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The Parenticide Club - Ambrose Bierce · Mystery & Suspense Library

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  Speaker 1: The Parenticide Club by Ambrose biis my favorite murder. Having
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  Speaker 1: murdered my mother under circumstances of singular atrocity, I was
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  Speaker 1: arrested and put upon my trial, which lasted seven years.
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  Speaker 1: In charging the jury, the judge of the Court of
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  Speaker 1: Acquittal remarked that it was one of the most ghastly
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  Speaker 1: crimes that he had ever been called upon to explain. Away.
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  Speaker 1: At this, my attorney rose and said, may I please,
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  Speaker 1: your honor, crimes are ghastly or agreeable only by comparison.
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  Speaker 1: If you are familiar with the details of my client's
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  Speaker 1: previous murder of his uncle, you would discern in his
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  Speaker 1: later offense. If offense it may be called something in
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  Speaker 1: the nature of tender forbearance and filial consideration for the
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  Speaker 1: feelings of the victim. The appalling ferocity of the former
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  Speaker 1: assassination was indeed inconsistent with any hypothesis but that of guilt.
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  Speaker 1: And had it not been for the facts that the
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  Speaker 1: honorable judge before whom he was tried was the president
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  Speaker 1: of a life insurance company that took risks on hanging,
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  Speaker 1: and in which my client held a policy, it is
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  Speaker 1: hard to see how he could decently have been acquitted,
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  Speaker 1: if your Honor would like to hear about it, for
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  Speaker 1: instruction and guidance of your Honor's mind, this unfortunate man,
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  Speaker 1: my client, will consent to give himself the pain of
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  Speaker 1: relating it under oath. The district attorney said, your Honor,
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  Speaker 1: I object. Such a statement would be in the nature
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  Speaker 1: of evidence, and the testimony in this case is closed.
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  Speaker 1: The prisoner's statement should have been introduced three years ago,
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  Speaker 1: in the spring of eighteen eighty one, in a statutary sense,
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  Speaker 1: said the judge. You are right, and in the court
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  Speaker 1: of objections and technicalities you would get a ruling in
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  Speaker 1: your favor, but not in a court of acquittal. The
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  Speaker 1: objection is overruled. I accept, said the district attorney. You
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  Speaker 1: cannot do that. The judge said, I must remind you
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  Speaker 1: that in order to take an exception, you must first
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  Speaker 1: get this case transferred for a time to the Court
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  Speaker 1: of Exceptions on a formal motion duly supported by affidavit.
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  Speaker 1: A motion to that effect by your predecessor in office
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  Speaker 1: was denied by me during the first year of this trial.
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  Speaker 1: Mister Clark, swear the prisoner. The customary oath having been administered,
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  Speaker 1: I made the following statement, which impressed the judge with
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  Speaker 1: so strong a sense of the comparative triviality of the
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  Speaker 1: offense for which I was on trial, that he made
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  Speaker 1: no further search for mitigating circumstances, but simply instructed the
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  Speaker 1: jury to acquit, and I left the court without a
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  Speaker 1: stain upon my reputation. I was born in eighteen fifty
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  Speaker 1: six in calumc Key, Michigan, of honest and reputable parents,
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  Speaker 1: one of whom Heaven has mercifully spared to comfort me
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  Speaker 1: in my life years. In eighteen sixty seven, the family
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  Speaker 1: came to California and settled near Nigger Head, where my
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  Speaker 1: father opened a road agency and prospered beyond the dreams
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  Speaker 1: of avarice. He was a reticent, saturnine man then, though
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  Speaker 1: his increasing years have now somewhat relaxed the austerity of
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  Speaker 1: his disposition, and I believe that nothing but his memory
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  Speaker 1: of the sad event for which I am now on
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  Speaker 1: trial prevents him from manifesting a genuine hilarity. Four years
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  Speaker 1: after we had set up the road agency, an itinerant
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  Speaker 1: preacher came along, and, having no other way to pay
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  Speaker 1: for the night's lodging, that we gave him favored us
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  Speaker 1: with an exhortation of such power that, praise God, we
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  Speaker 1: were all conversed to religion. My father at once sent
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  Speaker 1: for his brother, the honorable William Ridley of Stockton, and
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  Speaker 1: on his arrival turned over the agency to him, charging
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  Speaker 1: him nothing for the franchise nor plant, the latter consisting
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  Speaker 1: of a winchster rifle, a sword off shotgun, and an
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  Speaker 1: assortment of masks made up flower saxe. The family then
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  Speaker 1: moved to Ghost Rock and opened a dance house. It
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  Speaker 1: was called the Saints Rest Hurdy Gurdy, and the precedings
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  Speaker 1: each night began with prayer. It was there that my
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  Speaker 1: now sainted mother, by her grace in the dance, acquired
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  Speaker 1: the soubriquet of the bucking Wall Russ. In the fall
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  Speaker 1: of seventy five, I had occasion to visit Coyote on
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  Speaker 1: the road to Mahala, and took the stage at ghost Rock.
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  Speaker 1: There were four other passengers about three miles beyond Niggerhead,
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  Speaker 1: persons whom I identified as my uncle William and his
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  Speaker 1: two sons, held up the stage. Finding nothing in the
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  Speaker 1: express box, they went through the passengers. I acted a
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  Speaker 1: most honorable part in the affair, pacing myself in line
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  Speaker 1: with the others, holding up my hands and permitting myself
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  Speaker 1: to be deprived of forty dollars and a gold watch.
