The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1892-08-13

the waning light. The lights of the town
came into view one by one, and the jail
stood out darkly, blot in the fair scene
as the murderer within was blot upon
mankind.
Tidy spent the night with some friends
some miles from town and slept serenely,
while he whom she had labOred to save was
enduring unutterable tortures. Darkness
came earlier into his cell than outside and
the night had begun to him when Tidy
left
All, little Malcolm, you are avenged
He feels now the terror you endured The
faintcst sounds in the distance thrilled him
with horror. His hands and feet were
very cold. Shivering, trembling, covering
in the darkness he fancied he heard the
men coming to take him, with pitiless Mr..
Scruees at their head He almost yelled
as the key grated IN the lock and his sup
per WAS sent in. 1t could not be later than
s clock at most and he thought it must
have been midnight His untasted food
remained where it had been placed while
he sat hand in hand with awful fear for
company. All night long he tancied the
rope around his neck and the cry of chang
hin" sounded in his ears.
Perhaps he came nearer offering praise
than he had ever done in his life when the
first light of dawn struggled into his cell.
When the masked men reached the jail
at II O'Clock they were baked in their
purpose of lynching the murderer. They
were not altogether sorry, for sit was a job p"
Tom Tinker said, ''as aspowerful unpleas-
ant, and he was glad to be shet of it But
although he had escaped their hands their
old companion was the most miserable of
men. Relieved by questioning the guard
of his former fear, the furies came to lash
him to the end; the memory Of his crime
gave him no rest Night and day remorse
was with him. His crime was constantly
repeating itself and he could not divest
himself of the idea that the cell was the old
cabin room, and that at night if he was
not careful he would step on the bodies of
his victims lying in imagination at one end
of the room. So when he could not sleep
and he rose and paced his cell it was al
ways across from side to side and never the
length from end to end The thought that
the bodies were there grew upon him and
became more real every night. He would
wake suddenly and strain his eyes in the
utter darkness toward that awful end Of
the room expecting to see the open eyes
glaring at him as his brothers might, or
the last reproachful look Of his old mother.
Superstition, companion of ignorance, came
to add her torturcs, and he trembled at
the approach Of night lest the ghosts of
the injured ones should come to haunt
him. lie know he had always heard that
the spirits of the murdered never rest till
the crime is avenged. Might they not ap-
pear to him any night "The hair of his
flesh stood up" and his knees smote to-
gethcr at the very thought. The loueli-
ness and the darkness with these haunting
thoughts were becoming insuppOrtable.
Not even in sleep did he rest, for in his
dreams the fancies did but grow in vivid
ness Again and again he awoke with a
shrek. which resounded through the pris-
on like the wall of the lost Like it +?
Aye, very ike it; it was the wall of the
lost He could bear it no longer at last
the leather strap he wore around his waist
should do other duty. He looked at its
black length and then at the bars across
the windows. lie would not acknowledge
to himself what connection they had with
each other, int he knew that the leathern
girde and the iron bar would make ac-
quaintance lie might need strip from
his blanket, perhaps, in addition, but ths
materials were sufficient He. asked the
guard at dinner for slip of paper and a
pencil, and during the short afternoon
wrote these few words slowly and labori-
ously
ito Tidy kilt nm both an theys hant-
ed me to deth. Bill.
The rain Tell in torrents all the after
noon, all the long night. The wind moaned
as it swept from the bleak mountains
through the dark alley outside the prison
er'S window. Itshrieked among the Chin
ney-tops and sighed around the corners.
For moment it was as still as if its breath
were gone and it were dead, but anon it
rose again with a long drawn shuddering
oO-oo-oo-Oo, as if re-echoing the muir
derer's cry of terror in the darkness when
awakening from his dream. 1t was amid
the beating of the rain and the bowling
of the wind, with black sky above and
the blackness Of darkness below, that the
prisoner felt his way across his cell, gazing
into the darkness in which might appear
the awful forms he dreaded, looking back
over his shoulder shudderingly to see if
they were coming. The strap fastened
to the bar in the daylight was easily found.
One moment he felt its cold surface on his
neck, and then, with savage kick, he
struck the stool from beneath his feet and
swung himself into eternity.
Alas, poor, trusting Tidy, he is dead,
and with him dies perchance your faith in
all men. Into your simple life has come
the pain which is perhaps the greatest
the loss of faith in friend. My counsel