Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1874-10-15
HEARTS STRICKEN PARENTS.


| 81. EEART-sTaIcEEN PARENTS.
A few nights ago pair of horses
were driven up Paramount avenue at
despe gait, and from the carriage,
which was stopped at the gate of the
Eastern Penitentiary,there jumped a
| gentleman, who made all haste to gain
and entrance into the gloomy institu-
ton. He presently reappeared, bear
| ing in his arms awasted from, which
he deposited with atendsr7care in the
carriage, which was'theh driven away.
f. The occupants of the carriage were
heart broken father and his dying son.
The latter was committed to the East
ern Penitentiary some two years ago
for larceny His intelligeiice and
amiability soon made 7l4imsia general
fayorite. He was at the thine of his
commitment about eighteen years old,
tall. well formed, handsome young
man, without single trace of the usual
characteristics of the. criminal. The
prison authorities took a special interest
in his case, but he was exceedingly
reticent as to his history, excepting
that he had fallen into bad company.
About year ago he began to show
signs of the insidiousI complaint, con-
sumption, which numbers many victims
IN prison. j'.i 956aI - re r-,s
He slowly wasted away, until two or
three weeks ago the physician in charge
as he went through the hospital of the
institution, stopped moment before
the cot Of the patient, and said to him
gravely that if he had anything to say
to any personsson earth he had better to
do. so without delay, as he had but
short time to live The remark seemed
to impress the poor fellow deeply, fer
he shortly afterward asked for paper
and pencil, and, obtaining them, wrote:
''The son whom you have mourned as
dead is in the Eastern Penitentiary.
Philadelphia" He signed the brief
note, and sank back exhausted on his
couch.
Being asked relative to the destina-
ton of the note he had written he
directed it to be addressed to lady in
town in Massachusetts,, which was
compliedwith- A few days aferwarl a
gentleman applied to one of the prison
authorities for permission to see the
youth, when brought in his presence
evinced the strongest emotion. He
stated that he was the father of the
dying boy, and that the latter's mother
being at the White mountains for her
health, which is very delicate, he, the
father, had opened the note sent from
this city, and was very glad he had
done 50, as the declaration contained in
it would surely haye killed her. Their
son had been considered dead for more
than two years .-.-
Being wealthy, the parents had Civ
EN- him good education, and designed
him for a professional life, but, when
about sixteen years of age, his mind be
came affected the influence of sensation
al novels, and he formed an Unsuitable
desire to roam through the West ern
wilds. He ran away, with two sons of
the Mayor of the town, but was traced
to the place they had chosen for tenn
porary stay and brought home, but very
soon .afterward ran off again, and his
parents had since heard nothing of him,
except report that he had been killed,
which they believed. af
ed The sight of his boy stretched upon a
bed of death within the forbidding walls
of a prison crushed the fathers heart
but this only made his opportunities the
more effective, and he succeeded in
procuring his sons pardon, with which
he sped to the prison, and. doubtless
anxious that, even were it the last hour,
his son should live, il should be spent
in free, pure air, he had him carried
from the institution as above related.
It was his intention, should the son live
until he could be conveyed on board a
steamship, to have him taken home that
way, otherwise he would let him die at
hotel, and then have the body taken
on by rail to the home of his innocent
and happy boyhood. ss IS
The weight of sorrow that awaited
the mother in either case can be easily
conceived. Whether the dying young
man revived sufficiently to endure the
trip, or whether he died at the hotel his
father brought him to, we did not learn.
The narrative is brief but painful one,
and is not without powerful lesson to
youth. Philadelphia Inquirer,
A Western man set fire to the prairie
for fun, but after he had run seven
miles and climbed tree, with his pants
about all burned of, he concluded the
sport was little too violent exercise to
be INDUCED in oftener than once in a
lifetime.