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  Speaker 1: From my behavior, no one could have suspected that I
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  Speaker 1: knew the gentleman who gave the entertainment. A few days later,
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  Speaker 1: when I went to Niggerhead and asked for the return
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  Speaker 1: of my money and watch, my uncle and cousins swore
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  Speaker 1: they knew nothing of the matter, and they affected a
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  Speaker 1: belief that my father and I had done the job
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  Speaker 1: ourselves in dishonest violation of commercial good faith. Uncle William
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  Speaker 1: even threatened to retaliate by starting an opposition dance house
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  Speaker 1: of ghost Rock, as the Saint's rest had become rather unpopular.
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  Speaker 1: I saw that this would assuredly ruin it and prove
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  Speaker 1: a paying enterprise, so I told my uncle that I
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  Speaker 1: was willing to overlook the past if he were to
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  Speaker 1: take me into the scheme and keep the partnership a
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  Speaker 1: secret from my father. This fair offer he rejected, and
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  Speaker 1: I then perceived that it would be better and more
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  Speaker 1: satisfactory if he were dead. My plans to that end
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  Speaker 1: were soon perfected, and communicating them to my dear parents.
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  Speaker 1: I had the gratification of receiving their approval. My father
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  Speaker 1: said he was proud of me, and my mother I
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  Speaker 1: promised that although her religion forbad her to assist in
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  Speaker 1: taking human life, I should have the advantage of her
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  Speaker 1: prayers for my success. As a preliminary measure, looking to
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  Speaker 1: my security in case of detection, I made an application
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  Speaker 1: for membership in that powerful order, the Knights of Murder,
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  Speaker 1: and in due course was received as a member of
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  Speaker 1: the Ghost Rock Commandery. On the day that my probation ended,
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  Speaker 1: I was for the first time permitted to inspect the
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  Speaker 1: records of the order and learn who belonged to it,
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  Speaker 1: all the rights of initiation having been conducted in masks.
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  Speaker 1: Fancy my delight when in looking over the role of
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  Speaker 1: membership I found the third name to be that of
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  Speaker 1: my uncle, who indeed was Junior Vice Chancellor of the Order.
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  Speaker 1: Here was an opportunity exceeding my wildest dreams to murder.
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  Speaker 1: I could add insubordination and treachery. It was what my
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  Speaker 1: mother would have called a special providence. At about this time,
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  Speaker 1: suthing occurred, which caused my cup of joy, already full,
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  Speaker 1: to overflow on all sides a circular cataract of bliss.
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  Speaker 1: Three men strangers in that locality were arrested for the
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  Speaker 1: stage robbery in which I had lost my money and watch.
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  Speaker 1: They were brought to trial, and, despite my efforts to
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  Speaker 1: clear them and fasten the guilt upon three of the
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  Speaker 1: most respectable and worthy citizens of ghost Rock, convicted on
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  Speaker 1: the clearest proof, the murder would now be as wanton
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  Speaker 1: and reasonless as I could wish. One morning, I shouldered
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  Speaker 1: my Winchester rifle, and, going over to my uncle's house
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  Speaker 1: near Niggerhead, asked my Aunt Mary, his wife, if he
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  Speaker 1: were at home, adding that I had come to kill him.
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  Speaker 1: My aunt replied, with her peculiar smile, let so many
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  Speaker 1: gentlemen call on that errand and were afterwards carried away
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  Speaker 1: without having performed it, that I must excuse her for
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  Speaker 1: doubting my good faith in the matter. She said, I
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  Speaker 1: did not look as if I would kill any so
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  Speaker 1: as a proof of good faith, I leveled my rifle
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  Speaker 1: and wounded a Chinaman who happened to be passing the house.
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  Speaker 1: She said, you knew whole families that could do a
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  Speaker 1: thing of that kind. But Bill Ridley was a horse
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  Speaker 1: of another color. She said, however, that I would find
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  Speaker 1: him over on the other side of the creek in
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  Speaker 1: the sheep lot, and she added that she hoped the
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  Speaker 1: best man would win. My aunt Mary was one of
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  Speaker 1: the most fair minded women that I have ever met.
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  Speaker 1: I found my uncle down on his knees, engaged in
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  Speaker 1: skinning a sheep. Seeing that he had neither gun nor
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  Speaker 1: pistol handy, I had not the heart to shoot him,
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  Speaker 1: so I approached him, greeted him pleasantly, and struck him
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  Speaker 1: a powerful blow on the head with the butt of
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  Speaker 1: my rifle. I have a very good delivery, and Uncle
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  Speaker 1: William lay down on his side, then rolled over on
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  Speaker 1: his back, spread out his fingers, and shivered. Before he
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  Speaker 1: could recover the use of his limbs, I seized the
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  Speaker 1: knife that he had been using and cut his hamstrings.
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  Speaker 1: You know, doubtless that when you sever the tendo achilles,
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  Speaker 1: the patient has no further use of his leg. It
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  Speaker 1: is just the same as if he had no leg. Well,
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  Speaker 1: I parted them both, and when he revived, he was
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  Speaker 1: at my service. As soon as he comprehended the situation,
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  Speaker 1: he said, Samuel, you've got the drop on me and
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  Speaker 1: can afford to be generous. I've only one thing to
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  Speaker 1: ask of you, and that is that you carry me
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  Speaker 1: to the house and finish me in the bosom of
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  Speaker 1: my family. I told him I thought that a pretty
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  Speaker 1: reasonable request, and I would do so if he would
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  Speaker 1: let me put him into a wheat sack. He would
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  Speaker 1: be easier to carry that way, and if we were
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  Speaker 1: seen by the neighbors en route, it would cause less remark.
