Newspapers / The Weekly Raleigh Register … / Aug. 6, 1884, edition 1 / Page 1
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fa By P. M. HALE. 4 mm mm OFFICE : Faycttevitle St., Second Floor Fisher Building. RATES OF SDB8CRIPTIOK: One i-opy one year, mailed poet-paid '. .$2 00 One ropy six months, mailed post-paid 1 00 ': r1- l ff No name entered without .payment, and no paper sent after expiration of time paid for. IRISH IXTLLABT. Alfred Perceval Graves. I'd rwk my own sweet childieto rest in a cradle of (fold on a bough of the willow, To i he sho-been sho of the wind of the west and the sho hoo lo of the soft sea billow. Sleep baby dear, Sleep without fear, Mother is here beside your pillow. . I'd. put my own sweet ehildie to sleep in a silver boat on the beautiful river. Where a sho-he'en whisper the white cascades, ami a sho hoo 10 the green flags shiver. t Sleep, baby dear.; Sleep without fear, Mother is here with you forever. Sho hoo lo! to the rise and fall of mother's bo som 'tis sleep has bound you, And O, my child, what cosier nest for rosier rest could love have found you? Sleep, baby dear, ! Sleep without tear, Mother's two arms are clasped around you. VOL. I. . RALEIGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 6, 1884. NO, 24. the Union ; :and partly because bitter con troversies over yet higher grievances ex cluded it from view. It is not intended to say any thing of its practical workings in this State; that every reader of our journals is well enongh acquainted with; what is now intended is, to state such ob jections ns render imperative not simply the modification, but the absolute repeal of this law. THE INTERNAL REVENUE. THE "iSFEHNAL THING" WHICH SAPS THE PEOPLE'S MORALS, Begradea the States and Threatens Their Annihilation. Kalei;h Register, April 2, 1884.1 Mr. Carlisle is the most pronounced ad vocate" of the retention of the whisky excise taxes, and at the same time of ex tending the time of payment of those taxes by those who enjoy the profits of the vast monopoly created and kept in being by the excise law. Apparently to strengthen the Morrison tariff bill, and to stavejeff repeal of the whisky protective tax "law, so 'necessarv to the profitable business of "his whiskv manufacturing constituency, he has proposed to repeal the tobacco tax and to reduce the tax on brandy distilled -from fruit to ten cents a gallon. Mr. Car- lisle's proposition does not touch the evil It is not the tax on whisky and tobacco of which the people complain. It is the excise law. It is not that the excise Of ficers are Republicans, are Isaac J. Young, Thomas N. Cooper, F. M. Sorrell; but that there are such officers at all. The law is dangerous to the rights of the States and to the liberties of the people ; and it cannot be otherwise so long as it is enforced, whether its execution, be en trusted to Democrats or to Republicans. An examination of this law, in its origin, its spirit, its operation, and its effects and consequences, will show that no modifica tion of it can make it tolerable; that nothing1 less than its absolute repeal is demanded. Ita Spirit and Operation. Its Origin. of all forms of taxation the excise is the mot odious. It was the vile progeny of evil times. It had its origin in England amidst the throes and convulsions of the great civil war, when the reign of law had almost ceased; when regular government had hardly any existence.. It was intro duced to continue onlv till the termination of the war; but though modified at the Restoration, it was retained as apart of the revenue System, and assumed vefy much its present shape there, under the admin istration of Walpole. In the debates which took place upon it at this latter period. Pultencv denounced it as a "plan of arbitrary power," "a monster which had struck terror into the minds of most gentlemen within this House, and of all men without doors." Sir John Barnard declared it to be "such a shame as cannot. hv malice itself, be represented as worse than it really if." Sir William Wyndham said, that "in all countries, excises of every kind are looked on as badges of slavery. Walpole himself shrank from the enforce ment. and nobly said, "I will not be the . Minister to enforce taxes at the expense of blood.':' These were the declarations of statesmen, the most eminent of their age, and who were acquainted with the practi cal working of the law, which had then been in existence for over two-thirds of a century. It may be said these were words which fell from men in the heat of debate I,et us turn then to the deliberate expres sions of men even better and more widely known. Dr. Johnson explained excise in his dictionary as " a hateful tax levied upon commodities, and adjudged, not by common judges of property, but by wretches hired by those to whom the ex cise is paid." Without saying anything to the iic.euraev of the definition, it will be admitted that the language em ploved shows plainly enough the detesta tion in which the tax itself was held. Blackstone declared that "from the or iginal to the present time it has been s odious to the people of England," And the people of England resisted' the law aily because of a horror, common to all free people, of a tax on domestic products and th" necessarily inquisitorial methods of collection. The people of this country- had other reasons for hostility, growing out of their peculiar form of government. They had to resist Mr. Hamilton's long ' cherished desire to weaken the States and strengthen. the General Government, by subjecting the people to "the influence of officers deriving their emoluments from, and consequently interested in, supporting the -poweLLof the Central Government. The excise law was enacted in this coun irv in the Congress of 1791. It was passed In a slender majority, and against violent opposition. But for the influence of Ham ilton, exerted in a case of absolute need of revenue for a most sacred purpose, it would not have passed at all. The pas sage of that act the proposal to pass it culled out resolutions .denouncing it from the legislatures of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Vn-.rir.;.! on,i Vrtrth Carolina. It was re- hiitwil on the statute book, but it speedily, in 1794, brought the country to the brink of civil war. Had any other than Washing ? ton then been in the Presidential chair, it probable that the infant republic would The excise in its very nature violates one of the deepest seated and most universal sentiments of mankind, viz: the right of a man to do what he pleases with his own. Men, savage and civilized, agree in this principle. This law is the very quintes sence of intermeddling, alike vexatious and injurious with this it may almost be said sacred right. It steps in and says to the grower of certain commodities, that that which is his own: produced upon his own land and by his own personal labor shall be disposed of