Waterbury evening Democrat., 1893-02-03

one. The man who had possession OF II
lay near the wall, and there was pleIr
ty of space between him and the out
side without touching him at all
l screwed my courage up, and began
to undress. Before finishing, however,
determined to make an experiment to
see whether he slept soundly or not.
/ had left the bedroom door open, so ]
could make a run for it if necessary.
fixed my eye on the bed as l let my
boot fall.
The man, whose clothes, by the way,
lay on a chain at the foot of the bed,
from the quality of which / imagined
he was miner, never made the slight
est motion. He was evidently SOUND
sleeper. This decided me, and hastily
finishing undressing, 1 crept into bed.
OF course 1 was careful not to touch
my companion. I do not know how
long lay awake, but the novelty of the
situation drove sleep from my eyes for
some time. Gradually, however, Nor
pheus gained the ascendancy, and
being treasured that my bedfellow
slept profoundly, soon followed his
example.
have no idea how long l slept be.
fore 1 commenced to dream. l sud.
denly thought that my companion
woke up and sat upright in bed; that
he glared around, and suddenly his
eyes fell on me. He then uttered O.
terrible cry and threw himself upon me
In spite of my natural cowardice, 1 saw
that if did not struggle l should be
killed. thought seized him by the
throat, and tightening my grasp, saw
him getting black in the face. His
hand fell powerless by his side,
smothered groan escaped him; but still
1 pressed his throat, tighter and
tighter-his face grew blacker and
blacker.
In an agony of fear l awoke, and
what was my horror and dismay to
find that my hand was really pressing
my companions throat! He did not
move nor stir, and his body felt as
cold as ice. Great Godv' l exclaimed
aloud, lean he be dead"
jumped out of bed. The candle
which l had left burning was not quite
extin guished. Selling it in my hand,
l rushed toward the bed, and let its
rays fall full upon the mans face. Ny
worst fears were realized. He was
dead, black in the face-I had strangled
him in my sleep!
l shall not attempt to describe my
sensations at this horrible spectacle.
My body was bathed in a cold per-
spiration, my hands trembled and for
a few moments believe I was bereft
of my senses. recovered by degrees
but it was only to realize in more
| acute degree my situation.
There lay my victim. and was a
murderer! My trial, conviction, and
the hideous gallows all passed before
mel Who would believe meP sat
down, buried my face in my hands and
so bbed like child. My wife, my own
comfortable home, should l ever see
them again?
What was to be done? Should I
arouse the house and make q clean
| breast of 1t? But what could I say?
Tell them 1 had killed man In my
sleep? Not q soul would believe the
story. Could effect my escape2 I'm
| possible; knowing the town was in and
the nature of its inhabitants, could
not even hope for trial. Good God, 1
could see it all; the wild mob, the
hastily erected gallows, or perchance,
rope hung over the branch of tree,
to hang by the neck until dead.
Hanged by the neck! Yes, that would
be my fate. AS this terrible thought
crossed my mind, l cast my eyes around
the chamber, they fell upon beam
with hooks in it;from thence they wan
dered to the mans clothes on the top
of which lay-evidently his-a large
bandanna handkerchief.
A sudden inspiration seized me; q
means of safety suggested itself to my
mind Suppose l could make it appear
that the man had committed suicide.
Yes, that was my only chance, and
determined to execute it. I took the
dead mans handkerchief, and advanced
to the corpse, with an awful repug
nance, however. My hands trembled
SO could scarcely adjust the moose
but finally succeeded, putting one enc
around the mans neck. ] stood on g
chair and fastened the other end of the
handkerchief to hook in the beam
letting go of the body it swung to anC
fro, into space.
jumped into bed and, closing my
eyes, shut out the horrible sight; by
this time it was broad daylight AS lay
quaking with fear, l heard the steps o.
two men on the stairs. They seemed
to be carrying something heavy be
tween them. The long anticipated
moment had arrived. In a few second,
they would discover the body. Would
the ruse succeed with them? If so
might hope to deceive others
The door opened and two men en-
tered the room, placing something
heavy on the floor. l never stirred.
"Wcll, Pm blessed if this ere maj
amt gone and hanged himself again.
said voice which recognized as tn,
landlords.
by golly, that's true!" said thu
other man. No, see how it is; tn,
stranger found out the trick 20,
+ played on him, and, not liking the ide,
= of sleeping with corpse, he tucket
him up there to get rid of him."
, You're right" replied tho landlord
Hes n cool 'un, anyway; and, woul'
you believe it, last night l took hin
| for a coward. That shows how easy
is to be mistaken in people"
Well, to make long story short, tn
, man, so l found out aftcrward, was
| miner who, coming into town. ha