The American Union SpeakerPhilbrick, John D. (John Dudley)
General
The American Union Speaker
Philbrick, John D. (John Dudley)
Recitations
The deed was executed with a degree of self-possession and steadiness,
equal to the wickedness with which it was planned. The circumstances, now
clearly in evidence, spread out the whole scene before us. Deep sleep had
fallen on the destined victim, and on all beneath his roof A healthful old
man, to whom sleep was sweet, the just sound slumbers of the night held him
in their soft but strong embrace. The assassin enters, through the window
already prepared, into an unoccupied apartment. With noiseless foot he
paces the lonely hall half-lighted by the moon; he winds up the ascent of
the stairs, and reaches the door of the chamber. Of this, he moves the
lock, by soft and continued pressure, till it turns on its hinges without
noise; and he enters, and beholds his victim before him. The room was
uncommonly open to the admission of light. The face of the innocent sleeper
was turned from the murderer, and the beams of the moon, resting on the
gray locks of his aged temple, showed him where to strike. The fatal blow
is given! and the victim passes, without a struggle or a motion, from the
repose of sleep to the repose of death! It is the assassin's purpose to
make sure work; and he plies the dagger, though it is obvious that life has
been destroyed by the blow of the bludgeon. He even raises the aged arm,
that he may not fail in his aim at the heart, and replaces it again over
the wounds of the poniard. To finish the picture, he explores the wrist for
the pulse! He feels for it and ascertains that it beats no longer! It is
accomplished. The deed is done. He retreats, retraces his steps to the
window, passes out through it as he came in, and escapes. He has done the
murder. No eye has seen him, no ear has heard him. The secret is his own,
and it is safe!
Ah! gentlemen, that was a dreadful mistake. Such a secret can be safe
nowhere. The whole creation of God has neither nook nor corner, where the
guilty can bestow it, and say it is safe. Not to speak of that eye which
glances through all disguises, and beholds everything, as in the splendor
of noon, such secrets of guilt are never safe from detection, even by man.
D. Webster.
CXV.
THE SAME CONCLUDED.
True it is, generally speaking, that murder "will out." True it is, that
Providence hath so ordained, and doth so govern tidings, that those who
break the great law of Heaven by shedding man's blood, seldom succeed in
avoiding discovery. Especially, in a case exciting so much attention as
this, discovery must and will come, sooner or later. A thousand eyes turn
at once to explore every man, every thing every circumstance, connected
with the time and place; a thousand ears catch every whisper; a thousand
excited minds intensely dwell on the scene; shedding all their light, and
ready to kindle the slightest circumstance into a blaze of discovery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account