only to particular per sons who are licensed to buy ; it says to the dealer that though his money be his own, yet dealing with those commodities, he shall deal only in a -prescribed way, and that which, upon any misapprehension or oversight, exposes his property to confis cation and his person to imprisonment. To ensure its execution the excise necessi tates a resort to expedients that are alien to the genius of a free government and a free people : on the one hand, it fills the land with spies and informers, the worst pests of human society ; on the other, it subjects the citizen to a sort of domiciliary visits, perhaps the worst of all the evils of desDOtic government. Such a law was perfectly consistent with the ends of those who introduced it during the late civil war, the establishment of a centralized1 arid semi-imperial government. Certainly nothing is better calculated to bow down the spirit of the people; one might go farther and say, to prepare them for the yoke. If the excise were free from ob jection in itself, still the objection to it, on account of the complexity involved in its provisions, and details, would be in superable. It has been in existence in England for about two centuries -and has been often amended and reused, yet in the latest work accessible in which this matter is treated of. the obscurity and complexity of this law is strongly urged. From its very nature, it is a law which ought to be brief, clear and lucid to the comprehension of everv one; but in this treatise the English law is declared to be "lengthened, contradictory and unintelli gible." ' It is in fact," says the author in question, "almost impossible for any one to tell what the law really is ' on many points; so that the trader is left to the mercy of officers, and a wide door is opened to favoritism and fraud. ' It is hard to believe that the author is not speaking 'Of our own law. Here, however, it has not only opened a door to favoritism and fraud, thus proving a rich mine to nprincipled revenue officers, but it has operated as trap to many honest men. The objection is inherent in the law itself ; the minute and endless details, inseparable from such a law, .task the ingenuity of the skilled lawyer: nay, official interpretations are often contradictory; how natural then, that they should prove insidious snares to plain, uninformed men. A mere abstract of the law, such as is given in the ltevisea Statutes, would fill many issues of the Register. The excise is productive of a gross and crushing inequality. Of this take an illus tration: The state ol Virginia, severed m twain during the civil war. and crushed and ruined, has paid many times more In ternal Revenue tax than the whole New England States with their boundless bank ing capital and vast manufacturing and commercial wealth: - And the State of North Carolina has paid nearly as much as the whole of them. It is no answer to say that only the consumer pays this tax. The consumer pays all the taxes that are levied and collected by the United States Gov ernment; not a cent is paid by any other, and the Government levies and collects no tax on any other American product or property. Why should it tax the products of Virgijnia and North Carolina and not tax the products of New England? Why were the internal taxes which New Eng land and the Northern States did pay re pealed, although they could be collected (being on patented articles and easy of access) with a modicum of spying and in forming, and at little or no expense to the government? Bank capital, bank checks, wax tapers and cigar lights, playing cards, patent liniments, salves, plasters, drops, tinctures, anodynes, and the innumerable notions made "by "private formula or occult secret or "art;" toilet waters, cos metics, hair oils, and the numberless de vices to beautify or spoil "the hair, mouth or skin;"' even "aromatic cachous?" ing in every city, village and hamlet, hav ing daily intercourse with society, and operates on public opinion. A brave peo ple, not vet degenerated, and devoted to liberty, may successfully defend themselves against military force. But it the omciai corps is aided by the Executive, by the post-office department, and by a large por tion of the public press, its power is invin cible." It would be easy to multiply quotations from other eminent statesmen to the same effect ; enough, however, has been given to show that this is an evil always and most justly dreaded. But to appreciate this danger to its full extent, it must ue recol lected that the agencies for influencing elections inClay'aand Calhoun's day, were small as compared with those which exist at this day. Since then the internal riev enue service has been introduced, and the means of controlling elections have been increased beyond computation. It must also be recollected that at the former pe riod the constituencies were such as could only be reached by argument and reason ; now a large proportion ol the voters oi tne country, a controlling proportion in many of the States, obey the word of command like "dumb, driven cattle." The exist ence of such a body of voters among us augments the danger to a frightful degree. What were prophetic presages oi patriots in the past generation are present realities to us. The danger environs us on every hand ; it is about and around us and be neath our feet. We are treading on the crust of a slumbering volcano. This is no figure of speech The Revenue corps dis persed -throughout the whole country, in every town, village ana city, mingling with the people, attending their meetings, organizing their conventions, becoming chairmen and members of committees, and urging and stimulating partisans to active and vigorous; exertions, took, during Grant's administration, entire control of elections. Acting in concert and through out the whole Union, obeying orders issued from the centre, dispensing a patronage of their own, and aided by the post-omce and the other vast means at the command of the Government, they wielded a power which nothing but an extraordinary up rising of the people could withstand. The Revenue Corpsshowed an ability to bring the whole patronage ot the tiovernment into conflict with the freedom of elections ; they demonstrated a power which serious ly imperils our, institutions, State and national. But there is another and more serious danger, if that be possible. To enable the Revenue officers to perform their duties, they have been lifted high above the juris diction of Stat laws. Standing among the people of a State, they are clothed with an absolute immunity from laws which operate with equal and steady effect upon all others. They may commit any violence to person or propei i v , wc maj rob, they may wound, they may slay, but at the cry lama Revenue otticer, tne uplifted sword of State justice falls power less. The law of the State is nothing to them ; they trample on