Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-10

Was there a crime enacted before your
eyes9''
The boards were sawn,' was the start
ling answer. "Th9y must have been sawn
or they would never have given way beneath
so light a weight And then he urged her
i saw hlm-pleaded with her, drew her
| by force of eye and hand to step upon the
scatfold without, though there was no need
for it, and she recoiled And when her
light foot was on it and her half
smiling, half-timid face looked back
upon us, he leaped out beside her,
when instantly came the sound
OF great crack, and heard his laugh and
her cry go up together, and-and-every-
thing has been midnight in my soul ever
since, till suddenly through the blank hor-
| ror surrounding me 1 caught the worGs,
They will lie together in one tombi' Then
then L awoke and my voice came back to
me and my memory, anG hither L fastened
to stop this unhellowed work: for to lay the
victim beside her murderer is a sacrilege
which fcc one would come back even from
the grsEs to prevent"
fBut why" moaned the father feebly
amid the cries and confusion which had been
aroused by so grewsome an interference on
the brink of the grave, ''but why should
Orrin wish my Juliet's death? They were
10 nave been married soon
But piteous as were his tones no one list
eaed, for just then lad who had been hid
ing behind the throng stepped out before US,
showing face sc white and manner so
perturbed that we all saw that he had some
thing to say of importance in this matter.
''The boards have been sawn," he said.
'fI wanted to know and 1 climbed up to
see" AT which the whole crowd moPed
and swayed, and dozen hand1 stopped to
lift the body of Juliet and carry it away
from that accursed spot.
But the minister is a just man and eau
'tious, and he lifted up his arms in such pro-
test that they paused.
"Who knows" he suggested, ''that it
was Orrin's hand which handled the saw?"
And then I perceived that it was time for
me to speak. So l raised my voice and told
nv story, and as l told it the wonder grew
on every face and the head of each man
slowly dropped till we all stood with down
cast eyes. For crime had never before been
among us or soiled the honor of our goodlv
town. Only the Colonel stood erect; and
as the vision of his outstretched arm and
flaming eyes burned deeper and deeper into
my consciousness, l stammered in my speech
and then sobbed, and was the first to lift
the silent form of the beauteous dead and
bear it away from the spot denounced by
one who had done so much for her happi
ness and had met with such bitter and
heart-breaking reward.
And where did we finally Law her? In
that spot-ah why does my blood run chill
while write it-where she stood when she
took that oath to the Colonel, whose break
ing caused her death.
A few words more and this record must be
closed forever. That night, when all was
again quiet IN the village and the mourners
no longer went about the streets, Lemuel,
Ralph and I went for final visit to the new
stone house. 1t showed no change, that
house, and save for the broken scaffolding
above gave no token of its having been the
scene of such a woful tragedy. But as we
looked upon it from across its grewsome
threshold Lemuel said:
at is goodly structure and nigh COM
pleted, but the hand that began it willnever
finish it. nor will man or woman ever sleep
within its walls. The place is accursed, and
will stand aocursed till it is consumed by
Gods lightning or falls piecemeal to the
ground from natural decay. Though its
stones are fresh, I see ruin already written
upon its walls
1t was a strong statement, and we did not
believe il, but when we got back to the vii
lage we were met by one who said:
''The Colonel has stopped the building of
the new house. 1T is to be an everlasting
monument, he says, 'to rude mans pride
and a sweet woman's folly"
VIII it be a monument that he will love
to gaze upon? wot not, or any other man
who remembers Juliet's loveliness and the
charm it gave to our village life for one
short year.
What was it that said about this record
being at an end? Some records do not come
to an end, and though 20 years have passed
since wrote the above, have cause this
day to take these faded leaves from their
place and add few lines to the story of the
Colonel's new house.
1t is an old house now, old and desolate
As Lemuel said-he is one of our first mem
it is accursed and no one has ever felt
brave enough or reckless enough to care to
cross again its ghostly threshold. Thought
never heard anyone say it is haunted, there
are haunting memories enough surrounding
it for one to feel ghastlv recoil from in
vading precincts detiled by such
crime. So the kindly forest has taken
it into its protection, and nature, who ever
acts the generous part, has tried to throw
the mantle of her foliage over the decaving
roof, and about the lonesome walls, accept
ing what man forsakes and so fulfilling her
LliObitIlbbu
am still resident in the town, and I
have family now that has outgrown the
little cottage which the apple tree once
guarded. But it is not 10 tell of them or of
myself that have taken these pages from
their safe retreat to-day, but to speak of the
sight which 1 saw this morning when L
passed through the churchyard, as L often
do, to pluck rose from the bush which we
lads planted on Juliet's grave 20 years ago.
They always seem sweeter to me than other
roses, and L take superstitious delight in
them, in which my wife, strange to saw,
does not participate. But that is neither
here nor there.
The sight which 1 thought worth record
ing was this: 1 had come slowly through
the yard, for the sunshine was brilliant and
the month June, and sad as the spot
is, it is strangely beautiful to one
who loves nature, when as L approached