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  Speaker 1: He agreed to that, and going to the barn, I
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  Speaker 1: got a sack. This, however, did not fit him. It
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  Speaker 1: was too short and much wider than he. So I
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  Speaker 1: bent his legs, forced his knees up against his breast,
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  Speaker 1: and got him into it that way, tying the sack
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  Speaker 1: above his head. He was a heavy man, and I
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  Speaker 1: had all that I could do to get him on
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  Speaker 1: my back. But I staggered along for some distance until
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  Speaker 1: I came to a swing that some of the children
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  Speaker 1: had suspended to the branch of an oak. Here I
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  Speaker 1: laid him down and sat upon him to rest, and
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  Speaker 1: the sight of the rope gave me a happy inspiration.
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  Speaker 1: In twenty minutes, my uncle, still in the sack, swung
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  Speaker 1: free to the sport of the wind. I had taken
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  Speaker 1: down the rope, tied one end tightly about the mouth
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  Speaker 1: of the bag, thrown the other across the limb, and
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  Speaker 1: hauled him up about five feet from the ground, fastening
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  Speaker 1: the other end of the rope also about the mouth
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  Speaker 1: of the sack. I had the satisfaction to see my
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  Speaker 1: uncle converted into a large, fine pendulum. I must add
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  Speaker 1: that he was not himself entirely aware of the nature
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  Speaker 1: of the chains that he had undergone in his relation
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  Speaker 1: to the exterior world. Though in justice to a good
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  Speaker 1: man's memory, I ought to say that I do not
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  Speaker 1: think he would, in any case have wasted much of
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  Speaker 1: my time in vain remonstrance. Uncle William had a ram
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  Speaker 1: that was famous in all that region. As a fighter.
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  Speaker 1: It was in a state of chronic constitutional indignation. Some
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  Speaker 1: deep disappointment in early life had soured its disposition, and
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  Speaker 1: it had declared war upon the whole world. To say
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  Speaker 1: that it would but anything accessible is but faintly to
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  Speaker 1: express the nature and scope of its military activity. The
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  Speaker 1: universe was its antagonist, its methods that of a projectile.
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  Speaker 1: It fought like the angels and devils in mid air,
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  Speaker 1: cleaving the atmosphere like a bird. Describing a parabolic curve
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  Speaker 1: and descending upon its victim just the exact angle of
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  Speaker 1: incidents to make the most of its velocity and weight.
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  Speaker 1: Its momentum calculated in foot tons, was something incredible. It
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  Speaker 1: had been seen to destroy a four year old bull
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  Speaker 1: by a single impact upon that animal's gnarly forehead. No
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  Speaker 1: stone wall had ever been known to resist its downward swoop.
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  Speaker 1: There were no trees tough enough to stay it. It
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  Speaker 1: would splinter them in to matchwood and defile their leafy
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  Speaker 1: honors in the dust. This irascible and implacable brute, this
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  Speaker 1: incarnate thunderbolt, this monster of the upper deep, I had
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  Speaker 1: seen reposing in the shade of an adjacent tree, dreaming
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  Speaker 1: dreams of conquest and glory. It was with a view
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  Speaker 1: to summoning it forth to the field of honor, that
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  Speaker 1: I suspended its master in the manner described. Having completed
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  Speaker 1: my preparations, I imparted to the vuncular pendulum a gentle oscillation, and,
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  Speaker 1: retiring to cover behind a contiguous rock, lifted up my
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  Speaker 1: voice in a long, rasping cry, whose diminishing final note
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  Speaker 1: was drowned in a noise like that of a swearing cat.
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  Speaker 1: Which emanated from the sack. That formidable sheep was upon
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  Speaker 1: its feet and had taken in the military situation at
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  Speaker 1: a glance. In a few moments it had approached, stamping
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  Speaker 1: to within fifty yards of the swinging foemen, who, now
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  Speaker 1: retreating and anon advancing, seemed to invite the fray. Suddenly
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  Speaker 1: I saw the beast's head drop earthward, as if depressed
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  Speaker 1: by the weight of its enormous horns. Then a dim, white,
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  Speaker 1: wavy streak of sheep prolonged itself from that spot in
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  Speaker 1: a generally horizontal direction to within about four yards of
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  Speaker 1: a point immediately beneath the enemy. There it struck sharply upward,
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  Speaker 1: and before it had faded from my gaze at the
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  Speaker 1: place whence it had set out, I heard a horrid
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  Speaker 1: thump in a piercing scream, and my poor uncle shot
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  Speaker 1: forward with a slack rope higher than the limb to
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  Speaker 1: which he was attached. Here the rope tautened with a
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  Speaker 1: jerker resting his flight, and back he swung in a
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: breathless curve to the other end of his ark. The
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  Speaker 1: ram had fallen a heap of indistinguishable legs, wool and horns,
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: but pulling itself together and dodging as its antagonist swept downward.
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  Speaker 1: It retired at random, alternately shaking its head and stamping
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  Speaker 1: it fore feet. When it had backed about the same
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  Speaker 1: distance as that from which it had delivered the assault,
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  Speaker 1: it paused, again, bowed its head as if in prayer
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  Speaker 1: for victory, and again shot forward, dimly visible as before,
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  Speaker 1: a prolonging white streak with monstrous undulations, ending with a
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  Speaker 1: sharp ascension. Its course this time was at a right
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  Speaker 1: angle to its former one, and its impatience so great
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  Speaker 1: that it struck the enemy before he had nearly reached
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  Speaker 1: the lowest point of his ark. In consequence, he went
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: flying round and round in a horizontal circle whose radius
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  Speaker 1: was about equal to half the length of the rope,
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: which I forgot to say was nearly twenty feet long.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: His shrieks crescendo in approach and diminuendo in recession, made
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: the rapidity of his revolution more obvious to the ear
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: than to the eye. He had evidently not been struck
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  Speaker 1: in a vital spot. His posture in the sack and
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  Speaker 1: the distance from the ground at which he hung, compelled
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  Speaker 1: the ram to operate upon his lowering extremities and the
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  Speaker 1: end of his back. Like a plant that has struck
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: its root into some poisonous mineral. My uncle was dying
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: slowly upwards after delivering its second blow. The ram had
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  Speaker 1: not again retired. The fever of battle burned hot in
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  Speaker 1: its heart. Its brain was intoxicated with the whine of strife.