its provisions, they deride its penalties. Federal Judges, toe often animated with a feeling of hostility to the people among whom they are ap pointed to administer justice, are ready to throw over them the protecting segis of the General Government. The States which were intended to be a " shelter for us and a strong tower." our avengers whenever ern States mainly in localities where the people are but little educated and are often very poor; where markets are too distant to make sale of grain ; and where the products of their stills present the only means of paying their State taxes, and of obtainfng a few homely comforts for their families; is it strange that under such cir cumstances they should resort to clandes tine means of making and disposing of the products of the still? Men must lie taken as they are, not as we would have them to be. The failure to see the moral element in this law is not confined to the poor, or to remote localities. Every one who is famil iar with the lighter literature of the day and of other days as in one or two of the novels of Scott and some of Lever's will recollect that it is mentioned when the bottle is introduced, even in assemblies of the English gentry, as a circumstance that will impart a fine flavor to the liquor, that "it has never seen the ganger." This sentiment seems to be confined to no coun try and to no class. What the failure to recognize this moral element effects among the humble farmers and poor mountaineers, the temptation to enormous profits effects among the rich. This has been brought to light in many Revenue trials, especially in those which took place in St. Louis. The complications of those dark transactions unrelieved by any compensating circumstances, for there the offenders were men of wealth, of high social position, and were living at one of the great centres of traffic extended, even to the White House ; the poisonous infec tion ofthis abominable law, nearly every where. The law is sapping the morals of the people. It is arraying their feelings against the Government. It is subjecting them to indignities humiliating to freemen. It has degraded the States and threatens their an nihilation. It is subverting the relations of the Federal to the State governments. Formerly the Federal Government was to us as a "sun and a shield;" now, through this law and its attendant evils, it throws its baneful shadow over our whole land. THE MONOMANIAC. THE NORMALS. The Good Work Done at Franklin. our personal and property rights were in vaded, have been humbled, degraded and brought to naught. A sort of sanctity in the estimation of our fathers hedged the States, and those who have inherited their principles and cherish their maxims, have witnessed with indignation not to be ex pressed the contempt and wrong and deg radation which have been heaped upon them. Shall this be allowed to go on? If it be endured but for a little time, the States will be the objects of still further aggression. In the paralysis of their laws within their own limits, States have lost their prestige and their power; their own people are becoming habituated to the spectacle of their degradation. A little while, and what will remain ? The shadow of a name. Let us repeal the excise law, and thus cut off these evils at their source. EO'eetB Upon the People. Effect Upon the Government. i-.ivo thivfrH to atoms-. dtucmuus "F1" ion of the excise law was expressed with Ins usua I force and point. In a letter to Madison he said: "The excise law is an infernal one'.- The first error was to admit it bv the constitution ; the second, to act ... .1 1. ! 1 .. .. A loaf upon that admission; tne tiuru, uu will be to make it the instrument of dis membering the Union, and setting us afloat to choose what part of it we shall adhere to." At last, in answer to the universal demand of the country, as soon as Mr. Jef ferson and the Democrats came into pow er, it wtas repealed. , But (here seems to be an irresistible at traction about the "infernal thing," to-use Jcffersjjn's epithet. Though condemned by theistatesmen and jurists of both hem ispheres, whenever the finances pinch it is t once had recourse to by that class of statesniMi who deal onlv in teniporary ex pedients, and care nothingfor the ultimate consequences of .a measure. Accorumgij, 'luring our late civil war, it reared itahor rid front again, and during that time of political and financial phrensy was again n enacted. It has endured to the present time, partly because the section upon which it lxre hardest was expluded from But the excise justifies the epithet ap plied to it by Jefferson, by its effects upon both the government and the people. The first and most obvious effect upon the government is the vast increase of ex ecutive patronage. The danger from this source became the subject of apprehen sion at an early period of our government. Jefferson, whose mind was awake to every danger jyhich threatened the government, issued si circular to: restrain Federal of ficers from intermeddling in elections. He had before him the British example, ac cording to which placemen and pensioners are not only forbidden to interfere, but were not, some of them, allowed to vote at popular elections. In 1839 a bill was introduced in Congress inflicting the penalty of dismissal on a large class of the officers of the General Government who should electioneer, or attempt to control or influence the election of public func tionaries, either of the General or State Governments. It was opposed by Cal houn, who demonstrated that it was un constitutional, in that the General Govern ment had no right to interfere with the electoral l ights of the citizens of the State. The bill was defeated, but its opponent showed that he fully participated in the apprehensions of Jefferson ; for he de clared iin his sDeech that he had made " no rolitical move of- any importance for the last twelve or thirteen years, which had not frvr ita nbiect. directlv or indirectly, the reduction of patronage. " This was a feel ing common, indeed, to all the statesmen who formed the connecting links between the men of the Revolution and the men of our day. Clay expressed his apprenen sions from this source in language with which many Teaders are familiar, but which they will read again with pleasure. " Is not a corps' of a hundred thousand dependents upon government, actuated by one spirit, obeying one will, and aiming at one end, more dangerous and more for midable than a standing army? The stand ing army is separated from the mass of society, stationed in barracks or military quarters, and operates by physical force. The official corps is distributed and ram ified throughout the whole country, dwell- The exise law is no less fatal in its effects upon the people. The Government should be the object of the highest earthly vener ation. All its conduct and all its laws should be such as to