Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-03-18

- ! -------
her comforts: and there she Law
for two months. 1 could not keep
her in my room, rs she moaned
day and night, and when the pain was
very violent. shrieked like child.
"These incessant noises, strange to
say, had a remarkable effect on my
future. In the row of cells opposite
the woodshed long term criminals
were imprisoned, and in one of these
was fellow by the name of Sander
son, who was convicted for highway
robbery and condemned to ten years
imprisonment. A few days after the
cats accident this prisoner sent an
urgent request to- the superintendent,
begging that tho cat be removed from
the woodshed, as he had great aver
sion to a cats cry, and was conse.
quently unable to sleep at night. His
request might have been granted had
there been any other place to keep the
animal, but such was not the case.
"a few days later he asked to be
permitted to attend communion on
the following Sunday, although he had
always stupporniy refused 10 90 so
previously.
"The prison chaplain, an expert
enced man, wrote to him and told him
plainly he could see that something
was on his conscience, and that he
would never obtain rest until he con-
fessed his sins and endeavored, by
trtIn rnnautoDnp fn obtain ohcoluttnp
for them. AT first the man stoutly
denied that he had committed any
other crime than that for which he
was sentenced; but the preacher-po
mean judge of human natUre-per.
sisted, and he finally confessed that he
had murdered an old woman, and that
her cat had lamented so pitifully that
he killed it with blow, breaking its
spine. For a long time he could not
endure the cry of cat, but the i'm
preston had begun to wear of, when
the one in the courtyard, by its in
cessant shrieks, brought back to his
mind all the events of that terrible
night.
Gle had been tortured by remorse
and was unable to sleep quietly for
five nights.
"Then he proceeded to give the de-
tails of the crime. He had rifled the
desk of its contents, and stuffed oil
the documents and bonds into the
brown coffee pot. He then set fire to
the house and departed, carrying the
pot with him. 1t was easy enough to
make his escape unperceived, as
the house stood at some little
distance from the town. He made
his way to little wood close
by, and there, at the foot of a mighty
oak, past which n small stream
| flowed, he buried the treasures under
one of the knarled roots. AS he pro-
ceeded through the wood, after resting
an hour, he was suddenly seized from
behind by some one, who cried, 'I've
got you at last p
"Of course, the murderer thought
his crime had already been discovered,
and fought with the energy of des-
pair. He would probably have es-
capped, had not second man joined
the first-whom he had wounded-and
the two ovcrpowered and secured him.
The simple explanation was that u
gamekeeper had been searching for
some time for determined poach-
er, and when he saw Sanderson sneak
ing about he thought it was the man
he was searching for.
"When the murderer was brought
to Justice he was afraid to protest his
innocence too emphatically lest it
should set the police on the right
track, and as he had already been
the Judge sentenced him TO ten years