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  Speaker 1: Like a pugilist who, in his rage forgets his skill
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  Speaker 1: and fights ineffectively at half arm's length. The angry beast
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  Speaker 1: endeavored to reach its fleeting foe by awkward vertical leaps
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  Speaker 1: as he passed overhead, sometimes indeed succeeding in striking him feebly,
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  Speaker 1: but more frequently overthrown by its own misguided eagerness. But
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: as the impetus was exhausted and the man's circles narrowed
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  Speaker 1: in scope and diminished in speed, bringing him nearer to
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: the ground, these tactics produced better results, eliciting a superior
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: quality of screams, which I greatly enjoyed. Suddenly, as if
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  Speaker 1: the bugles had sung true use, the ram suspended hostilities
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: and walked away, thoughtfully, wrinkling and smoothing its great aquiline
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  Speaker 1: nose and occasionally cropping a bunch of grass, and slowly
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  Speaker 1: munching it. It seemed to have tired of war's alarms,
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  Speaker 1: and resolved to beat the sword into a plowshare and
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  Speaker 1: cultivate the arts of peace. Steadily. It held its course
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  Speaker 1: away from the field of fame until it had gained
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: a distance of nearly a quarter of a mile. There
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: it stopped and stood with its rear to the foe,
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: chewing its cud and apparently half asleep. I observed, however,
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  Speaker 1: an occasional slight turn of its head, as if its
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: apathy were more affected than real. Meanwhile, Uncle William's shrieks
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: had abated with his motion, and nothing was heard from
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: him but long, low moans, and at long intervals my
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: name uttered in pleading tones, exceedingly grateful to my ear.
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: Evidently the man had not the faintest notion of what
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: was being done to him, and was inexpressibly terrified. When
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: death comes, cloaked in mystery, he is terrible. Indeed, little
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  Speaker 1: by little, my uncle's oscillations diminished, and finally he hung motionless.
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  Speaker 1: I went to him and was about to give him
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  Speaker 1: the coup de grass, when I heard and felt a
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: succession of smart shocks, which shook the ground like a
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: series of light earthquakes, and turning in the direction of
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: the ram, saw a long cloud of dust approaching me
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: with inconceivable rapidity and alarming effect. At a distance of
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: some thirty yards away. It stopped short, and from the
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: near end of it rose into the air what I
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: at first thought a great white bird. Its ascent was
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: so smooth and easy and regular that I could not
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: realize its extraordinary celerity, and was lost in admiration of
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: its grace. To this day, the impressionary remains that it
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: was a slow, deliberate movement the ram, For it was
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: that animal being upborne by some power other than its
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: own impetus, and supported through the successive stages of its
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: flight with infinite tenderness and care. My eyes followed its
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: progress through the air with unspeakable pleasure, all the greater
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: by contrast with my former terror of its approach. By land.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: Onward and upward, the noble animal sailed, its head bent
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: down almost between its knees, its fore feet thrown back,
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: its hinder legs trailing to rear like the legs of
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: a soaring heron, at a height of forty or fifty feet,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: as fond recollection presents it to view. It attained its
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: zenith and appeared to remain an instant stationary, then tilting
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: suddenly forward without altering the relative position of its parts.
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: It shot downward on a steeper and steeper course of
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: augmenting velocity, passed immediately above me with a noise like
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: the rush of a cannon shot, and struck my poor
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  Speaker 1: uncle almost squarely on the top of the head. So
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: frightful was the impact that not only the man's neck
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: was broken, but the rope too, and the body of
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: the deceased, forced against the earth, was crushed to pulp
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: beneath the awful front of that meteoric sheep. The concussion
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: stopped all the clocks between lone hand and Dutch Dwans,
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: and Professor Davidson, a distinguished authority in matters seismic, who
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: happened to be in the vicinity, promptly explained that the
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: vibrations were from north to southwest altogether. I cannot help
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: thinking that in point of artistic atrocity, my murder of
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: Uncle William has seldom been excelled. Oil of dog. My
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: name is Boffer Beings. I was born of honest parents,
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: in one of the humbler walks of life, my father
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: being a manufacturer of dog oil, and my mother having
• 20:11
  Speaker 1: a small studio in the shadow of the village church
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: where she disposed of unwelcome babes. In my boyhood I
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: was trained to habits of industry. I not only assisted
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: my father in procuring dogs for his vats, but was
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: frequently employed by my mother to carry away the debris
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: of her work in the studio. In performance of this duty,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: I sometimes had need of all my natural intelligence, for
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: all the law officers of the vicinity were opposed to
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: my mother's business. They were not elected on an opposition ticket,
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: and the matter had never been made a political issue.
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: It just happened. So my father's business of making dog
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: oil was naturally less unpopular, though the owners of missing
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: dogs sometimes regarded him with suspicion, which was reflect to
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: some extent upon me. My father had as silent partners
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: all the physicians of the town, who seldom wrote a
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: prescription which did not contain what they were pleased to designate.