keep alive and in crease the feelings of loyalty in the hearts of the people. But this" law is of the very opposite character. While the spirit ol tall other laws is that every man is innocent until he is proven to be guilty, the excise sets out with the assumption that every citizen is a rogue unworthy of any trust.. In certain branches of business, the citizen is not permitted to see the product of his own industry except under the supervision of a Federal officer. In this, when such precautions are impossible, he cannot re ceive the product of his labor until an official stamp is put upon it. When the; citizen is at work upon certain commodi ties the government hedges him around with regulations of infinite detail regula tions the most insidious, because not clear, and therefore apt to betray him into diffi culties and subject him to penalties. In all his movements, spies and informers, by night and by day, dog him as if he were a lelon. H.very tmng tenus to iiriLate uu exasperate him. until at length he comes 1 . - . " .., , ,. to regard the Uovernment witn ieenngs the reverse of loyalty. This is bad enough, but what is worse, it' debauches the moral sense of a people. It punishes a departure from the Revenue law as it it were a violation oi lue deca logue. It disregards the moral element in actions. No mortal man can see tne same elements of criminality in the act of crush ing a few bundles of tobacco of his own production into fine particles and then selling it for smoking, and in the act of stealing a neighbor's horse ; and yet both alike subject the citizen to the penitentia- The ideas of plain men as to ngnt ry and wrong are thus confounded : they can- .. A III.,, Tw, f(1.mn. not see crime in au nti nivc mv; imn which, for half their lives, perhaps, was recognized as innocent. So, too, the farm er formerly distilled his wasting fruit, and, if remote from market, his wasting grain, upon payment of a small tax, which when withheld was punishable by a double tax. Now he finds imposed upon him a tax many times exceeding the value of the article upon which it is laid ; and around him are thrown a number of regulations for its manufacture and sale, the least vio lation of which subjects him to punish ment, severe and degrading. Is it any wonder that oppressed by exorbitant taxa tion, and exasperated by the conduct of petty officials, he is unable to recognize a criminality of which his fathers never heard, and of which he never heard until lately? Recognizing no moral element in the law, and feeling it to be grossly op pressive, is it remarkable that he should seek to evade it? Let it be remembered that distilling is carried en in the Sonth- rCorrespondence of the Raleigh Register. J Fkaxklin, N. C, July 28, 1884. The fourth term of the State Normal School at Franklin closed to-day under very flatter ing circumstances, a deep pervading inter est having brought together a large collec tion of our citizens to witness the closing exercises and hear a speech from Hon. J. C. Scarborough, our State Educational Superintendent. Mr. Scarborough made an excellent speech in favor of popular education, and in regard to its progress in North Carolina since the days of recon struction. To say that this term of our school has been a success would be but commonplace praise, and would fail to give the reader a correct idea of the results accomplished. There was, in the first place, a very fair attendance of the teachers in these extreme Western counties, some of whom walked as much as FIFTY MILES for the sake of Normal instruction. This was of itself a guarantee of faithfulness on their part as Normal students, and the success they had in competitive exercises showed not onlv ability but the fruits of earnest purpose and application. It is a just meed of praise to say that this term of our Normal School was from the beginning stripped of all fuss and feathers. The Board of Instructors and the students, if I may so call them, alike addressed themselves with much earnest ness to the work before them. All labored with a will for the achievement of the rrreat end for which this class of schools was established in our State that of qual ifying and elevating the standard of our common school teachers and imparting greater efficiency to our system of popular education. Moved bv this impulse this term of our Normal, just closed, has re sulted in more effective work and practi-" cal benefits than any preceding term. Be sides this, it took hold upon the minds of visitors and awakened a more widespread interest than heretofore. One of the most encouraging facts developed at this session was, that of the one hundred enrolled, ninety-one were BOXA FIPE TEACHERS who propose to devote themselves to the profession of teaching, and were here for the purpose of acquiring additional quali fication for that work. The number of the enrolled may seem small to some, but when we take into consideration the sparse ness of our population and the absence of public methods of conveyance, it showed an excellent record. If those attending Normal instruction at the other Normal Schools in the State had been laid under the necessity of WALKING FIFTY MILES for the sole purpose of the benefits to be derived T doubt if thev would show a better record. While I am not disposed to urge invidious distinctions, I doubt if there has been a more efficient board of instructors Normal teachers, who have done more faithful and effective work than that at Franklin. These teachers too were aided and encouraged in their work by the attentive and earnest appli cation of the students, and all were en couraged in this noble work by the deep interest manifested in their success by a uuiet and unostentatious community who furnished no Aim flam to distract attention or interferfere with study and research Say what you will of it, there is neverthe less something in their surroundings in making good students and profound scholars. Educational enterprises surrounded by popular amusements and fashionable clap trap never reach that success in imparting true scholarship that those do which have more of rural quietude and yet good moral society. These conditions attached to the Franklin Normal School. We have in this mountain region a fair share of native talent to be utilized and made val uable to the State, and this method ol Normal instruction is one of the agencies likely to attain that much desired end. While there has been some prejudice in a portion of the public mind against our Normal schools, my observation has been to the effect that our school at least has wrought out practical results far beyond our most sanguine expectations. It has already improved the tone and, I may say, efficiency of our teachers of the pub lic schools from ONE TO TWO HUNDRED PER CENT. The work of .training and sending out teachers capable of doing effective work has just begun ; and if it is