The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1905-09-13
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00oooo00non0nnnn OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
CHAPTER XII.
Continued.

CHAPTER XII.
Continued.
INV Dear Sir-I write this at the
bedside of Samuel Fleetwood, whose
confession have taken down from his
own Iips. The original of this cQnfes-
sion, duly signed by Samuel Fleetwood,
and witnessed by me, retain, to deliver
10 the authorities. The document you
will find herein is faithful copy OF
The same, which ! made at the unhappy
mans urgent request, who extracted
from me the promise that I would de-
liver it to you as soon as he was dead.
Desiring to comply faithfully and e1-
actly with the request, l write these
Explanatory lines, to provide for the
sontingency of your not being at home
when I call. I have time to do this,
as Samuel Fleetwood is still lingering,
and 7 cannot leave him until all is over.
{ cannot say that 1 am entirely salts
fed with the confession, clear and eX-
plicit as it must be to all who read it.
MY reason for dissatisfaction lies in the
fact that, after the confession was
drawn out, I asked the dying criminal
to swear to its truth, and that he light
ly refused, saying that surely the
words of a dying man would suffice.
There must be strange contradictions
in his nature. AS one who has sat at
many deathbeds, l should have ex-
pected that, having committed a crime
50 horrible, Samuel Fleetwood would
have been afraid to. meet his Maker.
1t is not so. Unless have gathered
false impression from his utterances,
he goes to his account in a calm, reliant
spirit, weighed down by no fears OF the
Judgment of the Eternal Lord. You
will find also in the packet l leave
for you a sealed letter from the crin-
inal which he must already have pre-
pared before he gave himself up to hu-
man justice, and successfully concealed
from those who searched him in prison.
1t is, he says, for your eyes alone, and
1 have faithfully carried out his most
earnest, nay, his solemn desire, by in
closing it herewith. Heaven have
mercy upon all sinnersn'
This letter led me to expect that l
should find twoinclosures in the packet.
There was, however, but one, the head
ing of which was, Copy of Samuel
Fleetwood's Confession The sealed
letter was missingl
Had the clergyman forgotten to put
it in the packet, or had dropped it on
the lawn? No, not the latter, because
the packet was firmly tied round with
string, which l had to cut before l
could open it, the knot being last.
However, / went out and looked, but
did not find it. There was another pos
sible explanation: that Mile. Rosalle
had extracted it, with the idea that it
contained some information which
would be of value to her. Should / go
to her and accuse her of the theft? No,
dt would be useless; she would deny 1t,
and should be no better off. ! de-
cided, after q little reflection. to read
the confession first, and then to hasten
to the clergyman's house and ask him
for the missing document. / should
have gone Immediately had it not been
that was too anxious to read Samuel
Fleetwood's confession. 1t ran as fol-
lows:
II, Samuel Fleetwood, lately and for
many years in the service of Richard
Pardon, Esq, being on the point OF
death and knowing that / have but
q few hours to live, hereby confess that
i, and / alone, murdered my masters
uncle, Mr.. Wilmot, who had come to
pay nv master a visit at Boscombe
Lodge. No person but am implicated
in the dreadful deed, no person urged
me to do it, no person but am respon-
sible for it.
II can plead nothing in eXtenuation.
1T must have been the devil who put
the idea into my head Of numbering
and robbing py masters dear friend.
Il awoke in the middle Of the night
with the awful purpose in my mind.
"A voice whispered to me: Kill him:
He has five thousand pounds in dis
patch box. The box lies at the head of
his bed. The key is in his pocket. He
is an infrn man and the deed can be
easily and swiftly done. Then, take
the money and fly
Il will make no pretense to account
for this devilish prompting. Mr.. VIII
mot had done me no wrong. l was
not laboring under any sense Of injus-
tice from his hands, OF from the hands
of the kind master and mistress in
whose service I was employed. I had
hitherto enjoyed a good character. My
master was good master; my mistress
was the sweetest lady on earth. Cheer
fully, had been asked, would have
lain down my life for her All that
/ can advlnce is that there are times
in the lives of the best and noblest of
men-which title l do not arrogate to
myself-nhen they are afflicted and
overcome by wicked and devilish temp
tation.
HE lay asleep il his bed. ! had in
my pocket a thin piece Of whipcord.
Without arousing him from his slum-
bers, I managed to put this cord round
his neck. With all my strength /
pulled it tight and sat upon his limbs
to prevent him from rising. 1t was
soon accomplished. The poor gentle
man was dead.
II searched in his pockets for the key
of bis dispatch box and found it. l
unlocked the box, took out the money,
locked the box again and replaced the