The Van Buren press., 1875-09-28
MISCELLANY.
THE VIGILANT'S MISTAKE.
OR
Circumstantlal Evidence.

Great heavens If he only had y weap
on! What treasure little choroform
would be! The hope Of evading his
guardians in the way to-metcitul God
on his way to the sallows-it was mad
ness to entertain If he had " npon,
he might make fight, compel them to
shoot him in their own defence, and thus
avoid the disgraseful death before him.
| But what disgrace is there in any form Of
death If it is undeserved? Yet he would
avoid that form Of death, it he could.
He would beg them to shoot him-to give
! him the dsath of soldier, not of a Grim
inal. Then desperate rage against his
would. be -murterers seized upon him
They should not hang him. If he had
no weapons, he would use bis hands as
wild beast it's claws, and he would tear
them froa limb to limb Then despona-
ency came upon him, and a despsirins
consciousness that his most furious
struggle would be Of no avail.
| To think that he was to die, to morrow
One minute in full health, and strength.
the next-dcad Dead! To see the
showers of April falling. and to think
that he rhould never sec the flowers ol
May! To be hung! And horror of hor.
rors to be- hung by mistake. AT the
thought of his poor mother, the tears
ran down his cheeks. Was 1T for this
she reared so tenderly her earliest child
| And Ellen, his beloved and betfeth
and Mary hs sister. What arc YOU
doing, now2 Perhaps reading my lasi
letter, and planning how they shall celc-
brate my return in the fall-a return tn at
will never take place Will the shock kill
them when they hear the fatal news? 1t
will certainly be my mothers death
stroke. And then the horrid announce
ment that was hung as a horse thief by
. Vigilance Committee! Will they be-
lieve me guilty? No, l know they will
not But will the world believe it All,
| am not SO sure of the world, The Wig
lance Committee will make the case
against me as strong as possible to jus
tify their crime. No doubt the world will
believe that | am horse thief, The
world is always so ready to believe evil,
Even my SO called friends and acquant-
ances will believe it, and will hear of the
imputed crime Of their old companion
with complacent feeling Of self right
science told him now that he, too, had
not been too slow to believe evil of his
fellows
The scene Of the coming morning cast
it's shadow before it, He saw his body
hanging limp and lfeless from the gal
lows tree. bis head on one side, his face
purpled, his eyes glaring but sightless,
his tongue black and protruded. He
buried his tear.wet face in the pillow in
an agony Of horror and despair. He saw
his corpse lying on the ground, as little
regarded as the carcass of wolf. He
saw it thrust, collinless and prayerless,
into the unhallowed earth of that region
Of thieves and nurderers.
And the after death What was that
to be Was there any after-death Was
he merely to be, thereafter, = brother to
the insensible cold Was noon to-mor-
row-heavens it is already to day =
was noon to be the end all Of the being
known as Frank Staples2 Or was an in
| finite punishment reserved for the errors
Of poor finite exlstense7 He was not
an irreligious man but he was not prone
to displays of piety. According to the
| standard Of mere formal church. gsers,
he could not be considered religious
man. or, in the true sense Of the word, a
Christian. Could it be possible that. be
cause he disregarded forms and formula
ries he was now to be condemned forev-
er and ever to burning torments and de
moniac companionship mo-" thought
he, God is too merciful. and-ycs-too
just to heap such tortures upon his poor
creature atoms" He whispered the only
prayer his mind, in his perturbed state
would furnish him: =" My God have mer
cy on me 1! and he continued to repeat it
necessarily until exhausted nature gave
way, and he fell into a heavy, trance-likc
sleep.