continued a few vears longer, our wnoie euucauouui plans will be reduced to systematic work and the love of education more generally diffused. Then will North Carolina arise and put on her garments of beauty, adorned with her native talent like dia monds gathered from the rough dCbris in which thev are round. v. u. psmith. Warren's Diary of a Detective. The following narrative relates more to medical than to criminal history; but as the affair came in some degree under my notice as a public officer, I have thought it might not be altogether out of place in these slight outlines of police experience. Strange ahd unaccountable as it may at first appear, its general truth will hardly be questioned by those who have had oppor tunities of observing the fantastic delu sions which haunt and dominate the hu man brain in certain phases of mental ab erration. On arriving in London in 1831, I took lodgings at a Mr. Renshawe's, in Mile- End Road, not far from the turnpike-gate. My inducement to do so, was partly the cheapness and neatness of the accommo dation, partly that the landlord's mater nal uncle, a Mr. Oxley, was slightly known to me. Henry Renshawe I knew by repu tation only, he having left Yorkshire ten er eleven years before, and even that knowledge was slight and vague. I had heard that a tragical event had cast a deep shadow over his after-life; that he had been for some months the inmate of a private lunatic asylum; and that some per sons believed his brain had never thor oughly recovered its original healthy ac tion. In this opinion both my wife and myself very soon concurred ; and yet I am not sure that we could have given a satis factory reason for such belief. He was, it i 1 1 .1. i is true, usually Kinu ana gentle, even to the verge of simplicity, but his general mode of expressing himself and conduct ing business was quite coherent and sen sible; although in spite of his resigned cheerfulness of tone and manner, it was at times quite evident, that whatever the mental hurt he had received, it had left a rankling, perhaps remorseful, sting be hind. A small, well-executed portrait in his sitting-room suggested a conjecture of the nature of the calamity which had be fallen him. It was that of a fair, mild eyed, very young woman, but of a pen sive, almost mournful, cast of features, as if the coming event, briefly recorded in the lower right-hand corner of the paint ing, had already, during life and health, cast its projecting shadow over her. That brief record was this: "Laura Har greaves, born 1804; drowned 1821."' No direct allusion to the picture ever passed his lips in my hearing, although, from be- . . . . ... ' i i . ing able to cnat together oi loncsnire scenes and times, we speedily became ex cellent friends. Still, there were not wanting, from time to time, significant in dications, though difficult "to place in evi dence, that the fire of insanity had not been wholly quenched, but still smoulder cd and glowed beneath the habit-Hardened crust which concealed it from the careless or casual observer. Exciting circumstances, not very long after mv arrival in the metropolis, unfortunately kindled those brief wild sparkles into a furious and con suming flame. Mr. Renshawe was in fair circumstances that is, his income, derived from funded property alone, was nearly 300 a year ; but his habits were close, thrifty, almost miserly. His personal appearance was neat and gentlemanly, but he kept no servant. A char-woman came once a day to arrange his chamber and perform other household work, and he usually dined, very simply, at a coffee-house or tavern. His house, with the exception of a sitting and bed room, was occupied by lodgers ; amongst these was a pale, weakly looking vountr man. of the name of Irwin. He was suffering from pulmonary consump tion a disease induced, I was informed, bv his careless follvin remaining in his wet clothes after having assisted, during the greater part of the night, at a large fire at a coach-factory. His trade, was in gold and silver lace-work bullion for ep aulettes. and so on ; and as he had a good connection with several West-end estab lishments, his business appeared to be a thriving one; so much so, that he usually employed several assistants of both sexes. " . . SI 1 1 He occupied the nrst noor, ana a work shop at the end of the garden. His wife, pretty-ieatured, weu-iormea, graceiui young woman, oi not more tuaii iwo or three-and-twenty, was, they told me, the - . . 3 i daughter oi a school-master, ana certainly had been gently and careiuuy nurturea. Thev had one child, a sprightly, cuny- haired, bright-eyed boy, nearly four years old. The wife, Ellen Irwin, was reputed to be a first-rate hand at some of the lichter parts of her husband's business and her efforts to lighten his toil, and compensate bv increased exertion for his daily diminishing capacity for labor, were unwenrvinar and incessant. IS ever nave l seen a more gentle, thoughtful tenderness, than was displayed by that young wne to wards her suffering, and sometimes not quite evenly-tempered, partner, who, how ever, let me add, appeared to Teciprocaie truthfullv her affection ; all the more so, perhaps, that he knew their time together upon earth had already snruns to a onei span. In my opinion, Ellen Irwin was a handsome, even an elegant young person ; this, however, is in some degree a matter of taste. But no one could deny that the gentle kindness, the beaming compassion, irradiating her features as she tended the fast-sinking invalid, rendered her at such times absolutely beautiful angelized her, to use an expression of my wife's, with whom she was a prime favorite. I was self-debating for about the twentieth time one evening, where.it was I had formerly seen her, with that sad, mournful look of hers; for seen her I was sure I had, and not long since either. It was late; I had just returned home; my wife was in the sick room, and I entered it with two or three oranges : "Oh, now I remember," I suddenly exclaimed, just above my breath; "the picture in Mr. Renshawe's room vv uau icmaiivauic vuiunuvu. A low, chuckling laugh, close at my el bow, caused me to turn quickly towards the door. Just within the threshold stood Mr. Renshawe. looking like a white stone lmatre rather than a living man, but for the fierce sparkling of his strangely-gleam ing eyes, and the mocking, triumphant curl of his lips. "You, too, have at last observed it, thenr he muttered, laintiy echoinff the under-tone in which I spoke : "I have known the truth for many weeks.' The manner, the expression, not the words, quite startled me. At the same moment a crv of women rang through the room, and 1 immediately seizea mr. rvensuavte by the arm, and drew him forcibly away, for there was that in his countenance which should not meet the eyes of a dying man. "What were you saying? What truth have you known for weeks?" I asked as soon as we