Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1902-05-03
MICAH CLARKE
---==-=-=--N
Author Of "Adueasares Of I
SaerloeE Homes" Ne \
moirs Of sherlock Holmes,"
The Resi5ees," Etc.
> ). By A. Conan Doyle. > =

gerous man, more especially as you have
the love of many of Che common folk
among the rebels
The good old seaman stayed with me
untH late IN the night, listening to my
adventures, and narrating in return the
simple gossip Of the village, which is
OF more interest to the absent wanderer
than the rise and fall of empires. Be
Tore lac left he drew a great handful of
silver pieces from his pouch. and went
round among the prisoners. listening to
tnerr wants, and doing what he could.
with rough sailor talk and dropping
coins, TO tighten their troubles There
Is language in the kindly eye and the
honest brow which all men may under
stand. and though the Seaman's speeches
might have been in Greek for all that
tthey conveyed To the Somersetshire
peasants, Yet they crowded around him
as he departed. and called blessings upon
his head. | felt as though he had brought
a Whit of his own pure ocean breezes
INTO our close and nOisome prison, and
left rs the sweeter and the healthier.
Late IN August the judges started from
London upon that wicked journey win h
blighted the lives and the homes Cf 30
many. and hath left a memory in h
counties through which they passed WI IN
shall never fade while father can speak
TO son. We heard reports of them
from day TO day. for the guards took
pleasure III detailing them with many
coarse and foul jests. that we might
know what Was in store for us, and lose
none of what they called the pleasures
of anticipation. At Winchester the saint
ed and honored Lady Alice LiSle was
sentenced by Chief Justice JeffreyS to he
| burned alive, and the exertions and
prayers of her friends could scarce pre-
vail upon him to allow her the small
/ boon of the axe instead of the fagot.
bnV-n hat.
body amid the groans and the cries of a
weeping multitude in the market place of
the town. AT Dorchester the slaughter
was wholesale Three hundred were con
demned to death. and seyenty-four were
actually executed, until the most loyal
and Tory of the country sqlires had to
complain of the universal presence OF the
dangling bodies. Thence the judges pro-
ceeded to Exeter. and thence to Taunton.
which they reached in the first week of
September. more like furious and raven
Gus beasts which had tasted blood. and
cannot quench their cravings for slaugh-
ter, than just-minded men. trained TO dis
| tlnguiSh the various degrees of guilt. or
to pick out the innocent and screen him
| from injustice. 4 rare field wa, open
for their cruelty. for in Taunton alone
there lay thousand hapless prisoners.
many of whom We're so little trained TO
express their thoughts. and so hampered
! by the strange dialect in which they
/ spoke. that they might have been born
| dumb for all the chance they had of max
| ing either Judge or counsel understand
the pleadings which they wished to lay
| before them.
| 1t was on Monday evening that the
| lord chief justice made his entry. From
| one of the windows of the room in which
we were confined | saw him pass. First
rode the dragons with their standards
and kettle-drums. then the javelin men
with their halberds. and behind them the
| line of coaches fun of the high dignita-
ries of the law. Last of all. drawn by
six long-tailed Flemish mares, came a
great open coach. thickly crusted with
gold in which. reclining amid velvet
cushions, sat the infamous judge,
wrapped in a cloak of crimson plush.
with Il heavy white periwig upon his
head, which was so long that it dropped
down over his shoulders They say that
| he wore scarlet in order to strike terror
into the hearts OF the people. and that
/ his courts We're, for the same reason.
! draped IN the color of blood. As for him-
self, il hath ever been the custom. since
his wickedness hath come to be known
to all men. to picture him as man
whose expression and features We're as
monStrOuS and as hideouS as was the
mind behind them. This is by no means
the case. On the contrary, he was a
oman who, in his younger days must have
v
He was not. it is true, very old. as years
20, when | saw him. but debau hery and
! low living had left their traces upon his
countenance. without, however, entirely
destroying the regularity and the beau
ty of his features. He was dark,
more like a Spaniard than an Eng
liShman. with black eyes and olive
complexion. His expression was lofty
and noble. but his temper was so easily
aflame that the slightest cross or annoy
ance would SET him raving like n mad
man. with blazing eyes and foaming
month. ! have seen him myself with the
froth upon his lips and his whole face
| twitching with passion like one who
hath the falling sickness. Yet his other
emotions We're under as little control
for | have heard say that very little
would cause him to sob and to weep.
more especially when he had himself
been sighted by those who were above
him. He was, believe. a man who had
great powers either for good. or for evil,
but by pandering to the darker side of
his nature. and neglecting the other. he
brought himself to he as near q fiend
as it is possible for a man to be. 1t
must indeed have been an evil govern
ment where so vile and foul-mouthed a
wretch was chosen ont TO hold the scales
of justice. As he drove past, a Tory
gentleman riding by the side of his coach
drew his attention to the faces of the
prisoners looking out at him. He glanced
up at them with quick, malicious CLEAN
of his white teeth. then settled down
again among the cushions. l observed
that as he passed not a hat was raised
among the crowd, and that even the rude
soldiers appeared to look upon him half
in terror. half in disgust. as a lion might
look upon some foul. blood-sucking bat
which battened upon the prey which he
had himself struck down.
XXXV.
OF THE DEVIL IN WIG AND GOWN.
There was no delay in the work of
| slaughter. That very night the great
gallows was erected outside the White
Hart inn. Hour after hour we could
hear the blows of malletS and the saw
| ing of beams, mingled with the shout
| ings and the ribald choruses of the chief
| justices suite, who were carOusing with
the officers of the Tangier regiment in
the front room, which overlooked the
gibbet. Among the prisoners the night
was passed in prayer and meditation. the
stout-hearted holding forth to their
weaker brethren. and exhorting them to
| play the man, and to go to their deaths