The Hickman courier., 1874-05-23

falnting - and was so prostrated in BODY
that he had to be taken back to prison.
There, after period of severe suffer
ing, to the intense astonishment OF ev-
cry one, he made to his friend, the dis
trlct magistrate who had first arrested
him, the following strange confession
From nv childhood, as far back as
L can remember, have been passionate,
quarrelsomo, and proud-impatient of
contradiction, and ever ready for a
blow. Yet have I seldom let the sun
go down on my wrath, nor have I borne
lll-wiH to any ore. When but a lad |
sic v in anger dog which one day ate
my diEner, which I had left in his way.
When as a student / went on foreign
travel, I entered ON slight prevocation,
into broil with a German youth in
Leipsie, challenged him, and gave him
:, a wound that endangered his life
iosg . .es Reara deed but f9sl IS iRfrised that
: upon my sIhfu1 ~nead wit -feisF oIa
weight now that I am broken down with
: age, clergyman and father Oh. IA
ther IN heaven it is here th,t the
wound is sOrest."
After pause of anguish he contin-
ued 81 will now confess the crime
which no doubt I have committed. but
OF which am, nevertheless, not fully
conscious. That j struck the unhapDy
man with the spade I know full we'll
and have already confessed; whether it
were with the fiat side or the sharp edge
could not in my passion discern: that
Ire then fell down, and afterwards rose
again and ran awaY-that is all I know
TO surety. What follows-Heaven
help me -four witnesses have seen.
namely, that [ fetched the body from
the wood and buried il and that this
/ nnEf he on hctoafioIIx- I -
| to believe, AID I will tell you where. !
fore. Three or four times in nv life |
/ that L know of 1t has happened to me
| TO walk In my sleep. The last time |
| (aoout nine years ago., I was next dav /
to preach funeral sermon over the re- |
mains of man who had unexpectedly !
met with dreadful death. / was at a |
loss for text, when the words of a wise
man among the ancient Greeks sudden
Iy occurred 10 me: Call no man happy
until he be in his grave To usa the
words of heathen for text Of chris
ntlan discourse was not, methought
Dseemly; but | then remembered thai
the same thought, expressed the same.
was IN Apocrypha. 1 sought, and
sought, but could not find the passage.
1t was late; / was wearied by much
previous labor 1 therefore went to bed
and soon fell asleep. Greatly did I
marvel the next morning when, on
arising and seating myself at my writing
desk, saw before me, written in large
letters upon a sheet of paper, Let no
man be deemed happy before his end
cometh " (Sirach. XII 34 But not this !,
alone. I found likewise funeral dis
course-short, but as we'll written as
any had ever composed-and all in nv
own hand writing. In the chamber no
other than [ could have been | knew ]
therefore who it was that had written {
the discourse, aud that it waSAo other !
than myself. No more than Mi year 7
previous had, in the same marvellous
state, gone in the night time into the |
church and fetched away handkerchief t
evidence before the court, then my pre-
yious sleep-walking suddenly flashed
across me and I likewise called to I
mind that IL the morning after the 6
night during which the corpse must {
have been buried, had been surprised {
TO see my dressing-gown lying on the s
floor just beside the door, ereas 1t
was ALWAYS my custom to hang II on :
chair by my bedside. The unhappy t
victim of my unbridled passion must,
In all likelihood, have fallen down dead /
in the wood and I must in my sleep
walking have followed him thither. Yes !
the Lord have mercy $50 1t was, 50 .
it must have been.
The pastor was removed to the goal
at Genau the same night, and on the
following day came the judicial examl-
nation. The witnesses confirmed
their former statements on oath. There
now appeared three additional witness ]
es. viz the pastors two farm servants,
and the dairy-maid. The two former
explained how on the day OF the MUIR
der they had been sitting near the
open window in the servants room,
and heard distinctly how the pastor and
the man Neils were quarrellng. and
how the former had cried out, " Will
slav thee, dog thou shalt lay dead at
NV feet % They added that they had
twice before heard the parson threaten
Neils with his life. The dairy-mald
deposed that on the night Lawson sa"
the pastor in the garden she was lying
awake in bed, and heard the door lead
ING from the passage into the garden
creak. and That when she rose aud
Deeped ont, she saw the pastor IN his
dressing gown and night-cap. go out into
tie garden. What he did there she saw
not but about an hour afterwards she
again heard the creaking of the door.
On the following day sentence of
death was passed upon the prisoner
sentence which many telt to be severe,
and which led TO a friendly conspiracy |
on his behalf, and had it not been for |
his refusal to be a party to anything un- |
lawful. he might have escaped. The |
| iEIor was gained over, and fisherman |
| hsa his boat in readiness for flight to
| the Swedish coast, where he would
| have been bevond the each of danger.
But Soren Quist refused to flee. he
! lonped he said, for death and he would
not add new stain to his reputation by
a furtive flight. He maintained his
strength of mind to the last, and from
| Az, sea mold he addressed the bystanders
| q discourse of much power, which he
had composed in prison during his last
days. It treated of anger and its dire
full consequences, with touching allu-
sions to himself and the dreadful crime
of which his anger misled him. There
after. he doffed his coat, bound with his
own hands the napkin before his eyes,
and submitted his neck to the execu-
toners sword.
One-and-twenty years after the pas
tor. Soren Quist of Vellby, had oeeh
accused, tried, condemned ana eXecu-
ted for the murder of his serving man,
on old bergar applied for aims to the
neople of Aalsoe, the parish adjoining
to Vellby. Suspicious were aroused py
the exact likeness the beqgar bore TO
Norten Burns of Ingvorstrup, who had
4
lately died, and also by the curious ana
anxious inquiries the man made con con
cernino events long past. The pastor
! of Aalsoe. who had buried Morten
, B Burns, took the vagabond to his par
i ! eonaoe and there the fellow, all uncon-
l ecions of the portentous nature OF the
= admission, acknowledged that ne was
I Niels B rms, the very man TOR whose
nrpIs supposed murder the pastor had suffered eT
the shameful death of criminal. HAD
e his brother Morten survived him hint Il IL Il
:! long had never been known, as NIeli
" had onIy returned to the district IN th'
n hone hon OF profting by Morten's death
e tbe news of which had accidental.
;, reached him. He professed-and, IN
u deed. plainly experienced,-the utmos
fe fe horror on hearing the dreadful hlstor;;
le of the pastors cruel fate. 1t was al
D. Worten's doing, he said; but he wa
1e co overcome by the terrible narratlv
" tbat no could scarcely gather ssrengt
<, TO tor, reply to the questions put to him.