had reached his sitting-room. Before he could answer, another wailing sound came from the sick-room. Light ning leaped from Renshawe's lustrous, dilating eyes, and the exulting laugh again, but louder, burst from his lips; "Ha! ha!" he exclaimed. "I know that cryl It is Death's Death's! Thrice blessed death, whom I have so often ig norntly cursed! But that," he added quickly, and peering sharply in my face, " was when, as you know, people said" and he ground his teeth with rage "peo ple said I was crazed mad !": " What can you mean by this wild talk, my friend?"' I replied in asjunconcerned and quieting a tone as I could immediate ly assume. " Come, sit dowfll I wasOksk ing the meaning of your strange words below, just now?" " The meaning of my words? You know as well as I do. Look there !" " At the painting? Well?" "You have seen the original," he went on with the same excited tone and ges tures. "It crossed me like a-flash of lightning. Still it is strange she does not know me. It is sure she does not ! But I am changed, no not very badly changed!" he added, as he looKeo in a mirror. " Can you mean that I have seen Laura Hargreaves here?" I stammered, thor oughly bewildered. " She who was drowned ten or eleven years a.goV "To be sure to be sure! It is so be lieved, I admit, by everybody by myself, and the belief drove me mad ! And yet, I now remember, when I was calm when the pale face, blind staring eyes, and dripping hair, ceased for awhile to pursue and haunt me, the low, sweet voice and gentle face came back, and I knew she lived, though all denied it. But look, it is her very image !" he added fiercely, his glaring eyes flashing from the portrait to my face alternately ADVERTISING BATES. Advertisement will be inserted for One Dollar per square (one inch) for the first and Fifty Cents for each subsequent publication. Contracts for advertising for any space or time may be made at the office of the RALEIGH REGISTER, Second Floor of Fisher Building, Fayeteville Street, next to Market House. I ' ' Whose image V "Whose image! Why Mrs. Irwin's, to be sure. You vourself admitted it just now."' I was so confounded, that for several minutes I remained stupidly and silently staring at the man. At length 1 said, "Well, there is a likeness, though not so great as I imagined" It is false!' he broke in lunousiy. 1 It is her very self.'" We'll talk of that to-morrow. lou are ill, over-excited, and must go to bed. I hear Dr. Garland's voice below ; he shall come to you." "Ino no nol he almost screameu. Send me no doctors; I hate doctors! But I'll go to bed since you wish it ; but no doctors ! Not for the world !" As he spoke, he shrank coweringly backwards, out of the room; his wavering, unquiet eyes fixed upon mine as long as we re mained within view ot each otner: a mo ment afterwards I heard him dart into his chamber and bolt and double lock the door. It was plain that lunacy, but partially subdued, had resumed its former mastery over the unfortunate gentleman. But what an extraordinary delusion ! I took a candle, and examined the picture with re newed curiosity. It certainly bore a strong resemblance to Mrs. Irwin : the brown, curling hair, the pensive eyes, the pale fairness of complexion, were the same; but it was scarcely more girlish, more youthful, than the young matron was now, and the original, had she lived, wouia have been by this time approaching to thirty years of age ! I went softly down stairs and found, as 1 learea, mat ueorge Irwin was gone. My wife came weeping out of the death-chamber, accompanied by Dr. Garland, to whom I forthwith re lated what had taKen place, ne nsieneo. with attention and interest; and after some sage observations upon the strange fancies which now and then took posses sion of the minds of monomaniacs, agreed to see Mr. Renshawe at ten the next morn ing. I was not required upon duty till eleven ; and if it were in the physician's opinion desirable, I was to write at once to the patient's uncle, Mr. Oxley. Mr. Renshawe was, l heard, stirring De- fore .seven o'clock, and the char-woman informed me, that he had taken his break fast as usual, and appeared to be in cheer ful, almost high spirits. The physician was punctual: 1 tapped at the sitting room door, and was desired to come in. Mr. Renshawe was seated at a table with some papers before him, evidently deter mined to appear cool and indifferent. He could not, however, repress a start of sur prise, almost of terror, at sight of the Ehysician, and a paleness, louoweu uv u ectic flush, passed quickly over his coun tenance. I observed, too, that the por trait was turned with its face towards the wall. By a strong effort, Mr. Renshawe re-o-ained his simulated composure, and in reply to Dr. Garland's professional in quiry, as to the state of his health, said with a forced laugh : "My friend Waters has, I suppose, been amusing you with the absurd story that made him stare so last night. It is exceedingly droll, I must say, although many persons, otherwise acute enough, cannot, except upon reflec tion, comprehend a jest. There was John Kemble, the tragedian, for instance, who " "Never, mind John Kemble, my dear sir," interrupted Dr. Garland. " Do pray tell the story over again. I love an amus ing jest." Mr. Renshawe hesitated for an instant, and then said with reserve, almost dignity of manner: "I do not know, sir his face, bv the way, was determinedly avert ed from the cool, searching gaze of the --- , v physician " I do not Know, sir, mat i am obliged to find you in amusement; and as your presence here was not invited, i snail be obliged by your leaving the room as quickly as may be." "Certainly certainly, sir. i am ex ceedingly sorry to have intruded, but l am sure you will permit me to nave a peep at this wonderful portrait." Renshawe sprang impulsively forward to prevent the doctor reaching it. He was too late; and Dr. Garland, turning sharply round with the painting in his hand, liter Tilly transfixed him in an attitude of sur prise and consternation. Like the Ancient Mariner, he held him by his glittering eye, but the spell was not an enduring one. "Truly," remarked Dr. Garland, as he d the kind of mesmeric influence he had exerted beginning to fail, "not so very bad a chance resemblance ; especially about the eyes and mouth" "This is very extraordinary conduct," broke in Mr. Renshawe: "and i must again request that you will both leave the room." It was useless to persist and we almost immediately went away. " 1 our impres sion, Mr. Waters," said the physician as he was leaving the house, "is, I dare say, the true one; but he is on his guard now, and it will be prudent to wait for a fresh outbreak before acting decisively; more especially as the hallucination appears to be quite a harmless one." This was not, I thought, quite so sure, v.iif nf course I acouiesced as in duty bound ; and matters went on pretty much ah isiil