Newspapers / The Western Sentinel (Winston-Salem, … / May 15, 1857, edition 1 / Page 1
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. . Lib i .ih:i , ) T 1 -f A Democratic Journal DeToted to ICuUo:. 1 r ad ta "cllUcaIiterature, Foreign and r o:.l'.:3 Lew. .' irnal DeToted to TCullo:. 1 pad Stat I c I .Uct, Literature, Pon WINSTON, N. C , I K I DAY, MAY: ;15, ITW'6 DOLLARS A YEAR ,: !.;, 51,;. I Uii. JL i it; !.!:. BY AL-rAl"(.;i KuiTuhS AND l'i" Term of fcuUM-rijrii SlSSTINg!." will b JIlbll"h l mailed to fitWribom at two s taoos; two dom-aha ami a v m tusks imh i ks after tlio n Vi ir, To any mi jmH-mii. p,nyiii the c ' h in jm!vh. Term of .!) ir r -t t nl' ... li-ii are fnllovo- tuuoui !mj SratiiHtrtioa, $100 nt iiuwrtioa, . 15 re thro months, : S 50 .t ...... . : i aa " Fur one ' Fur til mwlll 1W twelve nwmlhs, - .t -'j-',- -',8 50 Prnfuwioiml or liunineM Crl, not exceeding 8 ve . liiie in length, Fiv dulliim t )v luuger oue in proortiuu. 1 . A iHIUIIE SKETCH , BY EMERSON BKNJfKTT. ' t We doctors sometimes meet " with strange adventures," once said to Die a " distinguished physician, with whom I was on terms of intimacy. . - . ' "I have often thought," I replied, "that the secret history of some of your pro- - fession, if written oat in detail, would make a irork of thrilling interest," ... . "I do not know that I exactly agree . with you in regard to detail,'' rejoined, my friend; "for we medical men, like tfyery one else, meet with a great deal that is common place, and therefore not worthy of being recorded ; but grant ns the privi lege of you novelists, to select onr charac ters and scenes, and work theni into a kind , of plot, with a striking denouement, and I ' doubt not many of na could give you a ro mance in real life, comprising only what we have seen, which WQiild equal, if not surpass, anything you ever met in tho way . 1 of fiction. Bye tlia-byo, I believe I never nklTuU of ll iitBtfUW) wtu Kmwiitic adventure of my life!" - , -,, .. s, -:f ' "Yon never told me of any of your ad . ventures," I replied; "hut if you have a story to tell, you will find 1110 an eager - listener.":-. '' ' - it " Very well, thcirj as I have a fewmiuuteg to spare I will tell you one more wildly romantic, more incredibly remarkable, if -1 may so speak, than -you probabiyever foiind iu a work of fiction." ; ' "I am all attention." " Twenty -five years ago," pursued the ' "doctor, "I entered the medical college at F , as a student. I was then-qnite young, inexperienced, and inclined J be timid and sentimental; and well d-I re- member the horror I experienced, when - one of tho senior students, under pretence of showing mo the beauties of the Institu tion, suddenly thrust me into the dissecting room,' among several dead, bodies, and ' closed the door upon me ; nor do I forget ' how my screeches of terror, . and prayers ' of release from that awful place, made me the laughing stock of my older companions. ' "Ridicule Is a hard thing to bear; the " coward becomes brave to escape it, and the brave man fears it more than he would a belching cannon. O suffered from it "till I could bear it no more; and wrought tip to pitch of doeperation, t demanded to know what I might do to redeem my - character, and gain an honorable footing among my fellow-rtudents. M.will tell you," said one, lila- eyes narking With Hiitehirf, Ht yoti will go at the midnight hour, and dig up a subject, and take it to your room, and remain alone with it till morning, we will .let -you off, 7 and never say another word about your ' womanly fright." ," " , . I shuddered. It was a fearful altcrno 1 tivc, but it seemed less terriblo to sufler : wliatTiiight be concentrated into a single night than to bear, day after day, the jeers of my companions. . "Where shall I go! and when !" was my timid inquiry; and tho very thought of such an advctitnro made my blood run cold. , - ' j. "To tha Eastern Cemetery to-niglit, a( twelve o'clock," replied my tormentor, fixing his keen, black eyes upon nic, and allowing his thin lips to curl with a smile rf contempt "But what is tho uso of i king such a coward as youo perform n il a manly feat?" he allcd deridingly, I I's word stung ma to the quick; and i ;!hont reflection, and scarcely aware, o f S;ut I wa? ssying, I rejoined, boldly: I a i no coward, sir, as I will prove to t 1 y irforming what yon call manly i t . ' . , - ' You will go?" lie asked quickly. 