of their assailant, who proved
to be no other than the monster who had
glared in upon me that very afternoon.
1t seemed that, after had seen that ev-
erything was secure, the servants had
gone out to the coal-house, and during
their temporary absence from the kitchen
door, the ruffian had slipped in, secreted
himself in cupboard in the passage, and
thus been actually locked into the house
with ourselves!
Imagining, it was supposed, that Ar
thur would not return, and knowing that
we had good deal of plate in the house,
he had arranged to begin operations after
all was quiet, and the first scream had
heard had been elected from the unfor.
tunate servants, at whose bedside he sud
denly appeared.
L uc uliSCICdub lidu SUI uCh OOWn thc
cook while she attempted to escape
which, happily for herself, the other Sc ser.
want was too paralysed to do. The
scream had heard as 1 left the house
must have been the last dying one of the
poor cook, whom the murderer had pur
sued and overtaken before she could gaiI
my door, which was, no doubt, the point
to which she was flying for succor. Not
moment too soon had gone. An ac
complice had been admitted by the from
door, which was found wide open, my
bedroom door shattered, but nothing
touched, my fight having, doubtless
scared them. The tracks of their pursu
ing footsteps were discerned easily, wher
the blessed light of Christmas Day
shone. They had evidently gone In pur
suit of me, but probably my safety wa.
due greatly to the whiteness of my gar
ments which must have rendered my fly
ing figure almost invisible against the
snowy ground. The police were soon ir
quest, and, ere many hours elapsed, the
retreat of the assassins was discovered.
A desperate struggle ensued, and re
cOgniZing In the one man an escaped ant
notorious convict, and in the conflict feel
ing his own life was In danger, the con
stable fired on him, and the miserable
corpse was conveyed to the Police Sta
ton, where our servant identified it as tn,
murderer of the cook, and the assailant o
herself. The wretched man had, with hi
companion and accomplice, escaped only
two days before from prison, to which thu
latter was safely escorted back by cou
pie of policemen. The funeral of oul
poor servant took place few days after
wards, and the Bungalow was finally de
serted by us. The other servant recov
cred completely, and the policeman, WHIT
had been wounded by the convict rathel
severely, was reported convalescent befOr'
our departure.
Inever saw the Bungalow again ant
very joyfully did enter the steamer whicl
conveyed us back to dear old England.
Neither baby nor suffered any bad ef
fects from our midnight race through th'
Irish lanes; but when 1 think of It's hor
rors, lift up my heart in fervent gratitude
to God, who preserved us when encom
passed by perils so profound, and guidet
so graciously my faltering footsteps, as
fed through the snow on my first ant
last lonely Christmas Eve.-Losdon Soei
ETY..
A soRRowING friend, writing OF tn
II l. l. n ~ lA