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: As all can it is really the most valuable medicine
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: ever discovered. But most persons are unwilling to make personal
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: sacrifices for the afflicted, and it was evident that many
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: of the fattest dogs in town had been forbidden to
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: play with me, a fact which pained my young sensibilities
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: and at one time came near driving me to become
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: a pirate. Looking back upon those days, I cannot but
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: regret at times that, by indirectly bringing my beloved parents
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: to their death, I was the author of misfortunes profoundly
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: affecting my future. One evening, while passing my father's oil
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: factory with the body of a foundling from my mother's studio,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: I saw a constable who seemed to be closely watching
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: my movie. Young as I was, I had learnt that
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: a constable's acts of whatever apparent character, are prompted by
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: the most reprehensible motives, and I avoided him by dodging
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: into the oilery by a side door which happened to
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: stand ajar. I locked it at once and was alone
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: with my dead My father had retired for the night.
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: The only light in the place came from the furnace,
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: which glowed a deep, rich crimson under one of the vats,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: casting ruddy reflections on the walls within the caldron. The
• 22:34
  Speaker 1: oil still rolled in indolent ebullition, occasionally pushing to the
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: surface a piece of dog. Seating myself to wait for
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: the constable to go away, I held the naked body
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: of the foundling in my lap and tenderly stroked its short,
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: silken hair. Ah, how beautiful it was. Even at that
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: early age, I was passionately fond of children, And as
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: I looked upon this cherub, I could all most find
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: it in my heart to wish that the small red
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: wound upon its breast. The work of my dear mother
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: had not been mortal. It had been my custom to
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: throw the babes into the river, which nature had thoughtfully
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: provided for the purpose. But that night I did not
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: dare to leave the oilery a fear of the constable.
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: After all, I said to myself, it cannot greatly matter
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: if I put it into this cauldron. My father will
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: never know the bones from those of a puppy, and
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: the few deaths which may result from administering another kind
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: of oil for the incomparable all can are not important
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: in a population which increases so rapidly. In short, I
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: took the first step in crime and brought myself untold
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: sorrow by casting the babe into the cauldron. The next day,
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: somewhat to my surprise, my father, rubbing his hands with satisfaction,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: informed me and my mother that he had obtained the
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: finest quality of oil that was ever her scene, that
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: the physicians to whom he had shown samples had so
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: pronounced it. He added that he had no knowledge as
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: to how the result was obtained. The dogs had been
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: treated in all respect as usual, and were of an
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: ordinary breed. I deemed it my duty to explain, which
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: I did, though haulsey it would have been my tongue
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: if I could have foreseen the consequences bewailing their previous
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: ignorance of the advantages of combining their industries, my parents
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: at once took measures to repair the error. My mother
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: removed her studio to a wing of the factory building,
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: and my duties in connection with the business ceased. I
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: was no longer required to dispose of the bodies of
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the small superfluous, and there was no need of alluring
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: dogs to their doom, for my father discarded them altogether,
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: though they still had an honorable place in the name
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: of the oil. So suddenly thrown into idleness, I might
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: naturally have been expected to become vicious and dissolute, but
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: I did not. The holy influence of my deares mother
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: was ever about me to protect me from the temptations
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: which beset youth. And my father was a deacon in
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: a church, alas that through my fault these estimable persons
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: should have come to so bad an end. Finally, a
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: double profit in her business, my mother now devoted herself
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: to it with a new assiduity. She removed not only
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: superfluous and unwelcome babes to order, but went out into
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the highways and byways, gathering in children of a larger growth,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: and even such adulters she could entice to the oilery.
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: My father, too, enamored of the superior quality of the
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: oil produced, purveyed for his vats, with diligence and veal.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: The conversion of their neighbors into dog oil became, in short,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: the one passion of their lives, an absorbing and overwhelming
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: greed to possession of their souls, and served them in
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: place of a hope in heaven by which also they
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: were inspired. So enterprising had they now become, that a
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: public meeting was held and resolutions passed severely, censuring them.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: It was intimated by the chairman that any future raids
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: upon the population would be met in a spirit of hostility.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: My poor parents left the meeting broken hearted, desperate, and
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: I believe not altogether saying anyway. I deemed it prudent
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: not to enter the oilery with them that night, but
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: slept outside in a stable. At about midnight, some mysterious
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: impulse caused me to rise and peer through a window
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: into the furnace room, where I knew my father now slept.
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: The fires were burning as brightly as if the following
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: day's harvest had been expected to be abundant. One of
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: the large cauldrons was slowly walloping, with a mysterious appearance
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: of self restraint, as if it bided its time to
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: put forth its full energy. My father was not in bed.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: He had risen in his night clothes and was preparing
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: a noose in a strong cord. From the looks which
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: he cast at the door of my mother's bedroom, I
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: knew too well the purpose he had in mind. Speechless
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: and motionless with terror, I could do nothing in prevention
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: or warning. Suddenly the door of my mother's apartment was opened, noiselessly,
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: and the two confronted each other, both apparently surprised. The
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: lady also was in her night clothes, and she held
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: in her right hand the all of her trade, a long,
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: narrow bladed dagger. She too, had been unable to deny
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: herself the last prophet, which the unfriendly action of the
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: citizens and my absence had left her. For one instant,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: they looked into each other's blazing eyes, then sprang together,
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: with indescribable fury, round and round the room. They struggled,
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: the man cursing, the woman shrieking, both fighting like demons.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: She to strike him with the dagger, he to strangle
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: her with his great bare hands. I know not how
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: long I had the unhappiness to observe the disagreeable instance
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: of domestic infelicity. But at last, after a more than
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: usually vigorous struggle, the combatants suddenly moved apart. My father's
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: breast and my mother's weapon showed evidence of contact. For
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: another instant they glared at each other in the most
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: unamiable way. Then my poor wounded father, feeling the hand
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: of death upon him, leapt forward, unmindful of resistance, grasped
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: my dear mother in his arms, dragged her to the
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: side of the boiling Caldron, collected all his failing energies
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: and sprang in with her. In a moment, both had
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: disappeared and were adding their oil to that of the
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: Committee of citizens who had called the day before with
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: an invitation to the public meeting. Convinced that these unhappy
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: events closed to me every avenue to an honorable career
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: in that town, I removed to the famous city of Ottumwi,
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: where these memoirs are written, with a heart full of remorse,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: or a heedless act entailing so dismal, a commercial disaster,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: an imperfect conflagration. Early one June morning in eighteen seventy two,
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: I murdered my father, an act which made a deep
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: impression on me at the time. This was before my marriage,
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: while I was living with my parents in Wisconsin. My
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: father and I were in the library of their home
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: dividing the proceeds of a burglary which we had committed
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: that night. These consisted of household goods mostly, and the
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: task of equitable division was difficult. We got on very
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: well with the napkins, towels and such things, and the
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: silverware was parted pretty nearly equally. But you can see
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: for yourself that when you try to divide a single
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: music box by two without a remainder, you will have trouble.
