The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1874-05-22

deIusion. Miserable man that I am
[ have no one on earth to speak in N.
| defense that I see clearly. If He II
/ heaven likewise remains silent, I havi
only to submit TO His inscrutable will.
! When, some weeks later, the tria
| came on, two more fresh witnesses were
produced. They declared that on the
oft-mentioned night they were proceed
| ing along the road which runs from the
| pastors garden to the wood, when they
met man carving a sack on his back,
who passed them and walked on In the
direction OF the garden. His face they
could not see, inasmuch as it was con-
! ceaIed 10y the oveTbauging sack but as
the moon was shining on his back, they
could plainly descry that he was clad IN
pale green coat, and white night-cap.
He disappeared near the parsons hedge.
No sooner did the pastor hear the ey-
idepce of the witness to this effect than
his face turned an ashy hue, and he
cried out in q faltering voice, ''I am
fainting - 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
trict magistrate who had first arrested
him, the following strange confession A:
From my childhood, IS far back as
1 can remember, I have been passionate,
quarrelsome, and proud-impatien5 of
contradiction, and ever ready for a
blow. Yet have I seldom let the sun
go down on my wrath, nor have borne
ill-will to any one. When but lad I
slew in anger a dog which one day ate
nv diBner, which had left In his way.
When as student went on foreign
travel, I entered On slight provocation,
into a broil with a German youth in
Leipsie, challenged him, and gave him
wound that endangered his life.
For that deed, I feel it, merited that
which has now come upon me after
long years but the punishment falls
upon my sinful head with tenfold
weight now that I am broken down with
age, a clergyman and father. Oh, ia
ther in heaven it is here that the
wound is sorest."
After a pause of anguish he contin-
ued "I will now confess the crime
which no doubt have commit ted, but
of which am, nevertheless, not fully
conscious. That struck the unhappy
man with the spade I know full well,
aud have already confessed; whether it
were with the fiat side or the sharp edge
[ could not IN my passion discern; that
he then fell down, and afterwards lose
again and ran away-that is all [ know
to a surety. What follOws-Heaven
help me -four witnesses have seen,
namely, that I fetched the body from
the wood and buried it and that this
must be substantially true am obliged
to believe, and will tell you where
fore. Three or four times in my life
that I know of it has happened to me
TO walk IN my sleep. The last time
(about nine years ago., l was next day
to preach funeral sermon over the re-
mains of a man who had unexpectedly
met with a dreadful death. I was at a
loss for a text, when the words of wise
man among the ancient Greeks sudden
Iy occurred to me Call no man happy
until he be in his grave. To use the
words of a heather for a text of a chris
tian discourse was not, methought,
seemly; but then remembered that
the same thought, expressed the same,
was in ApOcrypha. sought, and
sought, but could notfind the passage.
It was late; I was wearied by much
previous labor therefore went to bed
and soon fell asleep. Greatly did I
=
arising and seating myself st my writing
desk, I saw before me, written in large
lotters upon q sheet of paper, Let no
man be deemed happy before his end
cometh" CSirach. xi. 34). But not this
alone. I found likewise a funeral dis
course-short, but as well written as
any I had ever compassionate all IN my
own hand writing. In the chamber no
other than I could have been 1 knew
therefore who it was that had written
the discourse, and that it was no other
than myself. No more than half year
previous had, in the same marvellous
state, gone in the night time into the
church and fetched away q handkerchief
which I left in the chair behind the
altar. Mark now-When the two wit
nesses this morning delivered their
evidence before the court, then nv pre-
vious sleep-walking suddenly flashed
across me ; and I likewise called to
mind that il the morning after the
night during which the corpse must
have been buried, I had been surprised
to see my dressing gown lying on the
floor just beside the door, whereas it
was always my custom to hang it on
chair by my bedside. The unhappy
victim of my unbridled passion must,
III III llhc4lllCONlg lAzNC AdllCA4 hNn II AAE5e-A
in the wood and must in nay sleep
walking have followed him thither. Yes
the Lord have mercy $50 it was, so
1t must have been"
The pastor was removed to the goal
at Genau the same night, and on the
following day came the judicial exami-
nation. The witnesses confirmed
their former statements on oath. There
AI,--.n additional Il
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 NeiIs were quarrelipg, and
how the former had cried out, viii
slay thee, dog thou shalt lay dead at
my feet :" They added that they had
twice before heard the parsOn threaten
Eeils with his life. The dairy-maid
deposed that on the night Lawson saw
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 and
peaped out, she saw the pastor IN his
dressing-gown and night-cap. go ont into
tie garden. What he did there she saw
not but abont an hour afterwards she
again heard the creaking of the door.
On the following day sentence Of
death was passed upon the prisoner-a
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 party TO anything IN
lawful, he might have escaped. The
TAILOR was gained over, and a fisherman
had his boat IN readiness for a fight 20
the Swedish coast, where he would
have been beyond the reach Of danger.
But Soren Quist refused to fee. BE
longed, he said, for death; and he would