Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1874-11-12

features had been injured by blows !;
but all his clothes, unto his shirt with
his name on it, were identified by his
fellow servants even leaden rirg in
the left ear of the corpse was recop.
nized as one which Nels had worn for
years.
There was no alternative but to ar
rest the pastor on the spot-indeed, he
willingly surrendered himself, merely
protesting his innocence. "Appear-
ances are against me" he said s.surely
this must be the work of Satan and his
ministry; but He still lives who At His
pleasure will make my innocence mani
fest. Take me to prison; in solitude and
in chains | will await what He in His
wisdom shall decree"
The pastor was removed to the goal
at Grenace the same night, and on the
following day came the Judicial exam
nation The frat three witnesses con.
firmed their former statements on oath.
Moreover, there now appeared three
additional witnesses, viz; the pastor
two farm servants and the dairy maid.
The two former explained how on the
day of the murder they had been sitting
near the open window in the servants
room, and bad heard distinctly how the
pastor and the man Niels were quarrel>
ing, and how the former had cried out.
Il will slay thee, dog! thou shalt lie
dead at my feet!' They added that
they had twice before heard the pastor
| threaten Niels with the like. The
dairymaid deposed that Oh the night
when Larsen saw the pastor in the gar
den, she was lying awake in bed, and
heard the door leading from the pas
sage into the garden cTeak and that
when she rose and peeped out she saw the
pastor, in his dressing gown and night
cap, go out into the garden. What he
did there she saw not but about an
hour afterwards she again heard the
creakiug Of the door.
When asked what he had to say In
his defence. the pastor replied solemnly
so help me God, will say nothing
bu, the truth. I struck deceased with
the spade, but not otherwise than that
he was able to run away from me, and
out of the garden; what became OF him
afterwards, or how be came to be buried
in my garden, / know not As for the
evidence of Larsen and the dairvmaid,
who say that they saw me in the garden
in the night, it is either foul lie or it
is hellish delusion. Miserable man
that | am ! / have no one on earth to
speak in my defence-that see clearly,
if He in heaven likewise remains silent,
| have only to submit to his inscrutable
will.
When, some weeks later, the trial
came Oh, two more fresh witnesses
were produced. They declared that on
the oft-mentioned night they were pro
ceeding along the road WHICH runs from
the pastors garden to the wood, when
they met man carrying sack on his
back, who passed them and walked on
III the direction of the garden. His
tace they could not see, ilasmuch as it
was concealed by the oeerhanging sack
but as the moon was shining on his
back, they could plainly descry that h.
was clad in pale green coat and a
white nightcap. lie disappeared near
the pastors garden hedge. No sooner
did the pastor hear the evidence of the
witness to this effect than his face turned
OF an ashy hue, and he cried out in a
falterlng voice, 81 am fainting!' and
was SO Frustrated in body that he had
to ne taken back to prison. There,
alter period Of severe suffering, TO the
intense establishment Of every one. he
made, to his friend, the district magis.
trate who had first arrested him, the
following strange confessions: from
my childhood, as far back as can re
member | have ever been passionate,
quarrelsome and proud i impatient OF
contradiction, and ever ready with a
blow Yet have l seldom let the SUI,
90 down on my wrath, nor have berne
/ i'll will to any one When but lad
slew III anger dog which one day ate
my dinner, which had left in his way.
When, as student, | vent on foreign
travel, | entered, on slight provoca-
ton, into broil with German youth
in Leipsic, challenged him, and gave
him wound that endangered his lite.
! For that deed feelit, I mefited, that
which has now come upon me ate,
long years; but the punishment falls
upon my sinful head with tenfoid
weight noy that am broken down
with age, clergyman, and father
Oh, Father in heaven! 1t is here that
| the wound is sorest!'
! After a pause of anguish. he contin
ned:-s'l will nov confess the crime
which no doubt have committed, bu,
which | am, nevertheless, not full,
conscious That struck the unhapu,