City Crimes; Or, Life in New York and Boston — John Shaqi
City Crimes; Or, Life in New York and BostonThompson, George
General
City Crimes; Or, Life in New York and Boston
Thompson, George
Boston (Mass.) -- Fiction; Crime -- Fiction; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction
Five days after the occurrences just described, in the middle of the
afternoon, Miss Julia Fairfield rode out in her carriage alone, driven
by the black, Nero. The vehicle stopped before a house of respectable
exterior, in Washington street, and the young lady was assisted to
alight; entering the house, she was received by an elderly female, who
immediately conducted her to a private room, which contained a bed and
furniture of a neat but unostentatious description. The carriage drove
away, and Julia remained several hours in the house. At about nine
o'clock in the evening, the carriage returned, and she was assisted to
enter, being apparently in a very feeble and unwell condition. She
reached her own dwelling, and for over a week remained in her chamber,
under plea of severe indisposition. When at length she made her
appearance, she looked extremely pale, and somewhat emaciated; yet, for
the first time in several months, she wore a tight-fitting dress, and
her father, unconscious of her crimes, good-naturedly expressed his joy
at seeing her 'once more dressed like a Christian lady, and not in the
loose and slatternly robes she had so long persisted in wearing.'
The next morning after her visits to the house on Washington Street, the
newspapers contained a notice of the discovery of the body of a newborn
mulatto child, in the water off the Bowery. That child was the offspring
of Miss Julia and the black; it had been strangled, and its body thrown
into the water.
About three weeks after her secret accouchement, Julia became the wife
of Frank Sydney. An elegant establishment had been prepared for the
young couple, in Broadway. Here they repaired after the performance of
the marriage ceremony; and now being for the first time alone with his
beautiful bride, Frank embraced her with passionate ardor, and was not
repulsed.
Ah, happy bridegroom, how little thou knowest the truth! Thou dost not
suspect that the lovely woman at thy side, dressed in spotless white,
and radiant with smiles--thou dost little think that she, whom thou hast
taken to be thy wedded wife, comes to thy arms and nuptial bed, not a
pure and stainless virgin, but a wretch whose soul is polluted and whose
body is unchaste, by vile intimacy with a negro menial!
The hour waxes late, and the impatient husband conducts his fair bride
to the nuptial chamber--Love's hallowed sanctuary.
Two hours afterwards, that husband was pacing a parlor back and forth,
with uneven strides, his whole appearance indicative of mental
agony.--Pausing, he exclaimed--
'My God, what terrible suspicions cross my mind! I imagined Julia to be
an angel of purity and virtue yet now I doubt her! Oh, horrible,
horrible! But may not my doubts be facts without any foundation? I will
tomorrow consult a physician on the subject. Pray heaven my suspicions
may prove to be utterly groundless!'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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