The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1878-07-19
IN INNOCENT MIN HUNG.
A BLACK PAGE IN THE HISTORY OF CIRCUN
STANTIAL EVIDENCE.

/ family Colonel James Clymer, whose terri
/ ble fate is herein told was one of the most
/ esteemed members. He was a gentleman
! OF noble presence, high education and great
| wealth, and was justly beloved for his many
! amiable qualities and his unbOunded gen
! eroslty. Until the age of thirty eight Col.
| Clymer remained a bachelor. At that
| time he married a Miss Julia Merwin,
| whose family was very extensive and of
/ equal consideration with the Clymers-
! Mrs. Clymer was of quick and irritable
/ temper, and differed in religion and poll
| tics from her husband. Constant misun-
| derstandings and chickering's soon arose be-
/ tween the newly welded pair, and, what
/ mace matters worse, the lady brought into
| the family an iil-natured, suspicious conf
| dante IN she person of an elder sister, This
| woman's method of procedure was the
| source Of perpetual discord. She set her
| self to pry into the history of the Colonel,
and soon discovered that a mulatto girl re-
| siding on the property had, previous to the
/ ColOne's marriage, been the object of his
| Illicit love. MISS AIerwin excited the ieal-
/ ousy and aroused the naturally uuamiable
spirit of Mrs. Clymer, by every means in
her power, bu5 chiefly by her insnuations
respecting this girl. From morning to
| night the Colonel was badgered and misrep-
| resented. The birth of a son year after
their marriage did not heal the breach, as
one would have supposed it would have
| done.
The wife's sister famed the flame of
discOrd with her ever-restless tongue, and
the wife herself seized every opportunity to
| mortify her husband in public. Fanny,
the mulatUo girl before spoken of, was en-
! plOyed to nurse the baby so as to be con-
tinually under the eye of Mrs. Clymer, who
vented on the helpless and unresentiug
slave all her spitefuI animosity.
Colonel Clymer became restless and dis
| satisfied. He lost his former cav and
| buOyant spirits, and sought distraction in
| business, applying for and easily obtaining
position in tue Excise Department. His
new occupation brought him into collision
with people, and he became unpopular.
This fact must be borne in mind, as with
out doubt it affected his subsequent fate.
Here, too, as an instance of the violent
temper of his wife, and as materially con-
tributing to his doom, an incident must be
mentioned. When engaged, toward the
close of the financial year, in making up
! his official accounts, his wife asked him to
do something for her. Being IN the midst
of calculation, the Colonel did not attend
10 his wife's request. She gIew enraged,
and iH a violent paroXysm of passion caught
up number of valuable papers, and at
! tempted to thrust them into the fire. Her
/ husband was obliged to use violence to
wrench them from her, and save them from
! destruction.
Colonel Clymer soon became careless as
| 20 the management of his domestic affairs,
and his wife and her sister were left to
control everything. Henceforth the unfor-
tunate girl Fanny led a miserable life, for
it was upon her chiefly that Mrs. Clymer
/ vented her wrath.
1t was the third year of Mrs. CIymer's
marriage. One day the child-nOw two
years old-happened 20 fall and bruise its
face. Mrs. Clymer declared that the nurse,
Fanny, had designedly knocked the child
down. Fanny, with tears in her eyes,
protested her innocence. Mrs. Clymer
would not listen to her, but declared that
she should be whipped. The same morn
ing, as the Colonel was starting on horse
back to a town at some distance, and while
Fanny was holding the child for him TO
kiss, Mrs. Clymer said
Colonel, | wish you would bring me a
good rawhide l want 20 use it on some
body you know"
Fanny turned deadly pale and almost
dropped the child. From her confession,
from which, in conjunction with other
testimony, the facts of this history are ia
ken, it appears that the continual perSecu-
tiOn which the girl had undergone had had
its effect upon her. This last outrage was
[ unbearable. The girl had been tenderly
brought up, her master had petted and
fondled her, aud until he brought home a
wife she had never known what harsh
word or an unkind look was. In three
E years, however, she had borne the brunt OF
her mistress ill-nature and jealousy, and
, had been the patient victim Of incessant
, persecution. Now the last indgnity was
TO be laid upon her, aud the next morning,
perhaps, her flesh W Ould be lacera.ed by the
vindictive hand of her former lovers wife.
! About dusk the Colonel returned, and
! delivered to his wife the rawhide.
''By tomorrow at this time" she SAID,
examining the Tawhide and glanclng al
4 II -. (, l.ap y1rNf.,t
Y The Colonel, who had been blind to the
: fact that Fanny had long undergone perse-
o cution, and who cOnjectured correctly upon
whom the rawhide was to be used, reused
/ ! himself from his usual uncoucern and leth-
+ argy, and, ordering Fanny TO withdraw,
expostulated with his wife.
a terrible scene. followed. Mrs. ClymeI
E accused her husband of still indulging III
unlawful intimacy with Fanny, and went
so far as to charge him with having seduced
! Tannie's Younger sister since his marriage.
The Colonel grew greatly excited and LOUD
and angry words followed. As usual, the
4 wife got the better of it, and the Colone
e | relapsed into his ordinary condition oi
> | needless apathy.
= In order that all the facs OF this horrible
I | and remarkabl crime may be fully under
. ! stood, it viii be necessary to state that MIS-
c ! CIvmer's child had been sick he had been
i'm an ailing condition for some time, aho
the parents had usually taken charge ol
the child during the night by turns. IDS
: NIGHT il was the Colonel's time to sleep on
e the couch by the ohild's side. As be had
: been out all day, however. and was very
tired, Mrs. Clymer undertook the duty
E and a negro girl was appointed to sleep OF
, a mat in a corner of the capacious room,
: to be ready at hand in case the chlld should
q awake and express desire to be taken up.
n The girl testified that the Colonel lay down
in the large bed in the north corner OF the
p room, and soon fell into SO profound
= slumber that when his wife wished to as
d certain where he had deposited the key oi
+ the bureau she found it impossible 10 arouse