aking sometimes such a noise that it
seemed as if the very roof would be raised. They often kept it up all
night long.

One morning, after one of these frolics, he said to me he wished I was
at home with my father; that he never intended to return to Philadelphia
himself; but he would see that I was safely taken there. I asked why he
was so much inclined to part from me. He stated that that was his
business; I must leave him. Only the night before, he had been accused
of divulging secrets to me in regard to his companions; that he had
promised them to send me home. He added, that I might take all the
children but the two eldest boys. I protested against separating me and
my children. His only reply was, that his determination on the point was
fixed.

That night he ordered myself and the children into the room, in a more
angry tone than ever, and barred us in. It was not long after this
before his wicked companions arrived and planted themselves down at the
table. I listened at the door, and while my husband had gone out of the
cabin for some purpose, I heard them whispering busily together. As he
entered the apartment, however, the whispering ceased, and one of them
said, "Let's play for the liquor first, and decide that point
afterwards."

After this, they played and swore, and one would have supposed the room
to have been occupied by fiends incarnate rather than by men. At about
twelve o'clock, one of the company said, "Well, boys, now is the time;
what are we here for?" "Out with the light," said another. My husband
now asked what they proposed doing, when, without giving him the
slightest notice, the light was put out, and a heavy blow descended. I
heard my husband cry out, "Do not murder me;" but the strokes fell heavy
and fast, and spite of my screams and the screams of my children--spite
of our efforts to beat the door in, the bloody work was kept up until I
heard my husband's body fall upon the floor. In a short time his
murderers left. I tried to burst the door open, but without success. At
last, I raised my eldest boy to the window, and he crawled outside, and
ran round, entering the door which led to the room containing his
father's corpse. As the child moved towards the door of the room, for
the purpose of unbarring it, he fell over the dead body of his father.
The door was finally unbarred, and I rushed into the room where my
murdered husband lay. Oh, sir, I cannot tell you what were then my
feelings. T