| Show THE HAND OF GOD A few days ago a man was found dead here in the gutter writes the birmingham ala correspondent of the st louis globe democrat even in death there was a mute look of terror in the bloodshot eyes and the bloated face had grown pals pale and haggard at the coming or of the grim destroyer drink Drin kl said the coroners ury but an old man who came and booked lury booked for a long time on the pale dead face said with a shudder as he turned awry away it was the hand band of god 11 this man mall who had died in the gutter was the last of a fated thirteen and in the death pf af each and all af them the christian will read the vengeance of an insulted deity at the leading hotel in a southern son thern city in the summer of 1855 thirteen men wearing the uniform of confederate officers sat down to a dinner every man in the party belonged to a grand old southern family and many of the names are illustrious in the history of the country every man was a cavallier caval ller they were flowers of the old south representatives of the chivalry of the sunny land then enveloped in the gloom of defeat and despair every man there had been a gallant soldier in the confederate army they had returned from the field of defeat to find their homes destroyed their slaves free their wealth gone and many of their nearest and dearest relatives and friends dead the meeting at this hotel was a chance one but talking over the situation in which they found themselves they resolved to forget the horrors horab of it and for aw awhile bile to drown their sorrows in drink they sat down to dinner and round after round of drinks was ordered soon boon the blood bloody scenes of war the visions of ruined homes were all forgotten first they became merry then reckless let us call this the last supper suddenly exclaimed one of the party and the suggestion met with instant approval they might never meet again so the last supper would be a fitting name for the feast where reason had fled more drinks were ordered every man filled his glass the lights were turned low and the thirteen men declared themselves christ and his twelve apostles A young man who had commanded a regiment acted the role of christ and for the occasion each man assumed the name of one of the apostles there was a wrangle as to who should impersonate judas but more drinks were ot oi d ered dered and then a young lieutenant agreed to act the character of the betrayer of his savior it was midnight but peals of drunken laughter awoke the echoes in every nook and corner of the old house bouse again and again the decanters wore were pawed passed around and the blasphemous mockery of the last supper went on A bible was called for and the young officer who was impersonating the savior turned to the now new testament and read aloud the solemn words of christ the reading was interrupted now and then by some coarse jest or ribald laughter while expressions like judas pass pam the bottle f would excite the mirth of the drunken men to a point that completely drowned the voice of the reader at the proper point in the bread was passed around anti and the wine was represented by glasses filled to the brim with brandy he that drinkuth drin keth from the bottle with me shall betray me exclaimed the mock christ in a tragic manner and placing a decanter to his lips he swallowed a quantity of brandy then passed it to judas across the table this was greeted with peals of laughter and again the other mock apostles yelled judas pass pam the bott bottle lel all night long this mockery wont went on and when morning came the thirteen men were in a drunken stupor it was several days before they all recovered from the effects of that nights debauchery then they separated that supper had bad indeed been their test last they never met again from that night the vengeance of god followed those thirteen men everything they undertook tactile cadile apples of gold turned to dead sea fruit in their hands one by one they went to the dog and every man of them met a horrible and disgraceful death repeated failure in bustness business drove some of them to desperation and crime one of them was lynched in texas for murder the young man who had impersonated christ was drowned in the brazos river while fleeing from a vigilance committee on a stolen horse and his body was never recovered another while in a drunken stupor was caught in a burning building and perished in the flames one was stabbed to the heart by a woman he had betrayed and still another was murdered in a low brothel I 1 in n a western city so far as can be learned not one of them ever received christian burial and temir graves are unmarked and unknown the man who died in the gutter and was buried in the potters field was the last of the th thirteen I 1 arteen |
