Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-08-02
SEATTLE w. MORNING. AUGUSTA 1884
CONDEMNED To DEATH.
" Condemned to .,eathr'

Ever since the Judge spoke the awful
words In the hush OF the crowded eourt.
room they have been ringing in his ears,
MS nerves had been strained 20 tbsir
UTMOST tension when the words were
PoAeh' ana they seemed to have been
burned INTO his brain. When be closed
MS eyes the sentence stood ont red
"aere All else Was black. When be for.
Eot himself Tor moment he came back
WIZ start Ia sense of bitter recoIlec-
siOh' as something seemed to whisper IN
us ear, Condemned to DEATH A,
nl,s tue time Of execution appeared tner-
clfuIly far of, bat day after day passed
IKE tLe steady dropping of water, and
efch Tar summer morning, that woke
,he world 20 tie enjoyment of life an5
beauty, m rely for him tinged the stone
walls With gray and gave a more fearful
signlncaHee to the words that haunted
hin" Condemned to death
de wakes IN the middle of the .ilent
night aud sits bolt upright with the
overwhelming pressure of some undefiu-
able fear upon him. He asks himself:
What Is It! Where am I?' He must
have had horrible dream. He must
wake himself. He will laugh al this
when sleep has completely left him. Bat
as be arouses himself he sees the terri
ble letters like phosphorescent hand
writing on the wall of his cell, and he
fails back aghast, as If struck By an un-
seen hand. Whichever way he tarns
the words " Condemned to DEATH CON
front him. With a groan be sinks on
his hard bed. The grim reality is more
fearful than the dreadful dream. He
tries to forget to sleep, If possible.
The distant bells, which tell 10 others
the hour of the night. toll OFT to him:
" Condemned to death. condemned to
deathr'
At last the very rhythm Of the words
IN his ear brings on a troubled slumber
But what mast be the dreams of a
wretch sent to sleep with such n hideoas
lullaby! He dreams perhaps of the
man IN the room of ever closing walls
that at last crash him to death. He sees
himself IN narrow passage, from which
there IL no escape. An iron grating
shoves him toward the other end. As
he nears 1t he sees in his pathway an
open grave. be grasps the iron frame
That IL sending him remorselessly on.
tie puts forth his strength. bat it avails
him nothing. The next move will be
the last. He filings himself against the
wall and shrIeks for help. The grave
fades from hi sight and he fluids him
self graspirg the iron bars of his cell.
he draws a breath of intense relief,
but the next instant begins the dread
refrain
Condemned to deathr'
tie has his wild and fruitless dreams
of escape, and then the madness of self
destruction makes him for the moment
insane. There are the hours Of unut-
terable despair when he sits on his bed
with his head bowed and his fingers
tan led in his hair. He listens with a
dull, mechanical agony to the footsteps
OF the death watch on the stone floor
outside, and they seem to slowly oreak
the words, "To death! to death! to
deathr'
At times it is impossible for him to
believe that he, WHO is sound in health
and limbs, robust aud full of vigor,
with not an ailment that he kHows of, a
man in the prime of life, with energy,
strength, will-all that gnes to make
life worth living-that ne is Gagged here,
helpless, like rat In a trap, waiting till
at signal he will be a quivering. inert
mass. Then he faces his cell and raves
and curses all mankind. The knowledge
of the uselessness of this forces itself
upon him, and be becomes calm again.
His thoughts turn to the one and only
channel that can give relief. There Is
but one ray of light that enters the cell
of tn Religion. He has
doubtless given little regard to it in for
ner life, but now he realizes that it
alone can dull the CHASTITY significance
of the dismal echo in his ears" Con
demned to deathr'