7 "I will." .',;'''' ' "Bravely s;Jd, my ladl" he replied m a tone of upjMoval, and exchanging his ez-jri-hiuu of contempt for one of surprise and a'latioov ; -Do tliisj Morris, and the t man that iusults'you afterward mule- an enemy of inet - - A ;-uIu I ft It a cold sh odder pass through my tVumo at thtviUought of what waa be fore me, but,1 1(4 accepted his challenge in the preaenee ejiinajoj a'itueaiCft for tliis conversation occured at we were leaving-the- hall, aftef listening to- an evening lecture and I was resolved to make my word good, should It even cost my life; ill fact, I knew I could not do otherwise now, without being driven in disgrace froin college. 'f , . . - ' -. J should here bervc, that in those days there were few professional rcsurrcctiouistaj and as it was absolutely necessary to have subjects for dissection, the unpleasant busi- acss of procuring them devolved upon the-i students, "who,, in consequence, watr-1 ; every funeral eagerly, and calculi' chances of cheating die sexton of and the grave of its victim. ' There had been a funeral tl poor orphan girl who had ).' to the grave by fvery few ty' was considered a favorable V party whose tnra it was to ) next subject, as the graves of ; friendless were nerer watchco same keen vigilance as thoso of tuu and influential. - Still, it was o trifling risk to exhume tho bodies of tho poorest and humblest for not iinfreqiiently per sons were found on the watch over these, and only the year before, one student, while at his midnight rork, had been mortally weumled by a rifle ball, and ah-" other,, a month or two subsequently, had been' rendered a cripple for lifo by the same means. , , .,, ." All thiB had been explained to mo by a (rty f-iiM;brwlifr- -twcWipklried- mo to my room witich was in a building belonging to the college, and rented by apartments to such of the students as pre ferred bnchelor's hall to regular boarding; and they took core to add several terrify ing storiua of ghosts and hobgoblins, by way of calming my excited nerves, just as I have before observed old women stand around a weak, feverish patient, and croak out their experience in seeing awful suffer ings and fatal terminations of just such maladies as the one with which their help less victim was then afflicted. ' "Is it expected that I should go alone?" I inquired, in a tone that trciybled in spite of mo,, j bile my knees almost knocked together, and I felt as if my very lips were white."," A - .. '-""Well," no, " replied Benson, my most dreaded tormentor; "it would be liardly fair to send yon alone for one individual could not succeed in getting the body from the grave quick enough; and you, a mere youth, without experience, would surely fail altogether. Xo, we w ill go with you, some three or four of us, and help you to dig up the corpse; but then you must take it on your back, bring it up to your room hero, and spend the night alone with it!" It was some relief to me to find I was to have company during the first part of my awful undertaking; but still I felt far from agreeable, I assnre yon ; and chancing to look into a mirror, asjhe time drew near for setting out, I iairly started at behold ing the' ghastly, object.1 1 saw reflected therein. M ... . ' "Come, boys, said Benson, who was always, by general consent, the leader of whatever frolic, expedition, or undertaking he Was to have a hand in "Come, 'boys, it is time to be on tho move. A glorious night for us! "he added, throwing up the window and letting in a fierce gust of wind and rain ; the d 1 himself would hardly venture out in such a storm!" . lie lit a dark-lantern, then threw on his long, heavy cloak, took up a spade, and led the way down stairs; anifthe rest of us, three besides my timid self, threw on our cloaks also, took each a Fpade, and follow ed hiin. . . ' We took a round-about course, to avoid being seen by, any citizen that might chance to be stirring, and iu something los3 than half an hour we reached the cemetery, sealed the wall without difficul ty, and stealthily searched for the grave, till we fonud it, in the pitchy darkness the wiuH and rain tweeting past us with dbmal howls and omans, that to mc trembl ing with terror, seemed to be the unearthly wailings of tlie spirits of the damned. "Here we are," v pered Benson to me ts we at lenjrth stopped at a' mound of fresh earth, over which one of the party had stumbled. "Come, feel round, Morris, and strike in your spade, and let us see if you will make a good hand at exhuming a dead body as f 011 will some day at killing a living on with physic." ' ' I did as directed, trembling in 6vorv limb; but the firft'sfade-full I threw up I't sfatffAlinekVftlu ycD of liorrur, that auy-f'tb'jr-.bj-t , howling, wwwy -hi would have betrayed ns. It apeare4- to me as if I had thrust my spade into a buried laka of fire for the first dirtwasaUslow like Jiving eoals; and as I had fancied the moaning of the storm the wailings of tor mented spirits, I now fancied I had mid covered a small portion of the Bottolnleas pit itself. . - :f: ..: - "Fool!" hissed Benson, grasping my arm with the gripe of a vice, as I stood leaning ,on my spade for support, my very teeth ,1 -,. .