Year: 1863

OF the Morn. felt refreshed and inyig0r-
ated, and Immediately opened the door and
looked out to see if could discover any
traces of my midnight visitor. On the
green grass before the door, / saw a small
pool of blood and from it led pathway
marked by drops of the red fluid. thought
that by following the tracks would find the
animal dead at no great distance--and with
me, to think was TO act. Accordingly ]
started on my errand. followed the bloody
trail for about three hundred feet, and then
came upon the body Of man lying beside
fallen tree. m G


l stopped down and examined him he
had been shot through the breast, and was
perfectly cold. never experienced such a
strange feeling in my life, as that which
possessed me when I felt that i had killed
fellow man. For moment was uncon-
scious of everything around me-save the
strange. suffocating feeling at my heart, but
it passed away, and then thought what 1
had better do about the matter felt that
the right course to pursue would be to go
before magistrate and state to him the
facts of the case, but then, was stranger
in that part of the country, and few would
believe my story.


As stood there debating upon the mat
ter in my own mind, saw two men ap-
preaching from the direction of the cabin,
| waited until they approached, intending
to inform them of the occurrence, but before
could speak, the taliest of the two stepped
up to me, saying


II arrest you in the name of the law for
the murder of Howard May"


For a moment surprise and horror over
powered me, bu. when l recovered my
powers of speech told the officer of the
law the facts of the case; he lo oked at me
moment, and then an incredulous smile
spread over his features, as he replied:


Young man, that story will not do; the
murdered mans own cousin saw you do the
deed, and Immediately started for the viii
lage to obtain the necessary assistance to
secure you; such a story as that which you
tell will never save you from the hang
mans rope"


was unceremoniously taken to the vii
lage and put in jail to await my trial, which
would come off in two weeks; after was
put in my cell had full opportunity to re-
fec: upon this strange adventure in my life.
| realized there was but little hope for me.
The most able lawyer in the world could not
have saved memo matter how eloquent
he pleaded my case.


a peek passed by--during that time l
wrote to all my intimate friends and rela-
tives, and was daily expecting some of them
to see me, when one afternoon the jailer
and sheriff entered my cell and informed
me that was free--that / had been un-
justly imprisoned, and then handed me a
paper to read, which / discovered to be a
full confession of the murderer written by
the cousin of the unfortunate man who had
testified to seeing me shoot him.


1t seems that Howard May and his cous-
| in, the day before / discovered him lying
dead by the fallen tree, had an alteration
about some trivial NATTER and in moment
! of passion the cousin had killed Howard
and left his body where found it. After
many conjectuIes as how to escape justice
seeing me enter the dilapidated cabin al
nightfal, he determined TO throw the crime
upon my shoulders. So he stuffed an old
suit of clothes. and attached to them a
string; he gave the shrek had heard, and
when approached the door, he watched
me from the trunk of large tree some lit
tie distance from the spot, and after l he'd
fred my pistol he slowly drew the stuffed
clothes from the place where he bad left
them, and thus was led to believe it to be
some wild animal. This confession had
been made on a dying bed; an accident
which happened to him while riding. result.
ed more seriously than it was at first thought
it would, and when the physician informed
him that he had but few days TO live, he
called for pen, ink, and paper, and wrote
the confession-the substance of which
have given above.


Thus was saved from fearful doom
and my friends rejoiced with me, that my
adventure did not result as badly as | had
reason to suppose it would Wide Wortd.
FLowERs.-Of all' the minor creation:


- n 4 II