The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-08-11

your banda when suddenly BY ths eIercisl
Of some now faculty Of psFcsptiQN nav
the real murderer staAding In tht crow!
yet know him to b the map IN who's
stead was about to s,if1er DEATH He wal
slight In build, with dark hair and eyes
and neatly dressed. His features arc In
delibly fixed In my mind. With this reoog
milton my dream faded away. There wat
no particular intimation o. to my fate, YET
I feel indeed as though God himself has
spoken to me and revealed the absolute as.
surance Of his divine protection"
The narrator's manner was no earnest
md impressive that hope sprang up TO-
sponsive In the sheriff's mind that some-
thing might happen. He was mentally
prepared and on the watch for the happen
ing Of the miraculous
The day Of the execution was a beauti-
fu), clear, cool October day. Thousands Of
people were In attendance and had gath
erod about the gallows II was to be a
public hanging, and the multitude awaited
itself Of tho privilege Of seeing human
being choked to death. As has been init
mated, there were much feeling and SYM
pathy for the doomed man, much argu-
ment as to the fallibility Of oiroumstantiai
evidence, and a hundred vague rumors In
circulation suggesting his Innocence.
At last DeveHux stood upon the gallows
platform and faced the people There was
no man In all that crowd apparently go
cool, 90 collected and so much tho master
Of himself. He stopped forward to say a
few words Of farewell. His voice rang
out in the stiffness, clear, distinct and per-
fectly audible to all.
"Friends, he said, "this Is not fitting
time to indulge In vain protestations I
can but simply rsafflrm that am not
guilty, knowing we'll what would be the
consequences Of falsehood, standing, as
am, almost In the presence Of my immortal
God. I desire especially to rolieve any
man from the possible thought that he
may have m!siudged or wronged mo and
might have to meet my accusing words DO.
fore the great trikleal hereafter. 1t was
human errcs, the res,lt''-
At thia moment the speaker stopped
short and leaned heavily against tho rail-
ing. His couDtsnahco betrayed terrible
excitement. Els eyes seamed fixed Oh
scmo one In tho crcmd before him whom
10 Indicated, bound as Ia was, as well as
he could when no found his voice again,
he fairly -shrisRsl: l'-. e 80 -
"1hers 10 Isl Tho man Of MY dream
tho murderer. Stsp HINT Step him!"
He had p5tfted out sligbtly built al.
most fem!uiaa looking young man, who
uttered hasty aSs'asaatton aud attempted
to get away, but Ls:ore no could do so was
roughly seizssl aha sid by ths crowd. The
sheriff, almost balias himself with excits-
ment, rushed down from the sea tod, tol-
lowed by half u dozen deputies The young
man was hnrriodly searched there and
then Upon il.s person were found watch,
pistol and certain papers of value wcll
known to have been the property Of the
murdered treasurer. He seemed to givo up
at once and In answer to excited questions
sullerly responded:
"Well, 1t seems you have me. I was
fool to come hero, / demand Of the officers
protection from this crowd"
Protection was needed. Like quicksilver
knowledge Of the matter seemed to havo
permeated the whole multitude An in
nocent man was saved and the guilty ap-
pretended In tho nick Of time Cries Of
IlaDB Vuo eCUuuUleiI 1ufu AofcTcuA
loosel" arose from all sides, while the off,
GERS struggled flercely to Withstand tho
surge of the angry mob. There is no know
ing what might have happened had not
Dovereu1's voice arrested the movement
Let tho law take Its course" he said.
"For Gods sake, do not be too rashl
implore you, as one who has been 80 near
an ignoble death by reason of this awful
mistake, to let tho sheriff take this man.
Give him fair trial, aud may God forgive
him for what he has tried to do to me
The words of no other man could have
saved the new prisoner The crowd gave
way. The hanging Of Deveroux was out
of tho question. Tho populace would not
have permitted 1t, and the sheriff would
anyhow have felt Justified In suspendlng
the execution.
The mob poured up the gallows stairs
and cut the ropos that bound Devereux
Tho jail officers hurried their prisoner to
tho Jail. Once there, the latter made full
which soon became the talk Of
tho Streets Nothing could 10 done that
was too good for Devereuz, who OF first
busted himself in oounscling moderation,
and, being satisfied of Its accomplishment,
simply asked for two things He wanted
to 50 at once, he said, and bear the glad
tidings back home to his wife. For this
purpose 10 requested tho lonn Of a good
horse anal sono money a request which
was enthusiastically gratif1ed. At sunset
Deyereug was miles away.
In tho morning the Eow prisoner spoke
TO the sheriff when that officer was making
tho rounds of tia, iail,