-, terror; "another yell like ke a subject of you I "Are '"yourself, to be scared "ver had any, by nrth! Dont you i fuud in grave- 1 1 ured me, though I ; m my fate fright, to be 0 h the)arty, who all fell 1, H-irttly laughing at me, 1 ' 1 the coffin. Splitting the . .uchut, which had been brought U u) purpose, they quickly lifted out titer corpse; and then Benson and another of the party taking hold of it, one at the head and the other at tho feet, hurried it away, bidding me follow, and leaving the others to fill np the grave, that it might not be .suspected that the body had been exLV cd. ' v-, , Z. Having got the corpse safely over the walls of the cemetery, Benson now called 1 upon me to penorni my part.or tue horn-'. . " Here, y 00 quaking simpleton, " he said, "I want you to take this ou your back, and make the best of your way to your room, and remain alone with it all night. Iyoii do this bravely, we will claim you as one of us to-morrow; and the first man that dure to say a word against your courage after that, shall find a foe in me. Biit, hark yon ! if you mako any blunder on the way, and lose our prize, it will bo better for you to quit this place before I set my eyes on you again, yo you understand mei" '. " Y-ye-ye-yes," I, stammered, with chat tering teeth, "Are you ready! " " Y-yc-ye-yos," I gasped. " ' "Well, como here, .where are you f " All this time it was so dark that I could not see anything but a faint line of white, which I knew to be the shroud of the corpse; but I felt .carefully round till I got hold of Benson, who told me to take off my clonk ; and then rearing tho cold dead body np against my back, he began fixing its cold anus about my neck bidding me take hold of them, and draw them well over, and keep them concealed, and be sure aud not let go of them, .011 any con sideration whatever, as 1 valued my lifel Ahf the torturing horror I exerienced, as I mechanically followed his .directions. Tongue could not describe it ! "At length, having adjusted the coqo so ilir I might bear it off with coruj)ra-XpBrm tive "?. lie threw my lornr black cloak ever if, and over my arms, and fastcuecT it with chord about my neck, and then in quired: , ' Now, Morris, do you think you can find the way to your room I ' . "I l-do-do-don'tknow," I gasicd, feel ing at if I should sink to the earth at the first tor. " Well, you cannot lose your way if you go eraight ahead," he replied. " Keep in the fciddle of the road, and it will take you to College Green, and then you are all rigl. Come, push on, before your burden ' grors too heavy ; the distance is only a' goc4 hajf mile !" . I pet forward, with trembling nerves, en pec ing to sink to the ground at every step ;: but gradually wy terror, instead of weaken- ing. gave me strength ; and I was toon on the run splashing through mud anl water with die storm howling about ml to fury, and the cold corpse, as I fancier1 clinging to me like a hideous vampyre. How I reached my room, I do not kno -t-biit probably by a sort of instinct ; fir I mly reuipuiber of my brain l)"iii an i -r-wiu, lettrujh wUirl, with e'... . pha I tnns atlbout hie, as one sonietiimTi uiem in a Jyqeptic dream. - -I But reach my room I did, with jr; .!,.;, 1 l.urden on my back ; and I was afterward K id that I made wonderful time ; fur Bt u Jkn and his fcllow-aludetit, fearing the lws A tlieir subject which, on account of the iitHculty of getting Iwxlit, wa. very valu able followed eloee behind But, and were O bliged to run at the top of their speed to ep me -within hailing distanco, ffymLr. first-1 Tprriapbei" V getting to tny room, was the finding, tut-' K'lf awake" in bed, with a dim conscious ness of something having ..happened though what, for some minutes, I could hiot for the life of me recollect. Gradually, Vorover, the truth dawned upon me; and JitJn I folt a cold ierspiration start from jvtry pore, athe tliought that perhaps I was occupying a room alone with a corpse. Tli 4 room was uot dark ; there were a few mVers in the grathTcV,rrrrjew out a rjjdtlr' light; and fearfully raising iny head, t glanced quickly' and timidly orduna. f And thero-dicre ou the floorT'fifainst tlie right hand" wall, 'but a few feet from lae Uittre, sure enough, lay the coly still corpse,, rtdd'd in the white shroud, ritli a gleam of fire-light resting upoiiti ghastly face; which to iny excrreU. fears seemed to move. Pid it move I I was gazing upon if, tlirlllcl and fascinated with an undo, uW-riliabte terror, when, as sure as &see you now, 1 saw the lids of its eyes unclose, and saw its breast heave, and heard a low stifled tnoan1.