The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-04-16

sexton paused, but I had become so
deeply interested in his recital that 1
begged him to go on and tell me how
the affair terminated.
He resumed: Well, you may think
that the worst part of my adventure
was past, but / soon found out that nay
mlseries had just begun.
My physical agonies were sufficient
to queH the strongest will, but when
the element of soul terror was added
my misery was simply internal. 1t
would have been q great mitigation of
my situation if l could only have shut
the sacristy door, which seemed to me
to be the peep-hole into the world of
the disembodied and the unhappy.
From one, until quarter-past two, I
sat thus, filed with mortal pain, and
wrapped in spiritual fear. These latter
terrors that worked upon the soul were
seven-fola more awful than were those
moments when / was expecting physical
death at the hands of the robber. Now,
know very well that those fiendish
faces which Knocked me were nothing
else than the creation of my own brain,
the cheats of distraught imagination !:
but they were none the less terrible, I
could not drive them away at will, and
for the time they were to me realities,
palpable Gb eTtrG existences.
After while perceived small light
Pickering in the remote end of the
church, and when it came nearer heard
faint footsteps. For moment hoped
that this was some one come to look
after nae, but the hope was evanescent,
DC / hnan On 4 4
the past two hours. But, sure enough,
there came voice. no ghostly sound
such as had been hearing, but warm
human voice. 1t was the anxious call Of
the good pastor, who cried three times
aloud :" Christen, Christen, where are
your"
The voice broke the dread spell which
bound me. "Here in the sacrisitv." I
cried back feebly. The next instant
the pastor came through the sacristy
door holding the lantern high above his
head You may imagine his amazement
and surprise to see me sitting stark,
almost hfeless, tied TO the chair and
wild with terror.
"Quick quick p I gasped, "cut
these accursed cords and give mo wine
or shall d" The wine soon restored
me to consciousness and I found the
pastor was cutting the cords that had
become buried in my very flesh. He
wrapped me warmly and fastened to
the village for help, as I had to be car
ried home. When [ was comfortable in
bed [ related to him the adventure
which I have just told you. He said
after the midnight strokes he had waited
to hear the chimes and that he greatly
wondered at not hearing them, for, said
he, " Christen, l knew you were a man
to keep your word. lay awake, for
could not sleep. Then it occurred to
me that you had gone alone, and, fear
ing that some accident had befallen
you, l arose, dressed and fastened to
the church" verify believe, sir, that
had he left me until morning they
would have found me as Schiller's love
lOrn Knight of Toggenburg was found
one morning-since Leichedo-a stark,
sitting corpse.
Eighteen months after the adventure
the pastor sent me word that he had
clew. 1t was In the shape of q Copen=
hagen newspaper, containing a card re-
questing the pastors of every coDgrega-
ton in the country to search for the
marriage records of a Mr.. Tonneson.
Our pastor felt sure that Mr.. Tonneson's
marriage records would never be pro-
duced, but both he and were certain
that 1t was the very same which the
young masked villain had stuffed in his
breast pocket eighteen months before.
The pastor set off Immediately for Co
penhagen. Several days thereafter I
received letter from him, saving
" Come on Immediately, have struck
a hot trail. ;" l lost no time in reaching
O., and, sure enough, we were soon on
a hot trail. The pastor had spotted the
parties, and the detectives,
TO use technical term, "were showing
them" The moment they were pointed
out to me instantly recognized one of
them, notwithstanding they were masked
at the time of their crime. The mo-
ment L heard him speak I could have
taken an oath that be was the identical
individual who had put the pistol to nv
head, and who had tied me in the chair,
to leave me to those horrors which I
have feebly attempted to describe to
you. He was Immediately arrested
and imprisoned. On his trial he was
convicted. At that time it was a cap
ltal otfense to destroy public records,
aIA 40 Lila SOuS1uSI u1ulS01I
to have escaped the death penalty for
life labor in the penal colony. This
substitution he gained by turning
evidence against bis employer and &C.
complete, the younger villain, who it
appears gave the detectives the slip.
and escaped to America, the land of
the free and the asylum for Europe's
As we had surmised, the object of
their crime was to cheat Mr.. Tonne
sons heirs out of large fortune, by
destroying the proofs of their legiti-
macy, and pressing the spurious next
claims of the younger villain as the
nearest relative. In spite, however, of
the missing records, the lawyers man
aged to bring order out of chaos, and
confirm to the rightful heirs, daugh-
ter and two sons, their own.-IalGpd