Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1875-04-10
SHEPHERDSTOWN JEFFERSON COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA. SATURDAY. AT

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up at the brightly twinkling stars; then
after q moment of indecision, he re-en-
tered his house. In few minutes he
emerged again, smoking short pipe,
and went over to the honeysuckled-em-
powered ead of the porch, where stood
his great arm chair An instant later
there was a crash, heavy splashin the
deep well, and
A GURGLING CRI FOR HELP.
The floor had given way beneath him,
and BENJAMIN, with one Intellectual
struggle, found himself fpreeipitated into
the almost iee-cold water, ten feet deep,
and thirty feet below the surface Of the
ground. He tried to climb up the
smooth walls, but could not, his strength
being greatly disproportioned to his
weight. The fragments of beams and
boards that had fallen in with him were
insufficient to buoy him up. Cropping
for something to sustain him, he caught
one of the pump pipes, and found that
he could, by holding on to it and float
ing, keep his head above water until
help came. Then
HE SHOUTED Justify FOR ASSISTANCE,
and in few minutes, to his unspeak-
able Joy, saw his brother Walters face
peering over the top of the we'll.
is that you, Benjamin ? called the
voice of the brother above.
yes, help me out as quickly as you
can. This water is chilling my very
heart, pleaded the drowning man.
'Wait a moment, was the eDcourag-
ing reply.
Several minutes elapsed, and Benja-
min found himself growing rapidly
weaker. His fingers still clutched the
leaden pipe with the grip of despair.
1t seemed to him hours that were pass
ing by instead of minutes, and he called
inessantly, in voice growing mo-
mentarily more and more faint, for
Help! help! help!
Then he saw again above him two
faces. One was that of his brother Wal
ter; the other, Lena Beraud's. The
woman lowered steadily toward him a
lantern attached TO bed cord. 1t came
down to within three or four feet OF his
face, enabling those above to see him
clearly, and there it seemed to be made
fast.
The man in the water read in the
two faces above him, as the light fell
upon them, pitiless purpose OF murder
A sudden sense of horror made him
dumb. Intutively he read his fate. The
next moment heavy stream of water
dashed in his face and upon his head,
BLrNDING, STUNNING, CHOKING HIM.
Lena Beraud was working the force
pump, and his brother Walter, direct
ing the stream by the light OF the
lantern che had lowered, was drowning
him. He could not cry out. He could
not long support himself: Soon he sank
to the bottom, corpse.
The next morning the sad accident
was discovered and made known. Ben
iamin's body was fshed up, made the
subject for verdict by stupid coro-
ners jury, which never suspected the
awful crime committed, and then the
poor clay was laid away in the grave.
A will was found among the papers
of the deceased, be9ueathing all he pos
sessed to his beloved brother Walter,
who wept, wore Grape, and in three
months married his partner in assassina-
ton.
Before year had elapsed, he became
aware of the fact that Lena had been,
for years before her meeting with him,
a vile character, that she had served q
term in the State Prison of Illinois,
and that she had already attempted to
take his life by means of poison in order
that she might enjoy at once indepen-
dence and his wealth. In his fury a:
these discoveries, he struck her blow
which proved fatal, and he was ar
rested for her murder.
Evidence of her bad character having
been admitted on the trial, there was
created sufficient sympathy for him to
save him from the gailows, but sen
tence of twenty years, imprisonment
was passed upon him. This was con-
sidered as equivalent to a life sentence
for a man of his age and previous hab-
its, and so proved, for within eleven
months from lis incarceration, in Octo-
Der, 1855, he died in his cell, having first
confessed the murder OF his brother
Benjamin, as it has been here related.
En Morurn An old nenrn