for seven or eight weeks, except that Mr Renshawe manifested much aver sion towards myself personally, and finally aor-vod me with a written notice to quit at the end of the term previously stipulated for There was still some time to that; and in the meanwhile, I caused a strict watch to be set, as far as was practicable nrtiiniif onit.iriflr observation, upon our ir,dlrrd"R words and acts. mun Trwin'a first tumult of grief sub sided, the next and pressing question re lated to her own and infant son's subsist ence. An elderly man of the name of Tomlins was engaged as foreman; and it was hoped the business might still be car ried on with sufficient profit. Mr. tten shawe's manner, though at times indica tive of considerable nervous irritability, was kind and respectful to the young widow : and I began to hope that the de lusion he had for a while labored under had finally passed away. J The hope was a fallacious one. We were sitting at tea on a Sunday evening, when Mrs. Irwin, pale, and trembling with fright and nervous agitation, came hastily in, with her little boy in her hand. I cor rectly divined what had occurred. In reply to my hurried questioning, the astounded young matron told me, in sud stance, that within the last two" or three days Mr. Renshawe's strange behavior and disjointed talk had both bewildered and alarmed her. He vaguely intimated that she, Ellen Irwin, waa really Laura some body else that sh4 had kept company with him, Mr. Renjshawe, in Yorkshire, before she knew podr George with many other strange things he muttered, rather than spoke out; and especially that it was owing to her son reminding her continu ally of his father, that she pretended not to have known Mr. Renshawe twelve or thirteen years agoi "In short," added the young woman with tears and blushes, "he is utterly crazed ; for he asked me just now to marry him which I would not do for the Indies and is gone away in a pas sion to find a naner that will prove, he savs. I am that other Laura something. There was something so ludicrous in all this, however vexatious and insulting un der the circumstances the recent death of the husband and the young widow's unprotected state that neither of us could forbear laughing at the conclusion of Mrs. Trwin's storv. It struck me. too, that Renshawe had conceived a real and ardent passion for the very comely and interest ing person before us first prompted, no doubt, by her accidental likeness to the portrait; and that some mental flaw or other caused him to confound her with the Laura who had in early life excited the same emotion in his mind. Laughable as the matter was in one sense, there was and the fair widow had noticed as well as myself a serious, me nacing expression in the man's eye not to be trifled with ; and at her earnest request, we accompanied her to her own apartment, to which Renshawe had threatened soon to return. We had not been a minute in the room, when his hurried 6tep was heard approaching, and Mrs. Waters and I stepped hastily into an adjoining closet, where we could hear and partly see all that passed. Renshawe's speech trembled with fervency and anger as he broke at once into the subject with which his disordered brain wasreeling. "You will not dare to say, will you, that you do not remeber this song that these pencil-marks in the margin were not made by you thirteen years ago?" he me nacingly ejaculated. "1 know nothing about tne song, air. Renshawe." rejoined the young woman, with more spirit than she might have ex hibited but for my near presence. "It is really such nonsense. Thirteen years ago I was only about nine years of age." "You persist, then, unfeeling woman, in this cruel deception! After all, too, that I have suffered ; the days of gloom, the nights of horror, since that fearful mo ment when I beheld you dragged, a life less corpse, from the water, and they told me you were dead !" "Dead! Gracious goodness, Mr. Ren shawe, don't go on in this shocking way! I was never dragged out of a pond, nor supposed to be dead never ! You quite frighten one." "Then you and I, your sister, and thrice-accursed Bedford, did not, on the 7th of Ausust. 1842. go for a sail on the piece of water at Lowfield, and the skiff was not, in the deadly, sudden, jealous strife between him and me, accidentally unset? But I know how it is: it is this brat, arid the memories he recalls, that Mrs. Irwin screamed, and I stepped sharply into the room. The grasp of the lunatic was on the child's throat. I loosed it somewhat roughlv. throwing him off with a force that brought him to the ground. He rose quickly, glared at me with tiger-like ferocity, and then darted out of the room. The affair had become serious, and the same night I posted letter to Yorkshire, informing Mr. Oxley of what had occurred, and suggesting the propriety of his immediately coming to London Measures were also taken for securing Mrs. Irwin and her son from mo lestation. But the cunning of lunacy is not easily baffled. On returning home the fourth evening after the dispatch of my letter, I found the house and lmmeaiaie neignuor hood in the wildest confusion. My own wife was in hysterics; Mrs. Irwin, 1 was told by half-a-dozen tongues at once, was dvinor: and the frightful cause oi an was. that little George Irwin, a favorite with evprvbodv. had in some unaccountable manner fallen into the river Lea, and been drowned. This, at least, was the general conviction, although the river had been dragged to no purpose the poor child's black beaver hat and feather having been discovered floated to the bank, a consid erable way down the stream. The body, it was thought, had been carried out into the Thames, by the force of the .current. A terrible suspicion glanced across my mind. "Where is Mr. Renshawe?" I asked. Nobody knew. He had not been seen since five o'clock about the time, I soon ascertained, that the child was missed. I had the house cleared as quickly as pos sible of the numerous gossips that crowded it, and then sought a conference with Dr. norland who was with Mrs. Irwin. The distracted mother had. I found, been pro fusely bled and cupped, and it was hoped that brain fever, which hadcbecn appre hended, would not ensue. The physician's susnicions pointed the same way as mine; but he declined committing himself to any advice, and I was left to act according to my own discretion. 