The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-01-19
he said, in concert, a-crying out. asiDC

he said, in concert, a-crying out: "siDg
us to sleep, Dohertyln :
Pretty soon she began. / could hear
her plain above the roaring Of the storm.
She began-Doherty began-that-that
Observation-Disclosures that had
once been q woman like other woman
folks-excuse me, ma'am; but shed been
on our books q good many years. And
I've heard her sing such thingil l never
looked TO be taken by surprise, Us Doher.
ty took me. You're not surprised very
easy in such q place as this at anything
your fellow.sinners do.
But about midnight, when the storm
was at its thick and the cells were grow
ing still, Doherty, she sat up and began
to sing a hymn. She sang:-
"shall We gather at The River"
Ny boy sings that at Sunday School and
my wife, she strikes il up the frat thing
on the cabinet organ every Sunday night
Doherty sang 1t all through:-
"At Tie margin Of the River,
Washing up It's silver !pny,
We shall walk and w0rihip ever,
AIl tho happy, golden day"
Those are the words. I thought perhaps
you wouldn't know them. Folks sing
them great deal in the Baptist Church.
Before you could have cooked a pistol
It was as quiet rs a grave all through
this place. The officers looked at n
another. All the men walked up. The
women, they got together in 4 heap about
her. The Cap'n said TO me-: "Dohaty's
singing h%yma-tunes" l said l thought
we'd go down and see; and down we
went.
When we looked in at the grating, I
wish ma'am, you could have seen those
men-ragged, rough, red, drunk. Some
Of 'em taken in awful crimes. No, l
don't wish you had seen them. Butthere
they set, as silent IS u row Of angela on
the Judgment.day, a.listening to hear
that woman sing. One and another, they
said: "Hush! hushp And one fellow
said: II used to sing that song myself"
He was up for assault and battery. Badly
beaten, too, himself, about the face. He
crept along The wall, l noticed, on his
knees, to get where he could hear her
better. When she stopped, he hollered
out: -
"Giye US some more, DohertyP
And the rest said:-
"Doherty, give us another psalm.tunel"
But one of the women said:-
"Come, Nell! Sing US to sleep with
the hymns."
So then she began again; and she gave
1t TO 'em, one upon another, fast and
clear. Heaven knows where the creetur
learned 'en. At some Protestant Sun.
day School, maybe, where shed wandered
10 at holidays. They go n good deal on
account OF the Christmas presents.
We all got round her there-the men
inside and the officers without-and list.
ened for awhile. l don't think | ever
heard her sing so in all my life. Doherty
had a fine voice, and no mistake. II she'd
been respectfully born shed have been a
great singer, that woman, | take il; and
folks would have been running to the
opera and to concert halls TO hear her,
So there she sat and sung. She set up
in one corner, with her chin upon her
hands, and noticed nobody; but stared
straight on before her. She sang "Near-
er, Ny God, to Thee" and depths Of
Mercy" and she snug"I Heard the Voice
Of Jesus Say" and Love Mt Home" and
all those. And all the men and all the
women listened. And / saw the Cap'n
draw his hand acrost his eyes. And I'll
own it was too much for ma. l will, in
deed.
To see her there, letting out those holy
words SO trustiully, as you might say,
ma'am, as il she had as much right TO 'em
~ anybOdy-that-poor wretched
am, It was enough to break your heart 10
hear her. / couldn't help remembering
how pretty she had been and young, and
how she took on the first night she ever
come to US.
Pretty soon l come away up stairs
for phe unnamed me 30, before the men;
and / set down here and had 1t out
alone. But while ! was setting here !
heard a lull, and one Of tue Irish boys
called out =
"Giye us the one more, Dohertyl Then
ye can take yer sleep yerself"
And then, ma'aIn, she began, quite low
and in a faint voice, and very sweet, and
she SUNG
:, Jesus, Lover Of NY Foul"
She sung in this way, singing louder now
and then -
"Let mo to Thy bosom ay,
While the blllOwi near ne roll,
Hide me, oThOu savior, hide"
And in the midst Of the verse she stopped.
The men called to her, and the women
and the Cap'n said:-
"Give us the rest, Nell"
I was rather glad he called her Nell
Just then; for when we got in, wondering
what it all meant, and hushing up the
women, ma'am, as beat we could, we
found her lying turned a little on her
aide, with her face against the wall, quite
dead.