• 30:05
  Speaker 1: It was that music box which brought disaster and disgrace
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: upon our family. If we had left it, my poor
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: father might now be alive. It was a most exquisite
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: and beautiful piece of workmanship, inlaid with costly woods and
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: carven very curiously. It would not only play a great
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: variety of tunes, but would whistle like a quail, bark
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: like a dog crow every morning at daylight, whether it
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: was wound up or not, and break the Ten Commandments.
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: It was this last mentioned accomplishment that won my father's
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: heart and caused him to commit the only dishonorable act
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: of his life, though possibly he would have committed more
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: if he had been spared. He tried to conceal that
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: music box from me and declared upon his honor that
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: he had not taken it, though I know very well
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: that so far as he was concerned, the burglary had
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: been undertaken, chiefly for the purpose of obtaining it. My
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: father had the music box hidden under his cloak. We
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: had worn cloaks by way of disguise. He had solemnly
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: assured me that he did not take it, and knew
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: that he did, and knew something of which he was
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: evidently ignorant, namely that the box would crow at daylight
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: and betray him if I could prolong the division of
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: profits till that time. All occurred as I wished, As
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: the gas light began to pale in the library and
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: the shape of the windows was seen dimly behind the
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: curtains along cock, a doodle doo came from beneath the
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: old gentleman's cloak, followed by a few bars of an
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: aria from Tannhauser, ending with a loud click. A small
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: hand axe, which we had used to break into the
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: unlucky house, lay between us on the table. I picked
• 31:58
  Speaker 1: it up. The old man, seeing that further concealment was useless,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: took the box from under his cloak and set it
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: on the table. Cut it in too, if you prefer
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: that plan, said he. I tried to save it from destruction.
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: He was a passionate lover of music, and could himself
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: play the concertina with expression and feeling. I said, I
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: do not question the purity of your motive. It would
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: be presumptuous of me to sit in judgment on my father.
• 32:28
  Speaker 1: But business is business, and with this axe, I am
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: going to effect a dissolution of our partnership unless you
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: will consent in all future burglaries to wear a bell punch. No,
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: he said, after some reflection. No, I could not do that.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: It would look like a confession of dishonesty. People would
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: say that you distrusted me. I could not help admiring
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: his spirit and sensitiveness. For a moment I was proud
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: of him and disposed to overlook his fault. But a
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: glance at the rich stchally dueled music box decided me,
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: and as I said, I removed the old man from
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: this veil of tears. Having done so, I was a
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: trifle uneasy. Not only was he my father, the author
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: of my being, but the body would be certainly discovered.
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: It was now broad daylight, and my mother was likely
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: to enter the library at any moment. Under the circumstances,
• 33:23
  Speaker 1: I thought it expedient to remove her also, which I did.
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: Then I paid off all the servants and discharged them.
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: That afternoon, I went to the chief of police told
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: him what I had done, and asked his advice. It
• 33:38
  Speaker 1: would be very painful to me. If the facts became
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: publicly known, My conduct would be generally condemned. The newspapers
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: would bring it up against me, if ever I should
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: run for office. The Chief saw the force of these considerations.
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: He was himself an assassin of wide experience. After consulting
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: with the presiding judge of the Court of Variable Jurisdiction,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: he advised me to conceal the bodies in one of
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: the bookcases, get a heavy insurance on the house, and
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: burn it down. This I proceeded to do. In the
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: library was a bookcase which my father had recently purchased
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: with some cranky inventor and had not filled. It was
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: in shape and size something like the old fashioned wardrobes
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: which one sees in bedrooms without closets, but opened all
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: the way down like a woman's night's dress. It had
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: glass doors. I had recently laid out my parents, and
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: they were now rigid enough to stand erect, so I
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: stood them in this bookcase, from which I had removed
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: the shelves. I locked them in and tacked some curtains
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: over the glass doors. The inspector from the insurance office
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: passed half a dozen times before the case without suspicion.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: That night, after getting my policy, I set fire to
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: the house and started through the woods to town two
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: miles away, where I managed to be found. About the
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: time the excitement was at its height, with cries of
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: apprehension for the fate of my parents. I joined the
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: rush and arrived at the fire some two hours after
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: I had kindled it. The whole town was there as
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: I dashed up. The house was entirely consumed. But in
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: one end of the level bed of glowing embers, bolt
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: upright and uninjured, was that bookcase. The curtains had burned away,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: exposing the glass doors through which the fierce red light
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: illuminated the interior. There stood my dear father, in his
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: habit as he lived, and at his side the partner
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: of his joys and sorrows. Not a hair of them
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: was singed. Their clothing was intact on their heads and throats.
