Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-05-09

and he recollected that the condemned
murderer was about to eXpatiate his OF
Tense, a strange sensation came over him.
What. he thought, if the man were In
nocent =? What if mitigating circum-
stances existed, which he had been too
proud to reveal, unless in personal inter-
| view /? It was evident, from the jailor's
story. he was naughty, resolute, half
savage offender, who thought himself as
much wronged as wronging. Once the
Governor was on the point OF sending a
respite. but he made resolute effort,
shook off his feelings, and ultimately
forgot the affair in the engrossing con-
Germs of the day. a.---s.sp
Alright however. when the enti re house
hold had retired, except himself, there
was knock at the door, and the turn
kew made his appearance. VI
|. The proud, infexible man started,
with nameless awe, at the sight Of this
officer. 1918. tc zfejW#H o21ll -a 7g
3" Your iExcellency will excuse me, /
hope. said the jailor, " for visiting you
so late; but promised the prisoner that
II would deliver this packet to you, III
person and at this hour And, as he
spoke. he took from his coat pocket a
bulky letter and handed it to the. Gov
ernor. The latter received it with. 3
trembling hand, which he tried in vain
to prevent; for in truth, he was ashamed
of his weakness; and then quietly Laid
/ it on his table.
Chow did the man behaye9" he said,
partly, to conceal his unnaccountable
! emotion. 80.
sHe died, sir, "a he lived" was the
| answer, with shake of the head. 10 "He
told the clergyman that he would soon
/ know more Of eternity than a thousand
priests could tell him, and that, therefore,
! it was useless to talk, Yet he did not OBJ
/ iect to the prayer on, the scatfoid. He
said that it would do him no harm, and
might work some good i'll the crowd; 1t
was one of the decencies of society he
added scornfully, "by which, he sup
posed, a legal murder was sanctitec!Y H9
! ossAwful."T ra-... v.a g.aza ~
ii7.sF So it was. In one sense. And, yet,
| he died bravely; not 2ganle-hke, how
ever; more like Pagan stQicr than a
Christian murderer. g.l,...
| The Governor laid his hand upon the
! turkeys shoulder. My friend, Z he
said" r%you had a strange liking tor
| this murderer, and this excuses to me
your extraordinary observations. You
would act more wisely to keep them con-
eealed, however. for all Will not under
stand YOU as / do. There is too much
mock sympathy for crime atloat, Z ne ad-
ded. severely, too much Of a DISPOSE
ton to elevate murderers into heroes
1t i'll becomes public officers, especially,
to countenance, such morbid sentiments. a
The Governor was alone.
He sat, for some time with the UNI
opened packet in his hand, turning It
over and over. his heart beating with
strange violence. ~lsA
The lamp, that hung just overh head,
threw its bright glare full on his broad
brow. and thence down his striking
| collntenance. the workings of the latter
showing how much he was agitated,
and how he struggled against his emo
tions. Is ef2h aa'''i7-- va = d . !"
this is weakness, he said, at last.
II am overworked, and nervous. What
can this outcast, this Pariah have to say
to me. thatI thus tremble at. it?' And,
with sudden resolution, he broke the
| seal. and casting the envelope careiessly
| to one side, began tounfold the letter: a-
! Ey The epistle was dated ----- Prison,
Thursday night, 10 P. NJ, November =,
Is; and began without introduction.
+ It was written in bold, though not incl
egant hand. ,-.s;r h.....9..1, ..sgit-
+ When you receive this, it said.
shall be dead 90 [ recognize in your in
flexible character something akin to my
! own, and that forms a tie between US;
the only one [ acknowledge, though
YOUR blood flows In my veins. daIa5 be-
=" I have asked to see you, not to sue,
I coward like, for my life, but to show
/ YOU what the son of Governor may be
come when he is cast out. an ishmaellte,
lin his boyhood. | wanted not only to
] triumph over you, but to behold my trl-
umph. y For my whelellife has been one
continual wrong at your hands; you have
/ made me every thing that I am; and |
hate and curse you, father. There, 1
have written the word; how does it look
How does it sound to say that the muir
/ derer in the condemned cell and the
4 Governor in his princely mansion are
child and parent; and that they share
! the guilt equally between them, the one
! for having struck the deadly blow, the
I other for having left his offspring to
grow UP an Outcast
% You vince, I see you do, as you read
! this. | will make you writhe yet with
! even keener agony. You have seen the
locket which [ send you with this; it was
hers, given to me with her dying breath,
when, for the first time, she revealed my
parentage. I was then q child. But
though [ had known suffering, [ had not
known sin; while she lived, angel as she
was, she kept me out Of evil. But she
died early, broken-hearted. [ have been
i told that for more than a year, while ]
was an infant, she was crazed.
''After her death. [ was left to fight
my way through the world as best
could; for / swore over her coffin lit was
of pine, and furnished by the oyerseers,)
that you I would never apply TO. You
cast her off, whom you pretended to love
Could /, whom you had never seen, hope
to reach your heart? But whether !
could or not, would have died thou
| sauG deaths rather than have SyDDlicated