The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1882-12-15
LUMBAN AND DEMOCRAT, BLOOMsBURG COLUMBIA COUNTY p

MY husband told me about an hour be-
fore he did it that the Lord demanded
a sacrifice of us and that our boy had
to die. / begged him to spare my boy.
| cried and begged him to consider
well what he was about to do, but all
the answer he made me was that Jesus
Christ had died for us and the Lord
had told him that our son had to die
for His sake. He called my boy out
of the house and told him that he had
to die for our Saviour. The boy asked
him if the Lord had commanded us to
starve and Josiah told him yes.
Then the little fellow knelt down and
| knelt down by his side and his faith
er stood up He raised the knife, look
ed hard in the boys face and then
drove the knife into his breast. Oh!
it was awful, once it was done"
"No | felt bad little, but when he
told me what he was going to do it did
not seem to me so terrible. 1t was
only when | saw the boy fall over and
a great stream of blood came squirting
from his body that felt how terrible
it al was.
Had your husband ever been re-
ligious man? Had he ever shown any
symptoms of religious insanity 7"
"No sir. He was not religious
man. He believed in God, but did not
follow any religion. He took to read
ing the Bible a great deal few weeks
before all this happened and used of
ten to read me all they say in the Bible
about the sacrifice to the Lord. ] beg
ged him not to read them so much, but
they seemed to have terrible fascina-
ton for him. lie would read over and
over again about the Lord command
ing Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac
and how He sent ram to be the vic
tim. He got to talking to his old faith
er, who is now seventy eight years old,
and he said to him: 4 am the Lord
His old father argued with him when
he saw the way he was going, but it
was no use, and my husband would go
on saying to him that he had God in
him"
"How long have you been married
to this man Has he been good hus-
band to you?"
"This coming December will be six
teen years have no complaint to
make against him, for he has been as
good husband to me as a woman
could want. He was always kind to
all CT us, and did all that he could to
keep us from want. But just before
he did il he said that we must all fast
and that he would not let us eat any
thing. The boy asked him frequently
if God had ordered us all to starve and
he always said He had. If it had not
been that my head was sort of dazed
and if the boy had not given in at
once, l might have prevented the kill
ling, though he was mighty bent on
it."
"How did your husbands talk on
this subject of sacrifice affect you ?"
"Well, I used to feel that if the Lord
commanded me to starve or kill people,
l would not do it. But when he
would talk to me and persuade me that
good wife should th'n as her hus'
band did, got so as to think that
what he said must be right"
"Do you never think of your murder
ed child?"
"Oh. yes, sir; l often do. l am al
ways thinking of him, and can hear
him at all times asking to be brought
in and laid on his bed, and begging
for little water before he died. I
have his face before me all the time,
and l hear his voice in my ears day
and night"
The woman continued with heart
rending details of the boys CONVERSE
tions with his father and his numerous
attempts to make his father go back to
fishing after he bad given it up. She
pictured in her graphic but illiterate
way the sickening details of their childs
death. During the course of her nara
tive deep sobs would interrupt her
story, but they seemed to be more the
result of emotional excitement than
any natural grief of bereaved moth
err.