The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-07-02
nnr;no Tho trial Nofi sat in the

prisoners box, pale, anxious, yet some
what resigned, as he knew he was pow
erless, and had been caught at last.
Before the sentence was passed, the
Judge asked Noll if there was anything
that be wished to say
" plead guilty of the charge, but
wish you to grant me the privilege OF
returning Immediately to Chicago. l
know the sentence will be heavy one,
and wish to see my home once more"
It was impossible to grant that re-
quest, for there was too great risk to
be run, but after considerable pleading
and arguing the request was granted,
under certain conditions. 49,
The sentence was then passed, which
was twenty years imprisonment.
| A cold, chilling feeling crept into
the veins of Nolls body as the stern
voice of the Judge pronounced the SEN
tence.
He had hoped that it would be less
severe, and that there would possibly
be a chance of him outliving or escap-
ing in time that he might yet realize
those sweet dreams of the past.
Court then adjourned, and the pris-
oner was taken back to his cell; he was
given scanty supper and left alone in
his glory.
He did not sleep, for all night long
q slow, steady tap, tap could be heard
on the hard floor of his cell f; as he thus
paced up 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
escaped the terrible death he deserved
the gallows.
Did he think, while he was pac-
ing up and down that cell, of
few who were then dead-that they
had met their death by his own
hand? Did not the ghost OF that
poor, bereaved father and mother,
whose bones we're then lying at the
bottom of deep gorge of the Rocky
Mountains, appear before him, while
he paced there in the silent darkness? !?
Did they not speak to him in such
deep, threatening tones that would
crrdle the blood in the veins of his
body, charging him with the murder of
their stolen daughter, and of stealing
| Ill &lo thov thor, hoH
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 of 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 hs was
then hiding from his pursuers, he saw
that innocent, injured girl stretched,
lifeless, on the floor, with knife
pierced through her heart, with her
little hand still clutching it in the
tight, 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 were 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 ap-
peared before him in that dingy, ugly
cell.
The sweet, pleasant face of his
mother was there in that beautiful
home, and the name, Sylvester Eustace
De Bla;se, sounded in his ears as he
had heard it so often in 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 few years, when
the day of reckoning came, and he and
his poor, loving mother were penniless
beggars.
And the night he went home tc tell
his mother of his disgrace; how she
looked as she dropped dead at his feet.
All! Those thoughts were distress
ing, yet he had not let them enter his
mind of late years, but tonight they
came, in spite of his every effort.
Every crime he had ever committed
seemed to stand before him, there in
The darkness, like 30 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
bis 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
and reel round the cell like drunken
man.
Finally night-that night-the most
horrible that Sylvester Eustace De