Bradford opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1874-1881, 1875-06-12

t on the night Lawson saw the paste
n in the garden she was lying awake
}. in bed, and heard the door leading
q from the passage into the gardel
n creak, and that when she rose an,
1 peeped out, she saw the pastor in hi
!. dressing.gOwn and night cap, go on
t into the garden. What he did there
she saw not but about an hour af
D forwards she again heard the creak
ing of the door.
When asked what he had to say
in his defense, the pastor replied
, solemnly, $50 help me, God, l vii
say nothing but the truth. l struck
deceased with spade; but not
otherwise than that he was able tt
run away from me, and out of the
garden What became of him after
wards, or how he came to be buried
in my garden, l know not. AS fol
the evidence of Lawson and the dai
ry-maid, who say that they saw me
in the garden in the night, it is eli
ther lie or it is il delusion. Mis-.
cradle man that am! | have no
one on earth to speak in my defence ;
that see clearly. If He in heaven
likewise remains silent,,l have only
to submit to His inscrutable will"
When some weeks later, the trial
came on, two more fresh witnesses
were produced. They declared that
on the aforementioned night they
were proceeding along the road
which runs from the pastors gar
den to the wood, when they met a
man carrying sack on his back,
who passed them and on in the d.
rection of the garden. His face
they could not see, inasmuch as it
was concealed by the overhangiug
sack but as the moon was shining
on his back, they could plainly des-
Cry that he was clad in pale green
coat and white night-cap. He dis
appeared near the pastors hedge.
No sooner did the pastor hear the
evidence of the witness to this ct
! feet than his face turned an ashy
hue, and he cried out in \ fatering
voice, 81 am laintingw and was so
Frustrated in body that he had to
be taken back to prison. There,
after a period OF severe suffering,
to the intense establishment Of every
one, he made to his friend, the dis
trict magistrate who had first ar.
rested him, the following strange
confession:
"From my childhood, us far back
as can remember. have ever been
passionate, qualrelsome, and proud
impatient of contradiction, and
ever ready for blow. Yet have l
seldom let the sun go down on my
wrath, nor have l borne ill.will to
any one. When but . lad slew in
anger 4 dog which one day ate my
dinner, which had left in his way.
When as student, | went Oh for.
esn travel, entered, on slight prov.
Ocation, into Il brOil with a German
youth in Leipsic, challenged him,
and gave him wound that enGan-
gered his life. For that deed, feel
it, | meriteu that which has come
upon me after long years; but the
punishment falls upon my sinful
head with tenfold weight now that
l am broken down with age, cler-
gyman and father. Oh, father in
heaven it is here that the wound
is soreSt."
After a pause of anguish he con.
tinued: ~ will now confess the
crime which no doubt l have com
mitted, but Of which l am, never.
theless, not fully conscious. That l
struck the unhappy man with the
spade l know full well, and have al
so confessed, whether it were with
the fiat side or the sharp edge
could not in my passion discern ;
that he then fell down, and after
wards rose again and rau away
that is all know to surety. What
fOllOws-Heaven help me -four
witnesses have seen, namely. that l
fetched the body from the wood and
buried it 4: and that this must be
substantially true l am obliged to
believe, and | will tell you where
fore. Three or four times in my
life that 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 Il funeral
sermon over the remains of man
who had unexpectedly met with a
death. l was at u loss for
text, when the words of wise man
among the ancient Greeks suddenly
occurred to me: Call no man hap