-? - ' : r-Gi-eat GwlH f shrieked, and fell back iii a swoon.-. ' ,1 . " How long I lay unconscious I do not know,- but when, I came to myself again, it is a marvel to rne tliat, iu my excited state, I did hot lose my souses altogether, and be come the tenant of a mad house, for, there -right before mo standing np in the white slirond with its eyes wide open and mty and ita features thin. 1. Y atll-nui-d teas (lie corpse 1 End bnaight from the cemetery. -n i In God's name, avaunt ! " I gasped. ?Go back to your grave, and rest iu peace! 1 will never disturb you again." ,' Tlc large,' hollow eyes looked more wildly upon me flu) head moved the parted and a voice, in a somcwhut svpiih-htal tone, said: ( "3ieeani If Where am I! Who Ire you 1 Which world am I bf Ami fiving'or deadi" ' "You were dead, " I gasped, sitting up H bed and fueling as it my brain would burst with a pressure of unspeakable horror ; " you wore dead and buried, and I H as. one of the guilty wrotelica who this night disturbed vou.iii'J-our peaceful rest. But go buck poor gho1, in Heaven's name 1 And no mortal power shall ever induce me to come nigh you again ! " , " Oh t I feel fiunt, said the corpse, gra dually sinking downjtpon the floor with a gronn. "Where "ami! Oh I where am It" ' "Great God!" J shouted, as the startl ing truth suddenly flashed upon me, " per haps this poor giti 'was buried alive, and is now living!" : i I bounded from the bed and grasped a hand of the prostrate hotly. It was not warm, but it was. not cold. I put my trembling fingers upon the pulse lid it beat, or was it the pulse in my fingers ! I thrust my hand upon tho la-art. It was there was lite tliere.- The brehst heaved; she brsjntlied; -but tho eyes wert how closed, and the features tiad the look of death. Still it was a living body or clue 1 myself was insane. I sprung to tho door, tore it '(shouted for help. I "Quick! quick P eric' ' live the dead is aliv Several of the (tie' oining rooms, o hinking I had r icine of them ) ind all knew lad been su' "Poor ft. f sympa' fit k inc- " Quick ! a light and some brandy 1 She lives ! she lives! "; ' '- - . 'i " All was now bustle, confusion and ex citi iiuiit, one proposing one tiling, and ui -.her something else, and all speaking t'( ether. They placed her on the bod, und gave her some brandy, when she again' revived, I ran for a physician (one of the .faculty,) who came and tended upon lier through the night, and by suhiute next morning she was reported tu be iiv a faif way for recovery. - : , " 'i!f ow, what do yon think ft iny story so far" queried the Doctor, with a quirt imftS. - I replied; "very remarkable, indeed! But tell me, did tire girl finally recover?" "She did; and filmed out to bo a most beautiful creature, and only sweet seven teen." "And I suppose she blesssed tho resur rectionist all the rest of her life!" I rejoin ed, with a laugh. "She certainly held one of them in kind remembrance," returned the doctor, with a sigh. "What became of her, Doctor?" "What should have become of her" ac cording to the well known rules of poetic justice of all you novel-writers?" returned my friend; with a peculiar smile. " Why," said I laughing, "she should have turned out an heiress, and iirarried you." w "And that is exactly what she did," re joined the doctor. ' "Good heavens! you are jesting." J'Xo, my friend, uo,"rcplied the doctor in a faltering voice; " tliat night of horror only preceded the dawn of my happiness for that girl sweet, lovely Helen Leroy in time became my wife, and the mother of my two boys. She sleeps now in death beneath the cold, cold sod, " added the doctor, in a tremulous tone, and brushing a tear from his eye, " and no human resur rectionists -shall ever raise her to life again!" , . ' 1 ; The Democratic Harty 1(4 t nllf and lrotipc-t. i; " Instances are not (infrequent in the his tory of any and eery party when, irf4 some violent political convulsions, pocui-j ar circumstances iu extensive localities, 01 exrraordinary emergencies in diattcrs tem porarily affecting the interests of. certain J Mates or sections, more immediately and perhaps more anxiously than usual, they have been