The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1881-03-17

suddenly he rose from his seat and
drew from the inside Of his overcoat
a long aud pointed knife, which flashed
ominously in the lampight.
6 Jack Lawson, we must both Of us
die tonight said he calmly and
deliberately, without any excitement
Of manner. 81 feel that the time has
come for both Of us to quit this vale
Of tears .
Yes; I quite agree with you, Tom
Raven I replied seeing what had
happened-in as calm voice as his
own. II have long thought that life
was becoming very undesirable; and,
to leave it in your company, with you,
my Oldest and warmest friend, would
be the most agreeable thing to me
that could happen. But-you are
not married, Tom
':Thank Heaven. no!''
Remember, am married and,
had you given me notice of this wish
of yours before starting, would have
made arrangements and have spoken
to my wife to prepare her. Have you
made your will, Tom e.
''No, have not. .
will Tom, it is absolutely necessary
for both of us to make our wills be-
fore we die. have not made mine,
and should not like to leave the world
with the chance Of my wife and child
having to go to the workhouse or be
chargeable on the parish after my
death. You would wish to leave your
money to some one in particular it
not 50 p
"Of course I should like to leave
my money properly-of- course-yes!
Inever thought Of making my will.
Y OH must also remember, Tom.
that it would never do to die deliber-
ately, in the way we both desire to
die without leaving to the world our
reason for the act. You would not
wish your name to be a by-word and
the cause Of derison to any one, am
sure and / am certain l don't wish
my own to be so. Therefore we must
both draw out our reasons for DYING
''Do you know, Jack, I never
thought Of that -
swell, then. first put your knife
down on the cushion there, and then
we will set to work. I've plenty of
paper in my bag and plenty of lead in
my pencil, and we've the whole night
before u.s.
A tremble of my hand, a culver in
my voice, would have been fatal. l.
opened the bag and drew forth the
Writing-paper. The knife was on the
cushion at my side.
"Now, Tom, let us first state our
reasons to the world for wishing to die
tonight by our own hands. If you
will dictate to me your reasons, I will
write them down, and then we will
revise and correct them. Aft~c that,
I will dictate my own to you and you
shall write them. We shall be able
to do our work we'll and quickly"
"Quite right, Jack; we ought to
give them our reasons. How odd
that I never thought of that! Letme
see if I kill you first, might write
them out afterward.''
"Ah, but who will write out mine
Don't be selfish, there's a good chap!'
"To be sure! Well, are you ready -
He began debating long and fiowery
sentences. Now and again I inter-
rupted his flow of language to gain
time. This kept him thoroughly
occupied and Interested, while the
train sped on at express rate. He
had nearly finished his long, rambling
dictation, when, to my inexpressible
delight, felt the speed of the train
gradually slackening. I knew that
my chance of deliverance was near.
"Read over for yourself what I
have written,'' I said to him. "The
carriage is very close-a little fresh
air will do us good. I will make any
corrections you may require.''
[ sat on the knife and reached over
to lower the glass. A slight fun
bling necessitated my rising to manage
better, and the knife was in my left
hand concealed under my coat. I
turned round to look at my poor friend,
and saw him trying intently to read
my scribble by the light of the lamp,
seemingly unconscious of the stop
ing of the train. In another moment
the glass descended, the knife dropped
upon the platform, my hand was
thrust through the window and on the
handle of the door. The train nearly
stopped as I jumped out, shut the door,
and held the handle firmly. Poor
Raven even then was quite engrossed
with what had written for him. 1
called the guard, and secretly and
quietly the porters were assembled on
the platform at the door of the car
riage.
'Come, Tom, this is Swindon!
Let us have a cup Of coffee!" 1
called to him through the window.
In that moment the spell was
broken. I saw him look for his knife.
then rush to the window at the oppo-
site side ;but we were too quick and
too powerful for him. The guard, two
porters, and myself jumped into the
carriage, and he was secured.
My best friend, with brilliant
future before him, and in ripe portion
of his life, was a raving lunatic, and
has remained hopelessly so-insane
from that time-One Of the many
victims to over-work.
need scarcely add that the case
which Raven had represented to me
as calling him to Exeter was an entire
fabrication, and was invented by him
as part of the scheme which, in his
madness, he had no doubt seriously
imagined would be for the benefit