A FEARFUL TALE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 120, 4 April 1862, Page 3

A FEARFUL TALE.

To the south of Fort Cumberland, on the Hampshire coast, rises a kuoll of ground from which the adjacent landscape assumes the most picturesque appearance. On one side a gloomy morass dimly blackens the distant horizon ; but to the right of the fort the gently swelling hills thnt stretch along the sea-coast assume fainter tints as they recede from..the view, till at last they terminate in the deep blue ocean : beyond, at the verge of distance, stands' the gibbet on which the unhappy convicts were executed. About thirty years ago a young man, with an aged grandmother and her son, came to reside at a tricing 'distance from Fort Cumberland ;_ they took up..their abode at a small cottage in the neighborhood, and principally depended for subsistence on the precarious occupation of fishing. They had once been respectable tradesmen at Portsmouth, but a variety of unforeseen circumstances had reduced them to poverty, and compelled them to seek the security of solitude. For a few mouths after their arrival the encouragement they received at the fort, where they daily carried their baskets of fish, had restored them to comparative tranquillity, when the unusual violence of some equinoctial gales dashed their fishing smack against the rocks, and rendered their occupation at once dangerous and profitless. To incro :se, if possible, their misery, the old lady and the father of the young man languished in the agony of extreme want, without either friends or relatives to succour them. He. could bear his own ■ sorrows with firmness, but the sight of his dearest connections dying from positive exigency, ana sinking on their couch of sickness without even a mouthful of bread to eat, and scarcely a torn rag to shield them from the chilly night air, drove him to the verge of distraction. When he saw the fading lustre in the eyes of his ogod grandmother—her form sinking slowly to the grave, her wan looks imploring even one solitary meal to comfort her, and her pallid cheeks gradually assuming the cadaverous hue of death,.his agony assumed the aspect of determined insanity.

tially recovered from his indisposition, had gono to petition the governor of the fort for relief, to i station himself by tho high road with the intention of wresting money from each traveller for tho pur- ', pose of future provision. With a brace of pistols in his pocket he sallied out from the cottage to put his nefarious designs into execution. Tho night was well adapted for the occasion ; it was i dark And "stormy, and the continued roar of the : ocean wave and the solitary shriek of the sea-bird, increased the natural gkom of the scene. The yoaug man, in the meantime, h-istuucd trcmbliug onward, and his mind assumed a stern resolution- from the corresponding influence of tho night prospect. A tempest had already commenced. The hollow sounding thunder echoed along the dim arch of heaven, and the lightning flashed with splendour around him. As the noise of upproaching. .footsteps were heard echoing across the heath, tha souuds approached nearer, atid a dark iigure wholly muffed up in a night cloak, stood by the side of the robber. Ho drew the pistol from its hiding place, and the stranger moved slowly on; twice he attempted to pull the trigger, and twice it trembled in his grasp. The courage of despair came at length to his assistance; he thought of his dying grandmother—his own lather starving, in utter helplessness, and the thought smote on his frenzied imagination. He fired, and with a deep suppressed groan of anguish the death-choked voice of which rushed full on his racked brain, the stranger dropped at his feet. Agitated with a variety of contending emotions, he bore the ensanguined body to the cottage, and placed it on a .chair until he should return with a lantern to dispossess it of his money and wearing apparel.

It was now deep midnight; the old lady had long since retired to her bed, and all around was still but the distune roar of the water or the sullen sound of the north wind as it whistled gloomily through the bleak walls of the cottage. After a> short interval, the murderer returned, bearing a dark lantern in his hand. He cast a suspicious glance around and locked the door of the apartment; lie then, with a trembling frame, attempted to unveil the countenance of his victim. Gently he drew back the cloth that concealed the face, and the body rolled with a heavy crash to the ground, and disclosed the glazing eyes and couvulsed stiffened features of—his—father ! —of that father for whose sake he had thus plunged himself desp in guilt, and whom he had murdered as he returned from the fort with a promise of assistance from the Governor. lie gazed at the corpse as though he had gazed his whole soul away at the sight ; he burst out into a hellish shout of triumphant laughter, and the fire of the deepest deadliest. madness flashed across his brain, lie then raised the body from the ground, and with a bitter shriek, the sound of which is described as having been like nothing earthly, rushed with it into the room of Ins grandmother. A dim rushlight was burning in "the chimney corner as he entered, and the ta,ttered fringe was drawn close round the bed. He ap-proached-—he drew aside the curtains and roused the trembling woman by the wild frenzy of his triumph. She started at the noise, and the first objects- that presented • themselves were the blood-stained figure of her son, guzing at her with eyes fixed in the livid ghastlincss of death, and the tearful aspect of her grandchild quashing his teeth with frenzy, and shouting aloud with the unearthly yellings of a demon. She could see, she could feel no more. Death seized her at the instant: she cast but one look of kindness, as if imploring a blessing on her murderer, and then closed her eyes in the eternal slumber of the grave.