1 was new io sucu matters at that time unfortunately so, as it proved, or the affair might have had a less painlui issue. Tomlins and I remained up, waiting for the return of Mr. Renshawe ; and as tne long, slow hours limped past, the nignt silence only broken by the dull moaning, and occasional spasmodic screams oi poor Mrs. Irwin, I grew very mucn exciiea. The prolonged absence of Mr. Renshawe confirmed my impressions of his guilt, and I determined to tax mm witn it, uu ic him into custody the instant he appeared: It was two in the morning before he did ark Ann the nervous fumbling for full ten minutes with his latch-key,. before he could nnen the door, ouite prepared mc for the ..ror-rrl-likp. aspect he presented on enter ing. He had met somebody, it afterwards vrpfirrd outside, who had assured him that the mother of the drowned child was itbor rVad or dving. He never dranK, knew, but he staggered as if intoxicated; I and after he had with .difficulty reached the head of the stairs, in reply to my ques tion as to where he had been, he could only stutter with white trembling lips : "It it cannot be be true that Lau that Mrs. Irwin is dying?" "Quite true, Mr. Renshawe," I very imprudently replied, and in much too loud a tone, for we were but a few paces from Mrs. Irwin's bedroom door. "And if, as I suspect, the child has been drowned ny vou. vou will have before long two mur ders on your head." A choking, bubbling noise came irum the wretched man's throat, and his shak ing fingers vainly strove to loosen his necK tie. At the same moment I heard a noise, as of struggling, in the bedroom, and the nurse's voice in eager remonstrance. I in stantly made a movement towards Mr. Renshawe, with a view to loosen his cra vathis features being frightfully con vulsed, and to get him out of the way as quickly as possible, for I guessed what was about to happen when he, mistaking my intention, started back, turned half round, and found himself confronted by Mrs. Irwin, her pale features and white night-dress dabbled with blood, in conse quence of a partial disturbance of the bandages in' struggling with the nurse a terrifying; ghastly sight even to me; to him utterly overwhelming and scarce needing her frenzied execrations on the murderer of her child to deprive him utterly of all remaining sense and strength. He suddenly reeled, threw his arms wildly into the air, and before I could stretch forth my hand to save him, fell heavily backwards from the edge of the steep stairs, where he was standing, to the bottom. Tomlins and I hastened to his assistance, lifted him up, and as we did so a jet of blood gushed from his mouth; he had likewise received a terrible wound near the right temple, from which the life-stream issued copiously. We got him to bed ; Dr. Garland and a neighboring surgeon were soon with us, and prompt remedies were applied. It was a fruitless labor. Day had scarcely dawned before we heard from the physi cian's lips that life with him was swiftly ebbing to its close. He was perfectly con scious and collected. Happily, there was no stain of murder on his soul : he had merely enticed the child away, and placed him, tinder an ingenious pretence, with an acquaintance at Camden Town; and by hit, ;mo hoth hp and his mother were standing, awe-struck and weeping, by Henry Renshawe's death-bed. He had thrown the child's hat into the river, and his motive in thus acting appeared to have been a double one. In the first place, be cause he thought the boy's likeness to his father was the chief obstacle to Mrs. Irwin's toleration of his addresses; and next, to bribe her into compliance by a promise to restore her son. But he could not be deemed accountable for his actions. "I think," he murmured brokenly, "that the delusion was partly sclf-cherishcd, or of the Evil One. I observed the likeness long before, but it was not till the the husband was dying, that the idea fastened itself upon my aching brain, anu grew there. But the world is passing ; lorgive me--Ellen Laura " He was dead ! The innuest on the cause of death re turned, of course, that it was "accidental :" but I long regretted that I had not been less precipitate, though perhaps all was for the best for the sufferer as well as others. Mr. Oxley had died some nve weeks previously. This 1 found irom Renshawe's will, "where it was recited as a reason that, having no relative alive ior whom he cared, his property was be queathed to Guv's Hospital, charged with lOOf. a year to n,nen lrwin, as iung lived- unmarried. The document was per fectly coherent; and although written dur- inr the height ol nis monomania, oju tamed not a word respecting the identity of the youthful widow and the L,aura whose sad fate had first unsettled the tes tator's reason. SPARTANBURG AND ASHEVILLK. The Forthcoming completion n u- f Correspondence of 4he Charleston Courier. J New York, July 27. Coming through North Carolina -the other day I met Presi dent Andrews, of the Western North Car lina Railroad, the line which is now in operation from Salisbury to Waynesville and Warm Springs, and to a point nearly thirty miles west of Waynesville on the Ducktown branch. The engineering dif ficulties were immense, but the worst of them have been overcome and by Septem ber 1 more than thirty additional miles of road beyond Waynesville will have been constructed in accordance with the agree ment with the. State. The obligation to build a given numler of miles of road west fcf Waynesville by September 1 is, I am informed, the im mediate cause of the hitherto unaccount able delay in building the Railroad from Hendersonville to Asheville, which, with the exception of a few miles, is graded and ready for the ties. It is intended to operate the Spartanburg and Ashevuie Railroad as a part of the Western North Carolina Railroad, and Colonel Andrews hopes to begin work upon it this fall. There would not, be so much loss of time, but for the imperative necessity of concen trating all the available force, this summer, on the Ducktown "branch. F. W. K. Old Lov Letttr. Bloomington Eye. J A lady of the north , side, says a re porter, was looking over a bundle of old love letters recently and chanced upon this one from her husband in his halcyon days, and she read it to him : " Sweet idol of my lonely heart, if thou wilt- place thy hand in mine and say: ' Dear love, I'll be thy bride ;' we'll hie to sunny Italv, and 'neath soft cerulean skies we'll bask "and sing and dream of naught but love. Rich and costly paintings of old masters shall adorn the walls of the castle I'll give thee. The bath shall be of milk A box at the opera shall be at thy command, and royalty shall be thy daily visitor. Sweet strains of music shall still thee at eventide, and warbling birds snau wake thee from thy morning slumber. Dost thou accept? Say ' Yes,' and fly, oh, fly with me. " And 1 new, said tne wue, uut had been as fly as I am now I wouian t have flown." Getting Boy Ont of Bed. Mamma (at the foot of the stairs) Come Bobby, dear, it's time little boys were out of bed. Breakfast is nearly ready. Bobby ies m-um-m. Big Sister (a little later)- breakfast is on the table. this minute. Bobby Yas-yas-um-m. . Old Gentleman (a little later still) Robert!!.. Robert Yes, sir -Bob-b-e-e, Come right down
The Weekly Raleigh Register (Raleigh, N.C.)
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
Aug. 6, 1884, edition 1
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