Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1889-07-11

7 exacted from me the promise that I would
! deliver it to you as soon as he was dead
Desiring to comply faithfully and exactly
with the request, write these explana-
tory lines, to provide for the contingency
/ of your not being at home when / call. !
1 have time to do this, as Samuel Fleetwood
| is still lingering, and l cannot leave him
! until all is over. / cannot say that I am
entirely satisfied with the confession, clear
and explicit as it must be to all who read
{ 1t. My reason for dissatisfaction lies in
| the fact that, after the confession was
drawn out, asked the dying criminal to
swear to its truth, and that he lightly re
! fused, saying that surely the words of a
| dying man would suffice. There must be
! strange contradictions in his nature As
| one who has sat at many death-beds j
! should have expected that, having COM
mitted a crime SO horrible, Samuel Fleet
wood would have been afraid to meet his
| Maker. 1t is not so. Unless I have gath
| cred false impression from his utter
| anceS, he goes to his account in a calm
| reliant spirit. weighed down by no fears
OF the Judgment of the Eternal Lord. You
| will find also in the packet | leave for you
sealed letter from the criminal which he
must have already prepared before he
| gave himself up to human justice, and
| successfully concealed from those who
| searched him in prison. 1t is, he says, for
| your eyes alone, and | have faithfully car
| ~
| desire, by enclosing it herewith. Heaven
! have mercy upon all sinners!
! This letter led me to expect that L snouIu
! find two enclosures in the packet There
was, however, but one, the heading of
which was Copy of Samuel Fleetwood's
! Confession" The sealed letter was miss
| ing!
Had the clergyman forgotten to put ii
IN haI r ~ ~
| lawn? No. not the latter, because the
packet was firmly tied round with string,
which [ had to cut before | could open it,
| the knot being fast However, went out
and looked, but did not find it, There
was another possible explanation-that
| Mdlle. Rosalie had extracted it, with the
idea that it contained some information
| which would be of value to her. Should ]
! go to her and accuse her of the thefts No.
| it would be useless; she would deny it,
! and should be no better off, / decided
| after little reflection, to read the confess
sion first and then to hasten to the clergy
mans house, and ask him for the missing
document. l should have gone immedi-
| ately had it not been that I was too anx-
| iOus to read Samuel Fleetwood's confess
sion. 1t ran as follows:
81 Samuel Fleetwood, lately and for
many years in the service of Richard Par
don, Esq, being on the point of death,
| and, knowing that | have but few hours
| to live, hereby confess that l. and alone
murdered my masters uncle, Mr.. WilmOt,
who had come to pay my master a visit at
! Boscombe Lodge. No person but I am
implicated in the dreadful deed, no person
urged me to it, no person but l am re-
| SponSible for it.
MI in, wi
| must have been the Devil who put the
idea into my head of numbering and rob-
bing my masters dead friend.
l awoke in the middle of the night with
the awful purpose in my mind. A voice
whispered to me, Kill him He has five
| thousand pounds in despatch-box. The
box lies at the head of his bed. The KEY
is in his pocket He is an infirm man, and
the deed can be easily and swiftly done.
Then, take the money, and fly
Il Will make 10 pertence to account for
| this devilish prompting. Mr.. Wilmot had
done me no wrong. [ was not labOring
under any sense of Injustice from his
hands, or from the hands of the kind mas
ter and mistress in whose service / was
employed. had hitherto enjoyed a good
character. My master was a good master;
my mistress was the sweetest lady on
earth: Cheerfully, had 1 been asked,
would have lain down my life for her.
All that can advance is, that there are
times in the lives of the best and noblest
men-which title do not arrogate to N.Y.
self-when they are afflicted and overcome
by wicked and deyiliSh temptation.
He lay asleep in his bed. [ had in my
pocket thin piece of whipcord. Without
arousing him from his slumbers I man
aged to put this cord round his neck;
With all my strength pulled it tight and
sat upon his limbs to prevent him from
rising. 1t was soon accomplished. The
poor gentleman was dead.
| searched in his pockets for the key of
his despatch-boX, and found it. unlocked
the box, took out the money, locked the
box again, and replaced the key in the
dead gentleman's pocket. Then, I OBJ
served a ring upon his finger. L drew it
OFT, and with the money and the ring in
my possession L fled from the house in
which had been treated with unvarying
kindness and consideration.
L succeeded IN escaping unobServed, and
before noon was at sufficient distance
from Sevenoaks to believe myself SAFE
But L knew that when the murder was
discovered, and it was found that [ had
fled, the police would be after me. | was,
therefore, very careful in my movements,
and kept myself concealed during the day,
and walked from place to place in the
night. L managed to get hold of news
paper in which read an account of the
murder, and description of my personal
appearance. 1t was a long account, and
it told everything about the robbery of the
money and the ring. This made me fear
full of keeping these about me, and being
one night on a bridge / tied them in
pocket-handkerchief. to which l attached
some heavy stones. Then / threw the
treasure into the river. From that night
have no clear remembrance of what oc-
CURED. l suffered great hardships from
hunger, and often thought that [ should
die. At length. my life being torture too
great to bear, determined to go back to
Sevenoaks, and give myself into the hands
of Justice.
For all my sins crave Divine forgive
ness.
l crave for forgiveness, also, of my mas
ter and of my dear mistress and her daugh-
ter, for having brought this distress upon
their name.
(Signed SAMUEL FLEETWOOD"
straightforward and fatally incrimi nat
ing as this confession could not fail to be
to the minds of strangers, it satisfied me
less than it had satisfied the clergyman
who had taken it down from Samuel
Fleetwood's dying lips. Certainly that
portion of it was false which referred to
his drawing the ring off the finger of the
dying man, and of his having thrown it
into the river. The ring was in my pocket,
and, from the moment / found it there,
it had never left my possession. | had
hoped that the confession would have set
my conscience at rest. 1t had not done so.
Ny thoughts became presently conferred
| upon the sealed letter which was missing
from the packet. 1t was for my eyes
alone, Samuel Fleetwood had declared.
| Doubtless the clergyman had it. l would
proceed to his house at once, and ask him
| for it.
He was at home when l arrived. and did
not keep me waiting a moment l ex-
planned the object of my visit. He ex-