Murder -- Investigation -- Fiction; United States -- Social life and customs -- 20th century -- Fiction
“You are having your own way about this argument. I only know you are
here for murder, and it is my duty to see that you are working for the
next ten years. Come along with me.”
I was taken to “the carpet” and the look of the officer and higher
official was like daggers. I trembled from head to foot.
“You here again? What is the trouble, guard?”
“I found this man standing with hands untied when I entered the rack.”
“What does this mean? Who untied you?”
I saluted the superintendent, and replied: “I do not know.”
“Well, we will see if we can find out. Take him back and double-tie
his hands. Strap his feet also, and tip-toe him, and perhaps he will be
willing to work by and by.”
I began to beg. How could anyone punish his brother man so? I said:
“I am human and have feeling. I do not deserve such hard treatment. I
would work willingly if you would give me work that I can do. I can not
do hard labor—I never did.”
“You will do what we see fit to give you to do, and if you are not
willing, you go back to the rack.”
I could not stand the ordeal. On bended knees I begged for mercy, and the
mercy shown me was a clubbing, and I was marched back to the rack.
“Now, sir, I will strap you, as I was ordered to do, and I will be
around, perhaps, to see the other fellow untie you.”
As before, I was strapped with uplifted hands, and drawn from the floor
to the tips of my toes. I was exhausted with fear, and as I was being
tied, both feet together, I cried out: “God, have pity! Give me help and
strength to stand this, for Thou, O Heavenly Father, dost know that I am
innocent.”
I heard the heavy iron door close behind me, as I thought, for the last
time. I could not see how I could ever withstand this punishment.
Suddenly I began to experience the peculiar feeling of dizziness that
had come over me before. I felt my hands being loosened, then I knew
nothing more. I lay I do not know how long. The first I remembered was
when I again heard the door slam and over me stood the guard and the
superintendent. I was told to get up. I obeyed, and the look on the faces
of those men I shall never forget.
After I was questioned as to how I felt, the dizziness began again to
come upon me. I was again taken back to “the carpet,” but this time with
more of the feeling of sympathy than before.
“I am at a loss, sir, to know what to do with you,” said the
superintendent. “I think that I shall have an investigation of your
case and see if we can find why and what power you have, if any. I was
an eye-witness to your being untied this time, and no one assisted.
Invisible power is the only explanation I can make.”
[Illustration: “THE FIRST I REMEMBER WAS WHEN I AGAIN HEARD THE DOOR
SLAM, AND OVER ME STOOD THE GUARD AND THE SUPERINTENDENT.”]
Again I was taken back, but not to the rack—to my cell, where I was given
some coffee, and kind words with it. I was wondering what this meant
when I heard footsteps, then voices saying:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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