Show F 7 hi 0 r ic sterle sg ddll in nil 0 ra CATO THE SIGN AT THE GALLOWS this is a harrowing story but it has EL a large bargo and valuable moral which should be pasted in tho tha hats hate of all men who servo serve on aurles in criminal cases ases 1 r sunday may 7 1797 was a beautiful day the skies blue and tho the birds wore were singing and tho the young mans fancy lightly turned to thoughts of 0 lovo sydney fryer a wealthy young citizen of 0 london called upon his anne fryer and asked her it she eho like to take a walk and eho abo said sho she would so they strolled around tho the streets until they reached I 1 tho suburbs whore where thero there were fields end and commons presently they heard f a cry for help and sydney said somo woman Is in distress dist rosal I 1 must go to her rescue anno anne tried to persuade him to pay no attention to the matter but sydney was too gallant a gentleman to turn a deaf ear to a damsel in distress so BO ho vaulted over a civo foot wall from beyond which the cry had come and instead of finding himself in the him and ho he talked ot at little eljo during daring his last hours on june 0 6 the gallows was erected before newgate prison and the usual immense mob had gathered two unfortunate men pay the price it was a trust trusty old gallows that at had bad been used on oil many previous occasions and the indications word that it had a long career of usefulness before it the fatal hour arrived and tho doomed men appeared upon the scaffold the doleful chant of the bellman still ring lag ing in their ears all ye ya that in the condemned hole 10 lo do lie ie prepare you for tamori tomorrow ta morrow ow you shall itie tile watch all ail and pray the hour Is drawing near that tha t you before the th almighty shall appear well yourselves in time rep repent nt that you may not to eternal lames b sent bent and when st Sepulcher cheri lm boll bell tomorrow tolls the tha lord above have memy on your sou beulal the usual appeared upon tho gallows with clench and mackley when the sign predicted by clench was given tho whole gallows collapsed and prisoners jailers executioner and priest went down in a heap martin clench sprang to his feet and triumphantly cried that the sign had been given and it was even so but it do martin any good carpenters went to work at once and soon boon had the scaffold in shape again and tho the two wretched men were again escorted to the platform and turned off for a little while their curious story with mth its coincidence ai at the gallows furnished a topic for my lord Top noddy and the other bloods who never missed a hanging but the gal lows was making its own kind of history almost every day then and no ma mans alts story could hold public attention long clench and blackley wore were almost forgotten when a man named burton wood was tried and capitally convicted tor for some offense finding that he was doomed and wishing to mako make his conscience as easy as possible lie ho confessed that ho he was tho the slayer of fryer and related that when the crime was committed he was waa accompanied by a man named timms then came tho the further intelligence that timms also under sentence of death was in jail at reading being questioned ho carro corroborated ro woods story in every de F the two wretched man were again escorted to the platform and turned off presence of a suffering female ter nalo ho was faced by three ruffians who told him to hand over his bla valuables sydney drow drew his sword intent upon giving battle whereupon one of the robbers pred a pistol at him and he be tell fell dead hearing tho the report of the altol anno anne scrambled up the tha wall until she could seo see over it and beheld her cousin lying dead and life his assailants fleeing from tho the scene she bho reported tho crimo to the authorities and diligent search was nado made for tho murderers with tho result that three young men inen soon wore in custody they were martin blench james blackley Mac liley and joseph joeeph smith they had a local reputation for wildness but had never been suspected or accused of crime anno anne fryer identified clench celeni h and tf ackley nt at once sho she was n aLolu toly positive that they were two of the murderers there bo be any mistake about it the young men appeared for trial in duo due season and anno fryer was tho the chief witness against them she was as aa positive as 03 ever in her identification of the two the whole case rested upon her testimony and tho jury evidently agreed with her that she be mistaken for clench and mackley were convicted of murder and smith was acquitted the verdict watt was somewhat surprising because the instructions of the court favored tho the prisoners tho the learned jurist pointed out that too much reliance should not bo placed upon the testimony of at a young woman who must havo have boon been wildly excited at tho the time of tho crime maccloy 1 ack toy accepted his death sentence with sullen resignation as though ho considered it a part of the days work but martin clench who was a fine intelligent young man protested bitterly in open court saying that ho was no more a murderer than the judge on tho the bench having claying beon been sent cent back to jail to await tile tho day of u execution clench do toted most of at hla his time to religious study and the mantlo mantle of elijah descended upon him ile iio began to mako make prophecies jio said eald that heaven would not permit two innocent men to bo executed without some sign that all hion might understand mark alark my words he be was wont to say ay thero there will bo a sign eign at the pillows callows proclaiming ivr innocence this idea became an with tall tail there was no possibility of ft a doubt as to the of clench and hf Mack ackley lcy but they no longer cared anything about earthly justice or injustice Jus tico F for or several years thereafter an old residence in shepherd street was much gazed at by the curious londoners Lon doners pointed it out to their visiting kin from tho country one of tho the rear windows was vas heavily barred with iron and sometimes a ghastly phantomlike taco faco was seen at that window tint Is AtI mistress stress anne fryer the londoner would say to his wondering cousin from tho the back districts she sent two men to tho gallows by giving mistaken testimony and when sho she learned tile the truth she became a raving madwoman sho Is kept in that room all the year round and sometimes when she ehe Is violent they gag her and chain her to the floor As AB remarked in fit the beginning this true story has it a moral and it should bo be framed and hung up wherever mortal man Is engaged in tho administration of justice |