Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1889-12-11
The hypocrite went on.

latched. | opened it. Whoever was
within was too much absorbed in his
occupation to notice what / did. [
looked through the open window and
saw tn It someone was in the inner Of
fee, but who it was cauId not at first
perceive. l climbed through the win
dow, and went in. Directly 1 entered
the man looked up; it was Richard
Wheeler. When he saw me he gave
the most awful scream [ think | ever
heard, and fell down-dead. So soon
as had recovered from my bewil.er-
ment, went to the window and called
for help. A constable who heard me
came to my assistance. Together we
examined the room. That is all that I
have to say. only wish that | had not
to say SO much" M
"But there is more that must be
said," Mr.. Burton took up the strain.
In the crate was found the hal-con-
stunned fragments of the accounts, which
| if they had been suffered to continue in
existence, would inevitably have be-
trayed the dead mans crime. The
safe was found wide open-itis still q
mystery how he contrived to open it
ransacked of all the chief valuab les it
contained. On his desk was found a
bag containing $500 pounds in gold, and
in his pockets notes for Ell. 900. But
notes and gold to the value of e1O,OOO
| and securities to a very large amount
are gone. We have still to find out
where. [ am sorry to tell you, Mrs.
Wheeler, that to search this house is
one Of the purposes which have brought
| us here -
Sir" said my dear wife, "you need
make no apology. You are welcome to
search the house from attic to. base
ment. You will find nothing that was
not righteously my dear husbands
own"
For five days 1 lay there-dead.
| Words could not describe the agony
endured. Conceive it if you can. Pic
| ture yourself in my position; conceive
| what you would suffer then. Far bet
| ter had l indeed been dead.
On the second day they came and
| measured me Tor my coffin. Think of
it-a living, man On the fourth day
they brought it home, and was placed
| within. There We're two of them that
| brought it, and as they placed me in
that narrow box they cracked that little
jest.
"a tight fit, isn't he ?" said one.
"Ah," replied his fellow, they'd
| have given him as tight fit il he had
lived Jour good strong walls for lite."
who'd ever have thought old Dick
Wheeler would have done a bit upon
the CROSSE"
"Weli, again replied his fellow-how
/ loathed that man ~ would for one.
never knew psalm-singer yet that
wasn't q rObber and thiet."
When thai choice pair had gone, my
vie came in and looked at me as Law
in my last bed. She had wreath in
her hand, which she placed upon my
breast, and white rose, which betok-
ened Innocence, which she placed with
in the wreath. She stopped and
kissed me on the brow; and as she did
so she burst into food of tears.
"Oh, God % she cried "show that my
d ear husband was not thief %
The Lext day, the fifth, they came
and sore wed me down. Imagine that
l learned from what they said that they
feared that il, in that hot weather, l was
lett ,or longer time exposed, decom-
position would set in. When they had
already placed the lid upon my coffin,
my wife came running in. | learned
that they had come in her absence to
shut ne forever from her sight. They
imagined that if she We're there she
might object to what they did. Her
appearance disco certed them. She
made them Immediately remove the
lid. and babe them withdraw from the
room, SO that she might have solitary
communion with her dead.
She knelt down by the side of my
coffin and prayed. She expressed the
most profound belief in the innocence
of the man who had been her husband
tor nearly thirty years; and she be-
sought the Most High that He would ex-
pound that innocence and make it clear
TO man. Then she stood up and kissed
me on the lips-klssed me last good
by
Then she left me, 70 the full as brok-
en-hearted as she herself, and the un-
dertaker's men returned and screwed
me down. They put the lid upon my
coffin, and shut from me the blessed
light; tor no one had closed my eyes.
They had tried to, but the lids would
not come down. / could hear the traf-
fckers in death laughing and testing as
they drove the screws we'll home.
When they had done their work, and
gone, was prisoner indeed.
How long l remained in that box,
screwed down, [ never knew. 1t
seemed to me hundred years. A
dreadful thought came to me, not once,
but again and again, with recurring
OOppOOC Cndt L 1uuocu WdB
dead? VINO knows the mystery of
death? Is it not conceivable that when
the body dies, the mind, which has
such a mysterious affinity with the soul,
may live? 1t l were dead, and my
shame should live! Was it possible
that through the long cycle of the years,
tho eons which were still to come, my
mind should be, and be dead?
1t is not strange that nv pen should
tremDle as | recall the thoughts which
racked me tnen-racked me with such
intensity that, even in my safe OF
death, feared that l should go mad.
And then? What then? Mad through
the eons in the womb of time! Even
dead, thought my brain would burst.
I tired to scream. / struggled as with
the tissues oflife and death for the pow
er to Civ. express on to the great agony
of my tear and pain.
And then? What happened then?
To this hour I cannot precisely say. /
know that while, mentally, struggled
with inconceivable eagerness to cry out,
/ suddenly awoke. | know no other
word to use. | knew I was alive-alive
and prlsoned in that box And I do
hatIava that for the frat rnOmants IF NV