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: The injuries, which, in the accomplishment of my designs I
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: had been compelled to inflict, were conspicuous, as in the
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: presence of a miracle. The people were silent, awe and
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: terror had stilled every towne I was myself greatly affected.
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: Some three years later, when the events herein related had
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: nearly faded from my memory, I went to New York
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: to assist in passing some counterfeit United States bonds. Carelessly
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: looking into a furniture store one day, I saw the
• 36:20
  Speaker 1: exact counterpart of that bookcase. I bought it for a
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: trifle from a reformed inventor. The dealer explained. He said
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: it was fireproof, the pores of the wood being filled
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: with alum under hydraulic pressure, and the glass made of asbestos.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: I don't suppose it is really fireproof. You can have
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: it at the price of an ordinary bookcase. No, I said,
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: If you cannot warrant it fireproof, I won't take it,
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: and I bade him good morning. I would not have
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: had it at any price. It revived memories that were
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: exceedingly disagreeable the hypnotist by those of my my friends
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: who happen to know that I sometimes amuse myself with hypnotism,
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: mind reading, and kindred phenomena. I am frequently asked if
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: I have a clear conception of the nature of whatever
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: principle underlies them. To this question, I always reply that
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I neither have nor desire to have. I am no
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: investigator with an ear at the keyhole of Nature's workshop,
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: trying with vulgar curiosity to steal the secrets of her trade.
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: The interests of science are as little to me as
• 37:34
  Speaker 1: mine seem to have been to science. Doubtless, the phenomena
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: in question are simple enough and in no way transcend
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: our powers of comprehension. If only we could find the clue.
• 37:45
  Speaker 1: But for my part, I prefer not to find it,
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: for I am of a singularly romantic disposition, deriving more
• 37:53
  Speaker 1: gratification from mystery than from knowledge. It was commonly remarked
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: of me when I was a child that my big
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: blue eyes appeared to have been made rather to look
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: into than look out of. Such was their dreamful beauty,
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: and in my frequent periods of abstraction, their indifference to
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: what was going on in those peculiarities they resembled. I
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: venture to think the soul which lies behind them always
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: more intent upon some lovely conception which it has created
• 38:25
  Speaker 1: in its own image, than concerned about the laws of
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: nature and the material frame of things. All this irrelevant
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: and egotistic as it may seem, is related by way
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: of accounting for the meagerness of the light that I
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: am able to throw upon a subject that has engaged
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: so much of my attention, and concerning which there is
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: so keen and general a curiosity with my powers and opportunities,
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: another person might doubtless have an explanation for much of
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: what I present simply as narrative. My first knowledge that
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: I poss zest unusual powers came to me in my
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: fourteenth year, when at school, happening one day to have
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: forgotten to bring my noonday luncheon, I gazed longingly at
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: that of a small girl who was preparing to eat hers.
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: Looking up, her eyes met by, and she seemed unable
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: to withdraw them. After a moment of hesitancy, she came
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: forward in an absent kind of way, and without a word,
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: surrendered her little basket with its tempting contents, and walked away,
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: inexpressibly pleased, I relieved my hunger and destroyed the basket.
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: After that I had not the trouble to bring a
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: luncheon for myself. That little girl was my daily purveyor,
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: and not infrequently, in satisfying my simple need from her
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: frugal store, I combined pleasure and profit by constraining her
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: attendance at the feast and making misleading proffer of the viands,
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: which eventually I consumed to the last fragment. The girl
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: was always persuaded that she had eaten all herself, and
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: later in the day her tearful complaints of hunger surprised
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: the teacher, entertained the pupils earned for her the soubriquet
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: of greedy gut, and filled me with a peace past understanding.
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: A disagreeable feature of this otherwise satisfactory condition of things
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: was the necessary secrecy. The transfer of the luncheon, for example,
• 40:36
  Speaker 1: had to be made at some distance from the madding
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: crowd in a wood, and I blushed to think of
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: the many other unworthy subterfuges entailed by the situation. As
• 40:47
  Speaker 1: I was, and am naturally of a frank and open disposition,
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: these became more and more irksome, and but for the
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: reluctance of my parents to renounce the obvious advantages of
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: the new regime, I would gladly have reverted to the old.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: The plan that I finally adopted to free myself from
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: the consequences of my own powers excited a wide and
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: keen interest at the time, and that part of it,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: which consisted in the death of the girl, was severely condemned.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: But it is hardly pertinent to the scope of this narrative.
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: For some years afterward I had little opportunity to practice hypnotism.
• 41:28
  Speaker 1: Some small essays as I made at it, Some small
• 41:31
  Speaker 1: essays as I made at it, were commonly barren of
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: other recognition than solitary confinement on a bread and water diet. Sometimes, indeed,
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: they elicited nothing better than the Catharine tales. It was
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: when I was about to leave the scene of these
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: small disappointments that my one really important feat was performed.
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: I had been called into the Warden's office and given
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: a suit of civilians clothing, trifling sum of money, and
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: a great deal of advice, which I am bound to
• 42:03
  Speaker 1: confess was of a much better quality than the clothing.
• 42:07
  Speaker 1: As I was passing out of the gate into the
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: light of freedom, I suddenly turned, and, looking the warden
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: gravely in the eye, soon had him in control. You
• 42:18
  Speaker 1: are an ostrich, I said. At the post autumn examination.
