The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-10-20

lie there sleeping so cslnly when I am
In such an awful plight2 And Morris.
too Remember I shall never forgive
you II you don'r come at the first peep
or dawn and liberate me. IL must be
almost daylight now. but it's so dark in
fere that I cannot tell. At any rate.
II is past 3. and going on 4. and isn't it
daylight now at o'clock Come and
get me out OF this for the love OF
heaven I'm not in Orange. I didn't
20. I've been robbed and locked fn-in
a storage house cell Come and save
me quickly / impiOre you"
About Norris I was naturally skep-
teal He never borrowed trouble under
any circumstances. and even II he had
dreamed most vividly of my predica-
ment he would simply have attributed
IL to his midnight supper and have gone
to sleep again. with mans custom
airy Indifference to pOrtents.
Nevertheless went on wailing to the
walls Had / kept still I should have
gone crazy. I am sure. with those noisy
rats keeping UP their maudlin racket
and the Waterman never coming at all:
so when my tears and prayers were
exhausted I sang--cOllege songs and
hyInns and gems from comic operas.
and all in a screeching voice. beating
time on the table with my heels.
-Four o'clock struck.
Nov" thought I, taking fresh cour-
age. che must certainly come"
looked anxiOusly toward the graf
ing above the door for the first faint
streaks Of dawn, but there were no
faint streaks of any kind-only black
ness everywhere; no creak OF elevator.
no approaching foOtstep. ! grew weak
and chilly and desperately sick at
heart
As it neared O'Clock the rats re-
treated decorously behind the furniture
and fell to mapping after their night
time gambols. S.eep seemed far from
me, however, with my nerves racktd
TO pieces as they were. but Selling a
bundle of pillows I sank into the nest
which 7 made on the table TOP and soon
had lifted into a state OF waking
dreams which was next door neighbor
to slumber.
ct it is my fate to die here" said I.
6Xing my head so as to relieve its
ache then i am powerless to avert
that fate. The Christian martyrs died
for cause. but my life will he a cruel
sacrifice-aud oh. the injustice of it,"
Eventually / must have fallen asleep.
because when ] returned to full con-
seriousness my friend the clock was
Ginning the hour of S. Had I really
been asleep for four hours? IT seemed
Incredible Ny cell was no lighter, but
clocks do not lie. There were other
bells, too. faint and musical. As my
eyes grew wide~ awake I noticed that
7 could now distinguish the objects in
the room. although ii was still Excess
n
ing above the door and straightaway
OWNED the darkness in the corridor to
be due to the closing of the outside
window shutters, which thus excluded
the purer air as well as every vestige
of the sunlight.
How hungry I was. how ravenously
hungry And how dry was my throat
What pains racked my poor body inside
and cut. fer I was stir with lying, and
my stomach cried aloud for Sustenance.
fe cts nj ion nf
the beginning" said I, talking aloud
for cOmpany's sake. ct will grow
worse every moment until kind death
sets me free. I shall die here like a
caCed maniac. for I shall inevitably go
mad. How soon, 7 wonder? ] fOresee
IT all. Like the prisoner of some place
or other (yvas IL Chiffon p. shall pace
this narrow room and finally fall a
prey (heaven pity med to those awful.
CHASTITY rats"
Sor Of course they would grow
fercer and more rapacioLs as time
went on and in the end attack me. I
could almost feel their sharp teeth lac
Grating my tender flesh and see my
self falling a living victim to their ulti-
mate animal necessities.
Then in overwhelming fear and deS-
peration 7 yelled as I had never yelled
before. albeit hoarsely, but the walls
only gave il back to me in muffied
echoes. and nobody came. 7 battered
the walls with pokers and rang a dis
covered dinner bell until il seemed as
If the whole neighborhOod must GER
tainly be aroused. What had looked at
first IKE almost practical joke had
now become a terrible, crushing GER
tainty. I was abandoned. left to my
fate. and that fate starvation and
death by torture.
When u thought Of Lord LoveTs
bride i'm the old oak chest and how her
body had been found long afterward
crumbling to dust in bridal robes. I
wondered how long il would be before
they found me also in my tomb
For unless the 0eOple whose things
are stored here should happen to come
up for something" said +. there's M
hone OF my being found any time soon,
and who knOws-they may be in Fu-
rope or Japan. Could any situation be
more utterly hopeiess2 But 7 win be
found. Y must be. III not die like a
starved rat in this hole, was my pas
sionate declaration
Like hooking mirave arose before
me the picture of my exquisite bridal
gown. Would those recalcitrant brides
maids who had rebelled against my
pink Gown decree in their rage for vel
low shed crocodile tears at my funeral
when found. 7 wondered. or only be
angry because defrauded of their
rigEtful souvenirs, which I had not
yet bought What a travesty now
seemed my wedding cards. spread
broadcast over the United Statesi And
with Mrs. Morris de Quincy = slfi''
How absurdly grotesque appear : TO
me now that battlemented British We J.
ding cake with it's American ring and
thimble and coin, And that cottage in
Jersey (my castle in Spain. since I was
destined never 90 occupy it)-was ever
daydream more elusive or fanciful?
What an utter farce was the Whole
thing when !. the bride. was slowly
dying in the top loft of a storage
warehouse and my elected bridegroom
took his pleasure where he listed,
Then. too. how unrOmantic to be starv-
ing - death in the midst of old furni-
ture. sDittOons. shovels. cradles. blow
ers and bathtubs! Against the whole
pose OF it did my soul rebel. II II
had TO be done at all. Why could I not
have been EmOthered III a roof con-
servatory, overcome BY the scent OF
towers?
now resolved definitely that sooner
than ole thus ignomipiously by slow
starvation ] would hang myself e
the grating by my Liberty scarf ooh
the cruel irony of thatD, and thus
swiftly end my misery. or pound out
my brains against the stony floor in
the passionate recklessness Of suicide
Agitsted by this tragical thought,
stared down at the aOor. and. 10! In