Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-12-30
Gales aud Sketfhfs.
TIE rURREf DOOR.
CONTINUED from Yesterday

CONTINUED from yesterday
Nv sensation upon making this discove-
~ will not attempt to describe Often
very often-in the course OF my ME
have had occasion to remark the truth
of the saying:
1.-THE avenues that lead to death are
numerous and strange"
Little did think how nearly was my
self to afford an example of its truth. lei
surely no mortal was ever before the
victim of an accident so wildly singular
and so full of horror! There the great
weight was above me. Slowly, surely, 1t
was creeping downward. And slowly and
surely it would still creep downward in
the darkness and the silence OF the night.
And far up in the soft air OF sunset the
bells were still ringing the evening hymn:
The suddenness, the unexpectedness OF
what bad happened, had formed no small
part of its effect upon my mind. Yet up
to this time nav adventure, though not
such as one would have chosen TO under
go, had nothing in it portentouslv alarm
ing. 1t was disagreeable enough, I'M
doubtedly, to be forced against ones will
to put ~ with such lodging for the
NIGHT. But what was the discomfort Of
nv situation, had that been the worst 1t
had in store for me, compared with the
horror of it now!
For many minutes after making this dis
coverv | remained motionless, striving
vainly to realize the most singular yet
deadly peril which threatened me. do
not know how long it was before so tar
recovered nv faculties as to become capa-
BILE of thought. At length arousing my
self by an effort to examine whether any
way OF escape lay open to me, turned
nv attention to the interspace between the
weight and the wall; but it was far. very
far, too narrow to admit of the passage OF
my body. Then-to such extremities
may desperation drive its victims-I
thought OF attempting to arrest the great
weight by supporting it with my stick as
it descended. l might as well have at
tempted to support a falling avalanche.
Then an idea occurred to my mind
which brought with it CLEAN of hope.
| thought it possible that, by applying my
strength to the weight itself, 1 might be
able to impart to it by slow degrees a
swinging motion like that OF pendulum !;
and this being continued, might at length
bring the ponderous mass in contact with
the door and so burst it open. Raising
myself from the floor OF the cell, upon
which | had again sunk down, | applied
my strength to the weight, and by exert.
ing all my energy in successionRo
rhythmical impulses, l gradually S
ceeded in imparting to it an almost i'm
perceptible movement.
Gradually this increased, and but for
an unforeseen circumstance the scheme
might have been successful. But |
presently found that the weight did not
hang exactly in the centre of the shaft
The consequence OF this was that it struck
the wall opposite the door before it
reached the door itself. The extent of its
swing beng thus checked, my utmost
efforts failed to bring it into contact with
the door. The attempt had therefore to
be abandoned, and hope again died with
in me.
Hope died within me- And now my
sensations were those Of extreme horror
and dismav for the first time felt the
certainty of my fate. A deadly sickness
seized me. In paroxysm of despair
flung myself again upon the floor of my
prison, and lay there without motion.
will not dwell upon the long hours
that followed-those hours of more than
mortal agony of mind. 1t happened that
had lately been reading an account of a
traveller who had persisted in quicksand.
The time of the accident was on summer
evening, when the sun was sinking, and
the lonely shore was bathed in rosy light.
The spot where it occurred was well known
to me-and after reading the account |
had endeavored, in that unreasoning spirit
which sometimes leads the mind to dwell
on horrors, to realize in fancy the sensa-
tons of the victim, az inch by inch and
foot by foot, in full sight of the free ocean
and the glorious sun, the treacherous
quicksand drew him downward-down.
ward-to his doom.
What the sensations attending such a
death must be | could then but feeblv
realize. | know them now.
know them now. The sensations OF
those who have stood face to face with
death for hours, watching with startling
eyes his slow approach, are to me no
mystery. But the mind of man has
mercifully been so ordered that agony
prolonged beyond a certain point ends in
benumbng the power of feeling. Thus
ton often sleep soundly and eat with
appetite; 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 the shaft
must have acted upon me with some stu
pefying or bewildering influence. like tina,
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 disturbed
by another circumstance, very trivial in
itself; bv sound, which reached nv
senses from somewhere in the stiffness; a
sound low, muffled, throbbng and mys.
FERROUS, like the beating of my own blood.
Had my mind been clear could not lons
have failed to recognize it for what il
was. The sound seemed in my ears but
this was merely 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 mechan-
ically. half unconsciously, to this monoto.
nous sound, broken at intervals bv the
notes of the deep-toned bell. At length,
probably owing in great measure to the
L