The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-10-30

ana was so prOstrateu In Dody thht no nuu
to be taken back Co prison.
There after period of severe suffering,
to the intense astonishment OF every one
he made TO his friend, the district magis-
trate who had first arrested him, the fol-
lowing strange confession:
"From my childhood, as far back as l
can remember, have ever been passion.
ate, quarrelsome and proud, impatient Of
contradiction and ever ready with blow.
Yet have seldom let the sun go down on
my wrath, nor have borne iii will to apy
one. When but lad. slew in anger q
dog which one day ate my dinner which 1
had left In his way. When as a student
went on foreign travel, entered on slight
provocaton into broil with a German
youth in Leipsic, challenged him and gave
him wound that endangered his life. "
After pause of anguish no continued:
II will now confess the crime which no
doubt / have committed, but of which
am nevertheless not fully conscious. That
l struck the unhappy man with the spade
knew full well, and have already CON
fessed, whether 10 were with the fat side
or with the sharp edge could not in my
passion discern that he fell down and aft
erward again rose and ran away. That IL
all that know to surety. What follows
heaven help me--four witnesses have
seen-namely, that 1 fetched the corpse
from the wood and buried It, and that this
must be substantially true am obliged TO
believe and will tell you wherefore.
"Three or four times In my life that j
know of IL has happened TO me TO walk In
my sleep. The last time--about nine
years ago-I was next day to preach n
funeral sermon over the remains of a man
who had unexpectedly met with dread
ful death. / was at IA loss for u text when
the words Of wise man among the an
cient Greeks suddenly occurred to me,
Call no man happy until he be in his
grave
ITO use the words OF beatben for the
text of Christian discourse was not, me-
thought, seemly, but l thep remembered
that the same thought, expressed in well
nigh the same terms, was To be met some
where In the Apocrypha. i sought and
sought, but could not find the passage. 1t
was late. i was wearied by much previous
labor. therefore went 10 bed and soon
fell asleep. Greatly did marvel the next
morning when on arising and seating my
self at my writing desk l saw before me,
written in my own handwriting on piece
of paper, Let no man be deemed happy
before bis end cometh. .-Syrach XII 34.'
MARK now--when tho two witnesses
this morning delivered their evidence be-
fore the court then my previous sleep walk
ing suddenly flashed across me, and like
wise recalled that In the morning after the
night during which the corpse must have
been buried l had been surprised to see my
dressing gown lying on the floor just in
side the door, whereas IL was always my
custom to hang IL on chair at my bed
side.
1.-THE unhappy victim Of my urbridled
passion must in all likelihood have fallen
down dead in the wood, and must in my
sleep walking have followed him thitber
Yes, the Lord have mercy! So 1t was, SO it
must have been.
On the following day sentence of death
was passed upon the prisoner-a sentence
which many felt 10 be too severe, but not
so Soren Qvist. He longed, he said, for
death, and he maintained his strength OF
mind To the last, and from the scaffold he
addressed 10 the bystanders discourse Of
much power, which ho had composed in
prison during his last days. Then he was
beheaded.
One and twenty years after Pastor Soren
Qvist of Vellby bad been accused, tried,
condemned md executed for the murder
of his serving man, an old beggar man
applied for aims to the people Of Aalsoe,
the parish adjoining Vellby
Suspicious were aroused by the exact
likeness the bcggar man bore to Mortcn
Burns Of IngNors,rup, who had lately
died, and also by the curious and anxious
inquiries the man made concerning events
long past.
The pnstor OF Aalsoe, who had buried
Morten Burns, took the vagabond to his
parsonage and there tho fellow, all uncou.
scious of the Tor,Cntous nature of the nd
mission, acknowledged that he was Neils
Burns, the very man for whose supposed
murder the pastor had suffered the shame
ful death of IA criminal.
The truth nay 10 summed up briefly
Morton had nursed mortal hatred of 80
rem Qyist from tho time he refused him his
daughter and had determined on revenge
II was he W no compelled Niels take serv.
leo with the pastor. He had spurred bin
on 10 his repeated ofiensos in the expecta.
zion that violence would result, owing to
the pastors hasty temper, and had care
fully nursed the feud which soon arse
between mnstur and man. Niels told him
Gally all that took place
On leaving the garden on that fatal day
be had run over to Ingvorstrup to aequaint
his brother with what had happened.
Morten shut him up in private room
that no one might sec him.
Shortly after midnight, when the old
village was asleep, the two brothers went
o. place where the roads crossed each
uthor and where two days previously, ac.
cordng to the custom OF that time, sui
eide had becn buricd--a young man Of
about Niels' age and stature. by the light
Of a lantern, in spite Of Nicls' reluctance
and rcmopstrance, they dug mp the corpse
and took it into Morttn's house.
Niels was made 10 strip and don suit
Of Mortcn's, and the corpse was clad piece
by piece In Nisls' cast of clothes even TO
the very earring. Then Morten battered
tie dead face with n spade and hid 1t In a
sack until the next night, when they cur
riod IL into the wood near Vellby parson.
ago and buried IL.
And now" said the venrCful Morton
% his brother, "you go your way Hore
l. purse with 800. Make for tbc from.
tier and never set foot on Danish soil
again"