In the meantime, the shrieks ot the unhappy parrioido drew the attention of some of the guards belonging to the Fort, who had happened to. be passing at the moment. They rushod forward to investigate the cause, and beheld a sight of never-to-be-forgotten horror. The dead body of the old lady was reposing in the bed where she had just now expired, aud the maniac had placed the corpse of his father in his arms, and was weeping and laughing over it like an infant, as he unconsciously twisted his fingers through the dark grizzley locks stiffened with gore,and passed his hands across the pallid features that struck to his heart with the icy chillness of death. With some difficulty the guards were able to secure him ; stratiigem at length prevailed, and he was removed on board the convict ship that was stationed off the coast opposite Eort Cumberland. The bodies of the mother and her son were quietly committed to the -grave, and the circumstances of the dread,ul transaction remembered but as a dream that once was.

Time rolled on ; and as the hour of his trial approached, the spirits of the poor maniac seemed likely to settle into a - calm melancholy. The heavy clogs that had hitherto been attached to his feet, were now therefore removed, and he was permitted to occupy the cabin that looked out upon the sea shore. Here he would sit for hours watching the vessels as they passed to and fro, and weeping at the resemblance of former days. At a distance was the gibbet, the scene at once of his guilt and its probable punishment. A shudder of horror passed over his countenance whenever he beheld it, and the wildness of insanity again took possession of his soul. But when the fit was passed, tears would sometimes come to his relief, and he would weep alone in silence. His disposition, naturally generous and kind-hearted, appeared softened by misfortune, and even his brother convicts would feel for so lonely a situation as they saw him, with eyes fixedon vacancy, mutterring and talking to himself. His health, in the meantime, failed, and it was evident from tlie increasing depression of his spirits, and the hectic glow of hi 3 complexion, that " his days were numbered in the land." For himsalf, he seemed always to rejoice in the prospect of approaching death, and a faint smile would often pass across his face, as hejsurveyed his wasted features, 'and felt the increasing langour of his frame. As the hour of his dissolution arrived he wished for tlie last time to behold the grave where all that was once dear to him lay buried. With this visionary idea he seized the fitting opportunity, when the window.sof his cabin were thrown open, aud the guards had retired for the night, to emancipate himself from the slight shackles that bound him, and swim to the neighboring shore. At the dead hour of midnight, lights were seen moving in the convict ship, the alarm bell was rung, the thunder of cannon echoed across the ocean, and the universal confusion of the guards and seamen announced the escape of a prisoner. A well-manned boat, in which two savage bloodhounds were placed, was rowed to'the sea-coast, and these, closely followed by their pursuers, were sent to hunt out the residence of the maniac. They set forward on their chase, and soon arrived at the little cottage, where the sufferer once dwelt, and which was now generally avoided as the unholy resort of evil spirits: The officers approached at the instant, but had scarcely arrived when a. faint shrick-of agony was heard. It proceeded from the convict, who had been traced to the ruined home of his father, and was discovered on the matted couch where lie had last slept. The blopd-houuds rushed upon their prey, and eve a few minutes had elapsed, tlie corpse of the parricide lay mangled on the ground.

He was buried with his murdered victims, in the little knell of earth that we have mentioned in. the opening description, and tliqugU the winds of many winters have sighed over his remains, and tlie sea-birds have built their nests upon his grave, he lays as quietly as if all natures was hushed around him!