Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-16

stolen, was tne autnor OF tne brlafnela hag-
| edy.
That night was passed by me in one Of the
cells of the Dereminster police station.
Next morning I was hauled before the
bench of magistrates and remanded; in the
result, week later, was committed to take
my trial at the next county assizes, on the
double charge of robbery and murder, the
fellow who stole my portmanteau having
been able to prove that he was in another
| part of the country on the night of the
burglary. By the advice of the man-of-law
whose services had retained 1 reserved nv
| defense, although what line of defense that
would avail anything it behooved me to
adopt was "hidden in the deep obscure" !"
| Suppose were to confess everything ex-
actly as it happened, would any jury be-
| lieve my statement? Granting, however,
| that they did believe it, although I might
manage to save my neck, it would only be
at the expense of lifelong term of penal
ssrvitude.
Here was a scurvy trick for fate to play a
man who, only few days before, had been
looking forward to wed beautiful girl and
$4,000 year into the bargain.
The assizes were not due for six weeks.
By the end OF fortnight I felt as if the hor-
rible monotony of prison life was slowly but
surely eating away my brain.
| had not ventured to exercise my gift OF
| dissociating my spirit from my body since l
had assumed the role of Evan Onslow. I
was too well satisfied with my quarters, and
too much afraid of having the tables turned
on me after similar fashion, to allow of my
venturing on 30 serious task. Now, how
ever, that I was prisoner, friendless and
alone, with charge hanging over me which,
| if it did not consign me to the gallows,
would at least cut me off forever from all
that makes existence endurable, the case
was altogether different. The temptation
was strong upon me to escape, if only for an
| hour or two from my death-in-life exist
ence. One night yielded to it. Even if
anyone were to seize upon and take
possession of the body of Evan Onslow
/ it would bea poor bargain for him, bearing
| in mind the fact that, at the same time, he
would be under the compulsion to take the
risk of whatever penalties the law might
choose to enforce against the person in ques-
| ton.
i lay down on my pallet and willed the
| change, which came about In due course.
| Whittier 1 went and what saw during my
brief absence from my heshly tenement, is
not to the purpose of this narrative. I was
back in my cell in little over an
| hour, but only to find that the
tables had indeed been turned upon me
while l was away. Instead of being
| stretched on his pallet, as had left him, q
| family breathing and all but inanimate
| frame, found Evan Onslow, or, to speak
more accurately, Percival Daubenv, slowly
pacing his cell with folded arms in sombre
meditation. Daubeny, for he it was, who
had probably been almost continuously on
| the watch for the opportunity 1 had at
length afforded him, had not failed to take
advantage of it. He had treated me after
the same fashion in which had treated
| him, and, when all was said and done, he
had merely reclaimed his own property.
| could not blame him, and yet experienced
| vindictive pleasure for so is Door human
nature constituted) from knowing that IN
all likelihood, he would, in the course of
few weeks, either be hanged or condemned
to lifelong Imprisonment. But nothing of
the sort happened to him. Percival Dau-
beny was a long-headed fellow, and ne
made bold stand for life and liberty.
When his trial came on (of course under
the name and personality of Evan Onslow)
he was able to prove complete alibi. How
was it done? you will probably ask. The
secret was carefully kept but it was one
which I, In my then impersonal condition,
| was able to fathom without much difficulty.
| Quite half dozen witnesses came forward
at the trial and deposed on oath that on the
night of the robbery and supposed murder,
| Evan Onslow was in their company at
seaport 200 miles away. They were alto
| gether unaware that Daubeny had a twin
brother, who had landed from abroad only a
few hours previously, and that it was with
him they had played billiards, and had after
wards spent pleasantly convivial evening.
The awkward question still remained-if
the prisoner at the bar were inno-
cent, how did it come to pass that
the dead mans ring and cashbag
were found in the portmanteau stolen from
| the hotel? To this Daubeny pleaded through
| his counsel that there was no proof whatever
| connecting him with the articles in question,
that he had never seen either of them till they
were shown to him by the police, that the
cash bag must have been put into the port
manteau by the man who stole the latter,
which theory would also account for his pos
session of the ring, and that, although the
man might, as stated. have been 30 miles
away, on the night of the Briarfeld incident,
| there was no proof that he had not received
both the ring and the bag from the real au-
| thor of the outrage in question.
THE jury accepted the views thus pro-
pounded and Daubeny was acquitted. AS
to whether he went back to Millingham,
| and if SO, in what way he accounted for his
disappearance, and the fact of his having
lived for several months in another town
| and under fictitious name, have never
taken the trouble to inquire.
And now to return to myself and the
strange predicament to which I was re-
duced, which was that of homeless shade.
wandering forlorn through the realms of
space-a condition OF things from which
there was no escape until should succeed
in re-incarnating my disembodled ego. Of
my long wanderings to and fro with that
object ever in view, the recital would only
weary you.
Whenever I succeeded in finding an
empty tenement awaiting the return of its
owner, 1t was always either that of man
decreDit with years, whose earthly pill
grimage had nearly run to its close, or else
that OF some Eastern fakeer. or mystic,
whose habits and mode of life would have
been utterly abhorrent to me even supposing
me to have been acquainted with his
language, and to have been able to play
his role without detection as an impostor.
AT length there came day when an op-
portunity offered itself, OF which, although
it was far, very lar, from being what
would have chosen, I did not hesitate to
avail myself. Know then, o reader, who
may have followed my narrative thus lar,
that should you wish to make the further
acquaintance of the whilom, Horace Spark
inson, you will find him in the person of
Ephraim Saggers, middle-aged old-''clo'
man, who lives lonely lie in frowsy,
evl-smelling garret within bowshot of the
Minories. Do you think it possible
that you can more than family imagine
what my thoughts are as 1 sit of a night
brooding over my handful of fire with the
ghosts OF the dead past crowding thickly
around me?
N. B.-Ephriam Saggers deals in all
kinds OF cast-of wearing apparel. Cash