Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-12-11

are ringing for church. Why not here in
ytEr own house? No on Hampstead heath
| Walked there one day last week to think
1t was very peaceful AMI the air was sweet
walked to think and think, and l saw the
end-the end as it will be o-morrow night,
ami Sunday morning Now, pull yourself
together, John, and b, man.
lie paced the room again, then satdown.
and wrote letters for an hour, sealing each
letter with black wax. When he had fin
ishel he did not place them in the box for
post. but locked them in an iron safe that
was Lullt into the wall of the room.
This was one of the letters which he locked
away with the rest.
"MY DEAR BRorHER-To what a slough
OF infamy have my steps directed me, and
new there is no going on or retreating. L
am criminal of the worst class, the cause
of the ruin of thousands, many of them
widows and orphans, all of them persons
who have trusted to my honor.
'At this moment lnd indeed for
long tune have I felt iN I am deeply
sensible CT the misery AMI wretche1-
ness I have caused and shall cause
could bear any punishment, but not the
wretchedness of being a witness of all
the trouble that is about to fall on M
dupes. Il is best that l. should not live; for
though l might escape to some foreign
country l should die of remorse, go mad per-
haps; 1 certainly could not live, my crimes
beng ended and discovered
81 am alone guilty. I have had no con-
feierare. l have cheated and swindled on
my own account. Nolan and the others con-
nected with me have no knowledge of my
deceptions, my false deeds, my forgeries,
all committed in the hope that might re-
trieve my losses.
"Ah my dear brother it was a sal day
for all of us when I came to London,
''Y on and my first political friends will
now know why threw them over and took
office; it was last desperate chance to re-
trieve myself, and if I dared nave waited
and been patient it would have succeeded.
Ii l could have lived my embarrassments
Gown until had become secretary of the
treasury my frauds woull never have been
known; should have put all straight. Now
il will be with difficulty that | can even
leave sufficient information behind me to
let you all know the extent of my defalca-
tions and robberies,
" authorize you to take possession of all
my papers, and you will find written mem
oranda that will help the solicitors to some
kind of understanding of them. When /
have written this letter, shall go round to
the club and take my dinner in peace for
he first time for years. l remember the
pride with which first walked into the Re
form Club, the false pride; have dlned
there every day these last two years when
III town, and having no private engage
ments at home or elsewhere, and tonight I
go to take leave OF it and my friends-some
Of tbnm already look askance at me. After
wards shall come back to my room to make
my last notes for your guidance. l am
writing to Nolan to meet me here te-1r,or-
row at twelve for last conference with
him; then IT could go to chapel and to con-
fession, and II the panitent thief on the cross
could be forgiven, surely I can; surely,
surely!
"Oh, that had never left Ireland Oh,
that had resisted the first temptation to
speculate Oh, being in financial difficult
ties that hal had the courage to stop and
confess! Ca, the folly, the misery of the
first fraud! Oh the difficulty there is to 60
back! Once launched N crime the devil has
the power to hurry you on and on, as he has
hurried me-
''lf L had had more solid firmness. less
talent, less ambition, | might have been an
honest happy and prosperous man, adj
mired and beloved of you, | might have
lived to bless my father and mother in
their old age, instead of bringing down
their gray hairs to the grave and bias ting
forever the wretched name of
JOHN NEEDHAM
ITO my brother, Henry Needham of The
FRS, County Mayo"
When the writer of this slast dvino
speech and confession" returned from his
last dinner at the club, )" he was in
different frame of mind to that in which he
had designed the means and manner of his
own deatn, fixing 1t to take place on the
following night,
'Hopel' he said to himself, as be smoked
cigar in his writin groom prior to going
to bed. What horrlb BILE idea to associate
with Hop! And yet it leaped into my
mind the moment I spoke 70 him; leaped
into my mind ready armed, as it were; not
beautiful like Venus starting up from the
froit Of the sea, but like a fend springing
cut frcni the flames Of hell"
He strobe about the room thoughtfullv.
and then walked quickly to and fro, now
smoking furiously, now laying down his
cigar.
Have I drunk more than usualW he
asked himself, answering In the same
breath mo; and yet my cheeks are burn
ing with excitement. my hands are hot;
not with fear for l had settled all calmly
enough, God knows, when that image of
my wretched self crossed my path. What
does it mean? Am l dreaminga Did | see
him; talk to him; ask hun to come here's
YES; and lie will come"
Then be sat down at his desk, sorted
rapers, wrote several letters, stamped one,
put the rest away, walked about again,
rang the bell, told thu servant he migh5 so
10 bed.
Don't fasten the doori I am going out
"gain."
Very well, sir.n
liz went out, carrying this letter with
hms walked to the nearest postotfice and
rus it into the boz, walked along Oxford
street., walked quickly, walk ed for minutes
without any other purpose but to walk
and think.
II there were such fiand as the in
triguing gentleman in che opera of Faust"
moving along with him and inspiring his
thoughts, one could imagine such Mephis-
topheles pausing now and then to Inb hia
invisible hands.
1t was fright summer night with
lofty. ar-away sky, in which q few stars
shone brightly. Needham walked as far
as the PARK, sat in a seat for some time, re-
turned along Oxford street, and back to
Portland place, opened HIS door with his
latcn key, went into MS room again, aud
4mglnS nlfflS9lI INTO MS cnalr remained III
an attitude of intense thought
MANY man comes to London" he said
presently to himself, land is heard of no
more He is on his way to foreign land;
it IS thought he has gone thither, but ne re-
mains in London; sometimes he IS dead and
sometimes he lives. People are missing
daily; they are advertised in the papers;
they dom wish to return, they are dead,
OF wish to be thought So A man leaves
home to go to America Australia; he is in
earnest, but doesn arrive; or if he does, it
is months before he can be heard from;
months must elapse if no letters come be-
fore he can be followed up. WHAT is one
lie more or less, his or mine, or anybody'ss
Life is battle; it has its wounded, its
killed, and its missing
He paused, and lighted another cigar;
the one in his hand was only half consumed.
He slipped little brandy AMI water.
why did he tell mo SO much about him
selfs Why lid everything he said seem to
drive nail into my first thought as If to fix
if iato my min la nail in his coffin? i