The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1888-11-24
was twenty years imprisonment.

L
tence.
He had hoped that it would be less
severe, and that there would possibly
be chance of him OUTLYING or escap-
ing IN time that he might vet realize
those sweet dreams of the past.
Court then adjourned and the pris
oner was taken back to his cell he was
given a scanty supper and left alone in
his glory.
He did not sleep, for all night long
a slow, steady tap, tap could be heard
on the hard floor of his cell as he thus
paced mp and down this dark, narrow,
little place, his head was thrown for
ward, resting on his chest. His face,
that was once bright and beautiful,
was now pale and haggard, while his
eyes were sunken and dim.
Had all his crimes been known, his
body would soon be cold and stiff in
death. But no; Jim the Desperate had
the gallows.
Did he think, while he was pac-
ing up and down that cell, of a
few who were then dead-that they
/ had met their death by his own
hand? Did not the ghost of that
poor, bereayed father and mother,
whose bones were then lying at the
bottom of a deep gorge of the Rocky
Mountains, appear before him, while
| he paced there in the silent darkness
i Did they not speak to him in such
deep, threatening tones that would
cnrdle the blood in the veins of his
body, charging him with the murder OF
! their stolen daughter, and of stealing
all the money they then had?
| And, when all was still as DEATH
without and within, save the dull
/ heavy tap, tap of the prisoners tread
would not that ghostly vision of that
fair, beautiful girl, that he had stolen
| from those poor, injured parents and
| carried off among the mountains
would she not appear before him, ask
| ing him for mercy and freedom?
And when, one day, as he returned
/ to the cold, damp cave, where he was
then hiding from his pursuers, he saw
that innocent, injured girl stretched, |
| lifeless, on the floor, with a knife
pierced through her heart, with her
little hand still clutching it in the
| t ht, cold grasp of death.
Did not this appear before him, with
many more equally as terrible crimes?
Yes; and the beautiful childish face
of his last victim Lenora Churchill =
encircled in the clustering golden curls !
of her shapely head while her great,
! beautiful eyes We're ever before him,
as he last saw her.
! For Lenora he wished to be free,
and if she was still at his cottage when
! he returned, he intended to make
| desperate struggle for freedom
| That night was long and terrible
one for Sylvester Noll.
He viewed his past life from his
earliest memory up to the present date
! The beautiful home of his child
hood, in the fair lands of France, near
the city of Bordeaux, where he had
spent SO many happy days, now app
/ peared before him in that dingy, Ugly
cell.
The sweet, pleasant face of his
mother was there III that beautiful
home, and the name, Sylvester Eustace
! De Blaise, sounded IN his ears as he
had heard it SO often III the years of
the past.
And then, too, as he grew to man
hood, the many pleasant hours he
would spend at the clubs, the amount
Of money he used, and the company he
then entertained.
Finally, the great passion for the
gambling table and all sorts Of amuse-
ments that drew on his purse.
Thus it went on a few years, when
the day of reckoning came, and he and
his poor, loving mother were penniless
/ beggars.
And the night he went home to tell
his mother of his disgrace; how she
looked as she dropped dead at his feet. f!
All Those thoughts were distress +
ing, yet he had not let them enter his |
mind Of late years, but tonight they I
came, in spite Of his every effort. !
! Every crime he had ever committed /
seemed to stand before him, there in |
the darkness, like so frightful threat |
| ening specters.
Gertana Girandani, the beautiful |
| Italian woman, whom he had so cruel |
ly wronged, would appear to Sylves- /
ter's memory, and the apparition of her |
! father was there before him, asking for !
his only child
As all these crimes would rise before /
him, in spite of all that he could do to
drive them back, he would shudder !
AMI reel round the cell like drunken /
man.
Finally night that night-the most
/ horrible that Sylvester Eustace De |
Blaise, for that was his real name, /
had ever known, passed and morning i
dawned
As the light slowly crept into his cell /
/ through the one narrow grated win |
dow, it seemed to drive away those /
wild, maodening thoughts that had |
haunted him during the night.
He then threw himself upon his |
hard, narrow cot, weary and worn, and |
completely exhausted.
The breakfast that had been given |
/ him remained untouched; about nine +
o'clock the Sheriff and guard came /
to his cell
Hello, jim! Come, it's train time,
and if you want to get to Chicago To- /
day be quick"
The sound of the officers voice |
startled the prisoner, and he quickly /
+ sprang from the cot. AS the guard I
opened the door of the cell De Blaise /
i. appeared in front of them, with the /
light SHINING full on his face.
/ The two men started back, for they !
/ could scarcely believe him to be the !
same man they had seen in the court /
room the day before. Nothing unusual |
! happened on their way to the city, and |
the prisoner made no effort to escape. |
After their arrival in Chicago the pris-
oner and the two men guarding him /
We're driven in a closed carriage to that /
now deserted cottage and at the first
glance Sylvester knew there was some
thing wrong, for the shutters were all |
closed and no one could be seen.
/ They rang the bell and De Dlaise's
old coachman opened the door.
Why, Tom, what does all this mean? |
/ Where is Henry and the rest Of the
! servants, and your mistress and the
! madam ,"
The servants We're all discharged, !
Il g.. r.