The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1886-05-27

''Thas is well" said Needham, as the
door closed on butler and messenger; u
begin to feel better already" 4,,.r2
He unlocked his desk, took out the bottle,
removed the stopper and smel!ed the deadly
liquor. -.il..s.a..!. :
Enough to poison half the town." he
said. "Well, the stir it will make will be
Just as great as il it had done it."
Then be replaced the bottle in the desk,
opened the window, sat down in an easy
chair, ard neither spoke nor moved for
| long time. ...,,......... .....-. ....-.
Presently he rose, closed the window, and
paced the room, then sat down at his desk
and did very unusual thing-began talk
ing to himself in loud whisper:
."No, John, not to-night-to-morrow-let
me say tomorrow. You must put things
straight for your brother, and write some
letters-you must see Nolan, too"
Nolan was q confidential friend and
solicitor. 81. -. .a... ....
. ""Are you going mad, joint No, coming
to your senses, ehl You have been mad
for five years, mad and miserable. Now
you are t. have rest and peace. All, John,
if poor men only knew the bliss of an
honest life they would never desire to be
rich. II i had my time to come over again!
Why couldn't have had O dream years
ago, like that old man in the story, and
have awakened in time to turn back, to re-
form, to follow the other roadT'
He arose and looked at himself in mir
ror, sat down again, began to write, then
leaned back in his chair to whisper again to
himself like one in dream:
'.To-morrow night John, when they are
all abed-midnight You can walk to
Hampstead or take cab. Somebody will
find YOU the next morning when the bells
are ring ling for church Why not here, in
your own housel No, on Hampstead heath
I walked there one day last week to think
it was very peaceful, and the air was sweet
walked to think and think, and saw the
end-the end ss it will be tomorrow night,
and Sunday morning. Now, pull yourself
together, John, and be mnn." ..... o..
He paced the room again, then satdown,
and wr ote letters fer an hour, sealing each
letter with black wax. When he had fin.
ished he did not place them in the box for
post, but locked them in an iron safe that
was built into the we'll of the room
This was one of the letters which he locked
away with the rest: ... ....
"MY DEAR BRoTHER-To what slough
Of infanly have my steps directed me, end
now there IS no going on or retreating. :
Fam criminal of the worst class, the cause
of the ruin of thousands, many of them
widows aud orphans, all of them persons
who have trusted to my honor. -.
"At this moment land indeed for O
long time have felt iN I am deeply
sensible of the misery and wretched-
ness I have caused and shall cause. I
could bear any punishment, but not the
wrctchedness of being witness Of all
the trouble that is about to fall on my
dupes 1t is best that should not live; for
though might escape to some foreign
! country should die of remorse, 60 mad per-
haps; certainly could not live, my crimes
being ended and discovered.
II am alone guilty. I have had no con-
federate. 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 I might re-
trieve my Losses.
s'At, my dear brother, it was a cad day
for all OF us when came to London.
"You and my first political friends will
now know why threw them over and took
Office; it was last desperate chance to re-
trieye myself, and if dared have waited
and been patient it would have succeeded.
If I could have lived my embarrassments
down until had become secretary Of the
treasury my frauds would never have been
known; I should have, put all straight. Now
it will bey,with difficulty that i can even
leave sufficient information behind me to
let you all know the extent of my defelca-
tions and robberies. ,,e.,,. ..,na 4Yeai
~ 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, Ishall go round to
the club and take my dinner in, peRce for
the, first time ;for years Il remember the
pride with which,I first walked into the Re-
form Club, the false pride; 7 have dined
there every day these last two years when
in town, and having no private engage
ments at home or elsewhere, and tonight
20 to take leave Of it and my friends-some
Of them already look askance at me. After
wards shall come back to my room to make
my last notes for your guidance. i am
writing to Nolan to meet me here to-mor-
row at twelve for q last conference with
him; then if could SO to chapel and to con-
fession, and if the penitent thief on the cross
could be forgiven, surely can; surely,
surely!
"Oh. that had never left Ireland! Oh,
that l had resisted the first temptation to
speculate! Oh, being in financial difficult
ties that had had the courage to stop and
confess! Oh, the folly, the misery of the
first fraud! Oh, the difficulty there is to go
backl Once launched in crime the devil has
the power to hurry you on and on, as he has
hurried me.
"If had had more solid .frmness less
talent, less ambition, I might have been an
honest, happy and prosperous man, ad-
mired and beloved Of you. l might have
lived to bless my father and mother in
their old age, instead Of bringing down
their gray hairs to the grave and blasting
forever the wretched name Of
John NEEDHAM
ITO my brother, Henry Needham, of The
Firs, County Mayo"
When the writer Of this 'last dying
speech and confession" returned from bis
'last dinner at the club" he was in n