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: The stomach was found to contain a great quantity of
• 42:28
  Speaker 1: indigestible articles, mostly of wood and metal stuck fast in
• 42:33
  Speaker 1: the esophagus and constituting, according to the coroner's jury, the
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: immediate cause of death one door knob. I was by
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: nature a good and affectionate son. But as I took
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: my way into the great world from which I had
• 42:50
  Speaker 1: been so long secluded, I could not help remembering that
• 42:55
  Speaker 1: all my misfortune had flowed like a stream from the
• 42:59
  Speaker 1: niggard econ of my parents in the matter of school luncheons,
• 43:04
  Speaker 1: and I knew of no reason to think they had reformed.
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: On the road between Succotash Hill and South Asphyxia is
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: a little open field which once contained a shanty known
• 43:16
  Speaker 1: as Peter Gilstrap's Place, where that gentleman used to murder
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: travelers for a living. The death of mister Gilstrap and
• 43:24
  Speaker 1: the diversion of nearly all the travel to another road
• 43:28
  Speaker 1: occurred so nearly at the same time that no one
• 43:31
  Speaker 1: has ever been able to say which was cause and
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: which effect. Anyhow, the field was now a desolation, and
• 43:38
  Speaker 1: the place had long been burned. It was while going
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: afoot to South Asphyxia, the home of my childhood, that
• 43:47
  Speaker 1: I found both my parents on their way to the hill.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: They had hitched their team and were eating luncheon under
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: an oak tree in the center of the field. The
• 43:58
  Speaker 1: site of the luncheon called up painful memories of my
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: school days and roused the sleeping lion in my breast.
• 44:06
  Speaker 1: Approaching the guilty couple, who once recognized me, I ventured
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: to suggest that I share their hospitality of this cheer.
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: My son, said, the author of my being with characteristic
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: composity which age had not withered, There is sufficient for
• 44:25
  Speaker 1: but two. I am not, I hope insensible to the
• 44:29
  Speaker 1: hunger light in your eyes. But my father has never
• 44:33
  Speaker 1: completed that sentence. What he mistook for hunger light was
• 44:37
  Speaker 1: simply the earnest gaze of the hypnotist. In a few
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: seconds he was at my service. A few more sufficed
• 44:45
  Speaker 1: for the lady, and the dictates of a just resentment
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: could be carried into effect. My former father, I said,
• 44:53
  Speaker 1: I presume that it is known to you that you
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: and this lady are no longer what you were. I
• 45:00
  Speaker 1: have observed a certain subtle change. Is the rather dubious
• 45:04
  Speaker 1: reply of the old gentleman. It is perhaps attributable to age.
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: It is more than that, I exclaimed, It goes to character,
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: to species. You and the lady here are, in truth
• 45:20
  Speaker 1: two bronchos, wild stallions, both and unfriendly. Why, John exclaimed,
• 45:29
  Speaker 1: my dear mother, you don't mean to say that I
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: am madam, I replied, solemnly, fixing my eyes again upon hers.
• 45:38
  Speaker 1: You are scarcely had the words fallen from my lips.
• 45:42
  Speaker 1: When she dropped upon her hands and knees, and backing up,
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: the old man squealed like a demon and delivered a
• 45:50
  Speaker 1: vicious kick upon his Shin an instant later, he was
• 45:53
  Speaker 1: himself down on all fours, headed away from her, and
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: flinging his feet at her. Simultaneously and successively, with equal earnestness,
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: but inferior agility because of her hampering body gear, she
• 46:05
  Speaker 1: plied her own. Their flying legs crossed and mingled in
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: the most bewildering way, their feet sometimes meeting squarely in
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: mid air, their bodies thrust forward, falling flat upon the ground,
• 46:17
  Speaker 1: and for a moment helpless. On recovering themselves, they would
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: resume the combat, uttering their frenzy in the nameless sounds
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: of the furious brutes, which they believed themselves to be.
• 46:28
  Speaker 1: The whole region rang with their clamor round and round,
• 46:32
  Speaker 1: they wheeled, the blows of their feet falling like lightnings
• 46:36
  Speaker 1: from the mountain cloud. They plunged and reared backward upon
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: their knees, struck savagely at each other with awkward, descending
• 46:43
  Speaker 1: blows of both fists at once, and dropped again upon
• 46:47
  Speaker 1: their hands, as if unable to maintain the upright position
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: of the body. Grass and pebbles were torn from the
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: soil by hands and feet, Clothing, hair, faces inexpressibly defiled
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: with dust and blood, while the inarticulate screams of rage
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: attested the delivery of the blows, groans, grunts, and gasps
• 47:08
  Speaker 1: their receipt. Nothing more truly military was ever seen at
• 47:12
  Speaker 1: Gettysburg or Waterloo. The valor of my dear parents in
• 47:17
  Speaker 1: the hour of danger can never cease to be to
• 47:20
  Speaker 1: me a source of pride and gratification. At the end
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: of it all, two battered, tattered, bloody, and fragmentary vestiges
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: of mortality attested the solemn fact that the author of
• 47:35
  Speaker 1: the strife was an orphan, arrested for provoking a breach
• 47:41
  Speaker 1: of the peace. I was, and have ever since been
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: tried in the court of technicalities and continuancees whence, after
• 47:49
  Speaker 1: fifteen years of proceedings, my attorney is moving heaven and
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: earth to get the case taken to the Court of
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: Remandment for new trials. Such are a few of my
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: principal experiments in the mysterious force or agency known as
• 48:06
  Speaker 1: hypnotic suggestion. Whether or not it could be employed by
• 48:10
  Speaker 1: a bad man for an unworthy purpose, I am unable
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: to say.