sely with the intense efforts of
his awful delirium. I remember attempting to stop him, and hanging
upon him, until the insane wretch clutched me by the throat, and a
struggle ensued, during which I suppose I must at length have fainted
or become insensible; for the contest was long, and, while
consciousness remained, terrible and appalling. My fainting, I
presume, saved my life, for the felon was in that state of maniacal
desperation which nothing but a perfect unresistingness could have
evaded.

After this, the first sensation I can recall is that of awakening out
of that state of stupor into which exhaustion and agitation had thrown
me. Shall I ever forget it? The anxiety of some of my friends had
brought them early to the gaol; and the unusual noises which had been
heard by some of its miserable inmates occasioned, I believe, the door
of the cell in which we were to be unlocked before the intended hour.
Keenly do I recollect the struggling again into painful consciousness,
the sudden sense of cheering daylight, the sound of friendly voices,
the changed room, and the strange looks of all around me. The passage
was terrible to me; but I had yet more to undergo. I was recovered
just in time to witness the poor wretch, whose prop and consolation I
had undertaken to be, carried, exhausted and in nerveless horror, to
the ignominious tree--his head drooping on his breast, his eyes
opening mechanically at intervals, and only kept from fainting and
utter insensibility by the unused and fresh morning air, which
breathed in his face as if in cruel mockery. I looked once, but looked
no more.--Let me hasten to conclude. I was ill for many weeks, and
after recovering from a nervous fever, was ordered by my physicians
into the country. This was the first blessing and relief I
experienced, for the idea of society was now terrible to me. I was
secluded for many months. Time, however, who ameliorates all things,
at length softened and wore away the sharper parts of these
impressions, but to this hour I dare not dwell upon the events of that
awful night. If I dream of them, although the horrors fall far short
of the appalling reality, yet for the next sun I am discomposed, and
can only seek for rest from that Almighty Power, who, in his
inscrutable providence, thought fit I should read a lesson so hideous,
but--so salutary.--Reader, farewell.

NARRATION OF CERTAIN UNCOMMON THINGS THAT DID FORMERLY HAPPEN TO ME,
HERBERT WILLIS