Year: 1874




peared near the parson hedge.


* No sooner did the pastor hear sh


evidence of the witness to this effes


than his face turned an ashy hue, an


he cried outin faltering voice, &


am fainting" and was so prostrated i


body that he had to be taken back {
prison. There, affera period of sever


suffering, to the intense astonishmen


OF every one, he made to his friend


the district magistrate who had firs


arrested him, the following strang


confession


" From my childhood, as far back a


| can remember, have been passion


ate, quarrelsome, and proud--impa


tient of contradiction, and ever read,
for blow. Yet have | seldom let tn,
sun go down on my wrath, nor have


borne ill-will to any one. When but
lad slew In anger dog which one
day ate my dinner, which l had left in
his way When as a student [ went
on foreign travel, [ entered on slight
provocation, into broil with Ger.
man youth in Leipsic. challenged him.
and gave him wound that endangered
his life For that deed. | feel it,
merited that which has now come upon
me after long years; bat the punish
ment falls upon my sinful head with
tenfold weight now that | am broken
down with age, a clergyman and faith
er. Oh, father in heaven it is here
that the wound is sorest.'


After pause of anguish he contin-
ued: +" | will now confess the crime
which no doubt have committed, but
of which L am. nevertheless, not fully
conscious That [ struck the unhap-
py man with the spade | know full
well, and have already confessed;
whether it were with the far side or
the sharpe edge | could not in my pas
sion discern; that he then fell down,
and afterwards rose again and ran
away-that is all | know to a surety.
What follows-Heven helpl-four wit
nesses haveseen, namely, that | fetched
the body from the wood and buried it ::
and that this must be substantially true
[ am obliged to believe, and | will tell
you wherefore Three or four times
in my life that / know of it has hap
pened to me to walk in my sleep. The
the last time (about nine years ago), |
Was next day to preach funeral ser
mon over the remains of a man who
had Unexpectedly met with dreadful
death. | was at loss for text, when
the words of wise man among the
ancient Greeks suddenly occurred to
me Call no man happy until he be
in his grave. To use the words of
heathen for text of christian dis
course was not, methought, seemly;
but L then remembered that the same
thought, expressed the same, was in
Apocrypha. Isoug int, and sought, but
could not find the passage. 1t was
late; | was wearied by much previous
labor; | therefore went to bed and
soon feel asleep. Greatly did / marvel
the next morning when, on arising and
seating myself at my writing desk, |
saw before me, written in large letters
upon sheet of paper, Let no man be
deemed happy before his end oometh y
(Sirach, xi. 34). But not this alone.
found like funeral ldiscourse-shOrt,
but as we'll written as any | had ever
composed-snd all in own hand writ
ing. In the chamber no other than
could have been; | knew therefore
who it was that had written the dis
course, and that it was no other than
myself No more than half year
previous | had, in the same marvellous
state, gone in the night time into the
church and fetched away a handker-
chief which left in the chair behind
the altar Mark now-when the two
witnesses this morning delivered their
evidence before the court, then my
previous sleep walking suddenly fash
ed across me; and l likewise called to
mind that in the morning after the night
during which corpse must have been
buried, | had been SUI prised to see my
dressing-gowH lying on the floor just
beside the door, whereas it was always
my custom to hang it on chair by my
beside. The unhapy victim of my un-
bridled passion must, in all likelihood,
have fallen down dead in the wood
and must in my sleep-walking have
followed him thither. Yes-the Lord
have mercyl-so it was, so it must
have been.


The pastor was removed to the goal
at Genau the same night and on the
following day came the judicial exami-
nation. The witnesses confirmed their
former statements on oath. There
now appeared three additional witness
es, viz the pastor two farm servants,
and the dairy-maid. The two former
explained how on the day Of the muir
der they had been sitting near the
open window in the servants room,
and heard distinctly how the pastor
and the man Neils were quarreling, and
how the former had cried out, - | will
slay thee, dog! thou shalt lay dead at
my feetl" They added that they had
twice before heard the parson threaten
Neils with his life. The dairy-maid
depOsed that on the night Lawson saw
the pastor in the garden she was lying
awake In bed, and heard the door lead
ing from the passage into the garden
creak, and that when she rose and
peeped ont, she saw the pastor in his
dressing gown and night cap go outinto
the garden. What he did there she saw
not; but about an hour afterwards she
again heard the creaking of the door.


On the following day sentence Of
death was passed upon the prisoner
sentence which many felt to be severe,
and which led TO a friendly conspiracy
on his behalf, and had it not been for
his refusal to be party to anything un-
lawful, he might have escaped. The
jailor was gained over, and n fisherman
had his boat in readiness for fight to
the Swedish coast, where he would
have been beyond the reach of danger.
But Soren Quist refused to fee. he
loneed, he said, for death; and we
would not add new stain TO his repu-
tation by furtive fight He main
tained his strength of mind to the last,
and from the scaffold he addressed the
bystanders discourse of much power,
which he had composed in prison dur
ing his last days. 1t treated ofanger and
its direful consequences. with touch
ing allusioBs to himself and the dread
ful crime of which his anger misled
him. Thereafter, he dofed his coat,
bound with bis own hands the napkin
before his eyes, and submitted his neck
TO the executiOner's sword.


One-and twenty years after the pas
tor. Soren Quist OF Vellby, had been
accused, tried, condemned and execu-
ted for the murder Of bis serving man,
an old beggar applied for aims TO the
people of Aalsoe. the parish adjoining
to Vellby Suspicious we're aroused
b. the exact likeness the beggar bore
to Morten Burns of Ingvorstrup, who
had lately died, and also by the curious
and anxious inquiries the man made