made to waver, and have been sometimes serio"sly,Jhreiitcjied with pros trntion, if not destruction. And as their principles are strong or weak, they are en abled to encounter opposition and adversi ty, with hopes of success or defeat, just as the forest tree withstands the storm, with limbs utitopped and body unshaken, if its roots are dci-p and its branches stout; or reels and rocks beucuth the tempest's blast, from its topmost bough to its base, if it fins a shallow hold upon the earth, of which it is the offspring. The Democratic party of, this country has had its tests and trials as well as the old Whig party, and the ephe merul factious that have hung upon the skirts of both, before and after the battle, in quest of prizes and spoils. There have been dark days in tho. calendar of Democ racy, but its pole-star, the, Comtitr' has ever been hidden from v:--clouds that have lowered aud almost at times e-' the jast, the aspir our hopes for be sacrinV proved ita patriotism, and the' power of itt principles, cuiiclitsivcli'v to teta of thoW . and of those who 1rere once ita most pre- jiidicedandappurently implacableenefftie- . Hatthng with abolrttoukra ifr the Jsorth and Know Noth'nigkfW kt th SoMth k ' nationah'tyj cMisitteney and unvarying ad- he're fee to principle hav brcft nfarrifested more clearly thaft perhaps, wver before ' Am therefor. those who have been educa'' ted as opponents of Democracy, whose ear-' ly association taught ttant tordenoima it as a political J'andora'j tot, tata had ait ooponuuum 01 wiuiossinir na -rrorkinit uu- 1 y.. . . ' A r'.. . t.'- . ft. der dTcauiaitcjj. cklylatcd o test' it. v And eonsetpjently Our rans (ave wen; . reinforced whh hosts of mr' old WetnicSf - ' ' who have conrettf-Ks, noi as rjaptitet, Inlt J - a con verts, Whose prejudices hate yielded ' '-.y to 'honest convictions of judgment,- and -who arc now where they see they should ever have been standing by the Consti-' . . . tution, shouhrer to shonklcr a'ith the fiA , lowers of tlie trne' fitith' of tm fiAUttt ift the Republic- ' ...'S'"" . - '- TliH Ikmotratie party 1 iistinguibheol -for its miity, fnrtrt the sinTple tact that ft ' is based upon princfplei applicable' alike' ' . to one section of tine Union-and to every - f other, to Now lram'pKhire'a'nct lexas, to , ., f . Ohio and Alabama. The' principles of the" ! AVhig party were Wional emrtigh,- rf 'UibI.V -'f.':, had been all thatwaa needed,- toernizef ,. , it t But they wre radicadly wrong" in pol-" ; icy, a they we're alio'tofestroligly teWfling' - . -to eeutraiiiatioii at the "expanse of State" , . ; sovereignty and iiiicontradictioft-to' tho' constrnetion of the Ootcrnnierrt. CIhtf - J. rights of the several Siatcw,- aa qistintl from iha Federal tverurctrt weW never' safe in its keeping; tthitc, with the' Dom ; ocratic party, the iftt proimneirt'charae teristitj since its orgfrtiixution ha keett, arr " bifh.vibrc adlicrciice to the rurhtf of tiie' sovereign States, and always whh a dntf .1 .- J..i.--' . regard lor uie prerogatives nesignvu General Govern mentr- ' ' ' .' . Late events hate bcetf nc!i as to' leave" ' ' rid margin for' eHasioVT ot equivocation on! the part or political irtie m "0" 'trV.l'baltw 4rfn'fuSWhl aWKieTr nnVedrfeiS, (or goodar for evil, liave" betti brought to bear directly "upon tlio politics of tho country. , (iuestioroj not nseeptibo of debate, exfept noif the Kfgli ground of" constitutionality, have almost exclusively engaged public attentVirr And it is t tho Democratic party that the nStirrn lut tupied for a vindicatiorr of the I'ofKlUu' ' rion and the protection of the Jfniesv . North and South, Kws and West,- the ' warfare i waged now,- as eye,- tfo thtf same platfiirui and the, same principles, on -the part of the Democracy -'Douglaa of " Illinois, Toucy of Conrreetieut,- AlexandeK ' of New Jersey and ifll Aift noble band .of". " Northern National Democrat,- hate; been; and arc still, fightingufiifr the tarrte flag that floats over AJf ise and Hunter of Tir-" " giuio, Cbb of (frgia, Jones ofTnnessee,- Pickens of South CaVolina, and their thou sands of cu-luborcrs and confreres through out the South.-' ' ' . '.'; Such 4 party' must always ti-nirrrj.rr na ' long as' patriot isui is alive in tire hearts' of Americans and prineiph'S are resorted to' . for the adjustment oflillteul'" ' d'ssipation of dan- . "" ' : " " v ...-; .r f "'I j t . r 1
The Western Sentinel (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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May 15, 1857, edition 1
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