The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1884-05-31
BETTY, THE HANGWOMAN.

BETTY, THE HANGWOMAN.
What travellers tell of the King of
Eahomey's ANA oman body-guards.
gaunt, grim viragoes-e every one of
prodigious strength, courage and
ocity-impres ses one with African
barbarity more forcibly than, perhaps,
any other institut ON on the 81 ark
Continent. Even among savages one
looks for some leaning. toward men on
the women's part. Il is natural to ex-
pect Il Pocahontas even ON the coast o.
Guinea but the idea o. female exc
ut,oner, strange and dread ul when
narrated in the annals of an African
II b.. becon es horrible, grotesque, in
credible when transported to spot
within a few hours journey of London,
and TO days not remote from our own.
And vet flourishsd in Rcscommon,
logged, brand d, hanged and pocketed
fees for such serv ce, one whose mem
Dry still fingers round the old gaoI and
in the minis of the peasantry-the
famous LADY Betty.
How she came to lie hangwoman may
be briefly told. She was of peasant
origin early let widow with one
child, a boy, in the latter half of the
eighteenth century. Her disposition
was silent and brooding- what the IRISH
call ''dark." Having no friends, al
her dull affections concentrated in her
son. She was superior to her class in
many ways she could read and write,
unused accomplishments in those days,
and in these arts she instructed the lad.
She was crushed by bitter, hopeless
poverty, livt d with difficulty by the Ia
Dor of her hands, and privation seemed
to act like frost on her soul, chilling and
freezing the fount of kindness that
SIP ings in every woman's heart. In
truth; an unloya> lie creature even when
lowances are made for ciroun stances.
The boy was lively and warm hearted,
full of merry, affectionate ways, wind
ing himself round his mothers heart,
and returning her love with intere t,
the one b ig, spot in her obscure,
monotoncus life. Then, as now, the
tide of emig alton flowed Westward,
BIT America seemed vastly further off.
Re ore the boy s mag nation it tiuttered
shimmering phantom; an Ell Dorado,
where fortunes we. to he had for the
taking; land of sunshine, of mar els.
Gradually he won Betty to his way of
thinking. Though it wrung her hea
to let him 60, she agreed there was no
opening for him at home, nor hope of
fortune, and so it came to pass he stood
= one morning at the crossroads, pockets
empty, courage high, with a group of
intending emigrants, while his mother,
choking with fearless grief, hung round
his neck, as if she could no. let him 90,
strained him in last pass onate en-
brace, then turning without once look
ing back, ran blindly to her lonely
cabin, locked the door, and flung her
self down in an agony of sorrow.
Whether he even reached his destina-
ton, or fell a,victim to the climate, or
whether he wrote her letters which
never reached her, is not known. She
never heard from him after he sailed.
Years passed; her dark hair tn ned
grayish, the lines hardened round her
mouth.
Happier far if she had died then, poor
and alone, than lived to earn the price
of blood. One winter evening she sat
by her fire of dry sticks, and crouched
over the feeble blaze. Outside the dark
rack trailed across the sky, the trees
.swayed their heavy branches with dis.
NAL cseak, gusty showers had fallen all
cay, soldering e. roads and grass;
now the wind was rising, portending
ominously storm, and driving the
smoke hack into the blackened kitchen,
which, with 1.-THE ROOM" as Irish peas
ants call it, composed her desolate
dwelling.
The storm grew louder, the rain came
swishing aga INST the windows with
every gust and its heavy, monotonous
patter was heard in the lull of the blast.
Il found its way through weak places
in the thatch and dripped slowly on the
earthel floor, filling the uneven places
with little pools of water. A half
starved black-cat rubbed against its
mistress knees. 1t was $3.50 when a
lord knock was heard at the door. The
woman sta. ted violently and listened;
it was repeated. Lighting the one
candle the house afforded she advanced
and asked who was there.
"A tray eler seeking shelter, replied
a strange voice, and Betty opening the
do saw tall man with long, black
beard, holding the bride of a powerful
horse. He It ode into the cottage, the
wet cleaning on his clothes and the
coat of the animal. "a terrible night, "
he said, in hearty, genial tones. They
Id me I'd reach Roscommon before
night but my hose cast a shoe, and It
took me so long to get it rep lired that
this COMPOUNDED storm overlook me. !
am wet to the skin, and if you can givs
mN bed and some supper ! shall stay