The morning call., 1893-09-24

my boots; the metal heels have left their
mark singed in the cloth.
Two hundred and twenty degrees. l am
to be roasted alive. My last wishes are
with - and the dear ones. Oh. my God.
have mercy on me and support her.
shall suffer greater pain than any other
man but PhaIIar A dead OK would be
baked if hung [where] l now stand.
Two hundred and twenty-eight degrees.
The soles of my feet are bisterTingl One
spot of the copper is quite redbOt. My
vitalLs are turning 10 sweat Gracious
God. how long is this 20 last / must
shrivel soon now. God grant that l may
die before the hot metal touches me. On,
my dearest -
Two hundred and thirty-two degrees.
Whoever finds this take it to Mr.. - Of
- street. and leave all to his GiscIIetiOnl
The thermometer burns my hand-l have
dr0pped 1t aud it isl broken. The heat in
creasLesl. The smell of the metal is suffo-
eating. | must soon stop.
The heat has increased very much.l |
can hold the tablets but little longer.
My vitsls are drying up. The persrTira-
tionl is coming slowly. 1 am blisterinE all
overl [Good God, what have L done? q
Erased. Have mercy on my soul, for
Christs sake-oh, God, have mercy on
my SOUL L die, fOrgiving all my en[e-
mlesl.=
With almost the lasteffort was capable
VI pub lIb ldUleIS, Mlli a HeaVv
piece of mortar (6ut for the mortar l
would have been burned to the knees
where l stood, into my handkerchief and
flung IL with all my force out of the mouth
OF nv fiery prison. The agony / endured
in NOV ing my naked arm so rapidly
through the lot air was almost insup-
poriablei IT was like stirring boiling
water With 1t. So great was the pain
that l tad almost tainted. aad when l
felt the, sickness and giddiDeSs that pre-
cede ..sw0on | was almost grateful for
it, as Iiknew that il | fell on the metal
below re / would in all probability be de-
prived II life during my insenSlbility. But
the symptoms OF fainting left me-a prey
TO onlS more acute feelings of bodily
agony. / stood with blisters rising on my
Shoulders, and the process of decomposl-
iion by fire actually beginning on the skin
Of my lags. The whole fluids OF my body
had BEEN drained IN secretlng perspiration
ard in supplying my lungs with the mois-
ture necessary TO enable them TO preserve
the temperature of the system. 1t IS my
firm belief that had fluids remained in my
body sufficient 70 supply the necessary
serum ] would have been one blister from
head tc foot Excruciating is weak word
TO express my agony.
In this state my eye fell on the veins of
my arm, where they appeared distended
with their sluggish current in the red light
The flame drew back and left me for a
moment IN darkness-darkness made visi-
BILE by the lurld glare Of the copper, which,
round tile surface of the stopcock. now
shone with red heat strong enough to
make the outlines OF my horrid prison dis
cernible. A dark thought crossed my
mind-a thought sngendered by the devil,
but hardly in hell more frightful.
The heavy rolling flames swung back again
on the burdened night wind and threw
hlckering glare upon the singed mass of
clothes on which / stood. / dragged up
the trousers and thrust a desperate hand
into the pOcket-the stuff of which it was
made was smoking with the heat OF the
loose silver 1t contained-but it was not
money | was in search Oft was my
knife! grasped-l half unclasped tit
burned the finger and thumb of my right
hand "a IL l had closed them on a coal of
fire. l flung the instrument OF self
destruction from me, and cried aloud to
God not to leave me In temptation.
did not cry in vain-there were voices
above mel heard them distinctly-I
heard footsteps on the platform-they were
gone-no, they were returning-they were
coming to my rescue. Good Godl how shall
| describe the awful sense of a present
Provldence-the almost overpowering
hope-the agonizing doubts-and then the
Joy, the gratitude, the delirious ecstasy
which l experienced within the next half
minute, as in the pauses of the flames roar
ing (f0r it still poured through the
building like raging rlver), the
voices of my deliyerers sounded
louder or fainter, or like imaginary
sounds, or voices Of real beings, until at
length that LADDER. which was to me the
welcomest sight that ever the sun shone
on, was lowered down by hurried and
tremulous hands amid the sbudders of