The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1886-09-03

will not dwell upon the long hours
that followed-those hours of more
than mortal agony of mind. The
sensations of those who have stood
face to face with death for hours,
watching with starting eyes his slow
approach, are To me no mystery. But
the mind of a man has mcrcfully been
so ordered that agony prolonged be-
yond certain point ends in benumb-
ing the power of feeling. Thus it is
that criminals condemned TO execution
often sleep soundly and eat with appe.
tite fact which seems amazing to
those who consider how comparatively
slight degree of mental distress has
power to rob the night of rest and to
turn the dantiest food to poison. They
do not reflect that mental agony in its
extremity ceases to be felt. But thus
it is, and thus it was with me.
believe also that the air of tho
shaft must have acted upon me with
some supplying or bewildered in
fuence, like that of the vapor which
often gathers at the bottom of old
wells. The agitation of my mind
gradually gave place to strange feeling
of indifference. The peril under which
| lay ceased to trouble me, and at last
no longer occupied my thoughts.
/ began instead to be curiously dis
turbed by another circumstance, very
trivial in ITSELF by asound, which reach
ed my senses from somewhere in the
stiffness a sound low, muflled, throb-
bing and mysterious, like the beating
of my own blood. Had my mind been
clear | could not have failed to recog-
nize it for what it was. The sound
seemed in my ears ; but this was mere
ly owing to my position in the shaft.
In reality, it was the ticking of the
great clock, far above my head
For hours | sat there, listening me-
chanically, half unconsciously, to Ibis
monotonous sound, broken at intervals
by the notes of the deep toned bell. AT
length, probably owing in great meas
ure to the heavy effect of the air upon
me, must have passed into sort of
stupor, which lasted very long.
When / came to myself was con
scious of very singular sensation.
The pitchy darkness was about me
and of course could see nothing.
But, in some unaccountable manner, of
which fear it is impossible for me to
convey notion, was aware that
during my trance the weight had de
scended a great way, and was now
close aboye my body. l could feel,
though nothing touched me, the huge
and threatening mass brooding over
me in the darkness. With a mighty
eforL--for like person in a nightmare
seemed to have lost the power of
motion-I raised my hand. My ex-
pectation was a correct one. My hand
struck against the under surface of the
weight, at an elevation of less than
three inches from my face AT last
after an eternity of unutterable sus-
pense-at last-it touched me.
1t touched me. AT first lightly then
with perceptible pressure; then with
pressure which grew distressing.
In vain | sought relief; in vain !
strove to writhe my body into narrower
compass. Slowly, steadily, the mass de-
scended, crushing me against the floor.
The last minute of my life seemed to
come. breathed prayer to heaven
and resigned myself to die. Still a
space the weight descended my brain
swan my breathing became difficult
| believe that for some brief seconds |
bore upon my fainting form the whole
burden of the ponderous mass. The
blood rushed in torrents to my head, ]
felt that my senses we're leaving me.
Very suddenly the pressure ceased.
| was conscious of a welcome relief.
drew in deep breath, freely. | moved
my limbs, and found their liberty nc
dream, The weight was gone
raised my hand and it encountered
space. gasping, staggered, to my
feet. The weight was already above
my head, and rising rapidly upward in
to the darkness of the shaft. A sound
of moving mechanism reached m.
from above. | thought l heard the
murmur of voices men were moving
in the tower above me.
The purpose which had brough,
them there was evident they wert
winding up the clock.
l remember little more, and tha
confusedly. | have some dim memory
of an interval of silence, broken by
voices outside my prison ; of the sudder
opening of the door, of binding ligh
of group of several forms without,
seem to remember also that there wer,
cries of wonder as l staggered from IN,
narrow lodging and fell fainting int
the arms of my deliverers. But thes
things are to me as the shadows of
dream, The rushing darkness return
ed upon me, and for many hours
knew no more.
Such is the story of my strange ad
venture. l greatly doubt whether il
all the chapter of accidents in histor,
a stranger can be found. l have al
ready stated that its truth is known t,
several persons, and that the stric
accuracy of my account can be verifie,
by simple inquiry. -ArgOSy.