JASON CREEL.

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 6, Issue 320, 2 November 1865, Page 4

JASON CREEL.

AN INCIDENT OF PENNSYLVANIA. [From the Boston Gazette.} Thf. mists of the mountain still hung heavily on the mountain-top above foe village of Bcdcliff, but the roads which lod towards it were crowded with the varied population of the surrounding country, far and near. At Aylesbury the shops were closed, the hammer of the blacksmith lay upon the anvil; not a wagon of any description was to be seen in the street, and even, the bar of the tavern was locked, and its key gone with its proprietor towards the cliff, as a token of an important era, which was without a parallel in the annals of the place; and, save here and there a solitary head looking through a "broken pane in some closed-np home, with an air of sad disappointment, or the cries of a little nursling were heard, betokening that, in the general flight it had been left in unskilful hands; or, mayhap, here and there, a solitary and illnatured dog, either seeming but half appeased by the privilege of a half holiday, granted on condition of staying at home—the whole village exhibited a picture of desertion and silence which had been unknown before. But in proportion as you d-.e.v near the ponderous cliffs, in the midst of which the little town of Eedcliff was situat ed, youmlngled again in the thick bustle and motion of the world, of men and women, and boys, and horses, and all living, moving, and creeping things that inhabit this wild district of Pennsylvania. The village itself was crowded to overflowing long before the sun had gained a sufficient altitude to throw its rays upon the deep valley in which it lay. There the bar of the inn was crowded, and the fumes of tobacco and whisky, the jingling of small change, and the perpetual clamor of t ie throng, were sufficient tv rack abrain of ordinary sensibility. In the streets, there was a greeting of old and long-parted acquaintances; the bartering of horses; the settling of old accounts; the buffoonery of half intoxicated men; the clatter of women; the crying and hallooing of children and boys, and harking and quarreling of strange dogs. To look upon the scene, to mingle with the crowd, to listen to the conversation or to survey the countenances of the assembled multitude, led to no satisfactory solution of tbe cause for which this mass of heterogeneous matter was congregated. Within the wall of the old stone gaol, at the foot of the mountain, a different scene had that morning been witnessed. There, chained to a stake in the miserable dungeon, damp and scarcely illuminated by one ray of light, lay the emaciated form of one whose final doom seemed new at hand. A few hours before his wife and little daughter had traveled a hundred miles to meet him once more on the threshold of the grave; they met, and from that gloomy vault the hymn ascended with the ascending sun • and the gaoler, as he listened to the melodious voices of throe persons whom he looked, upon as the most desolate aid lost of all in the wide world, almost doubted the evidence, of hi, senses, and stood in fixed astonishment at the massive door. Could these be the voices of a murderer and murderer’s wife and child ? The tr ef and to be final interview-had passed, however, audtbe-e .mfortunnte «mes bad loudly commended each oth r tv t. ,o Keeping of their heavenly parent, and nacted ho r tus: the assemble ! multitude on the scaffold, and’ thev as they said, to return by weary j ournevs to their tnti wfn home. The convict, worn out by sickness and webbing, newsiest.

His name was Jason Creel, his place of residence said to be in Virginia. He had been up while traveling from the northward to his home, and tried and convicted at a country town some miles distant, for the murder of a traveler whs had boms him company at the lakes, and was ascertained to have a large sum of money with him, and who was found in the room in which they both slept, with his throat cut. Creel had always protested his innocence, declaring that the deed was perpetrated by some one while he was asleep. But the circumstances were against him, and although the money was not found on him, he was sentenced to be hung, and'had been removed to the old stone gaol at Redoliff for security, the country gaol being deemed unsafe. This was the day the execution was to take place, the scaffold was already erected, the crowd pressed round the building, and frequent cries of “ Bring out the murderer!” were heard. The sun at last told the hour of eleven, and there could be no more delay; the convict’s cell was entered by the officers in attendance, who roused him with the information that all was ready for him without, and bade him hasten to his execution; they laid hands upon him tightly, while he looked towards heaven in wild astonishment, as one new born, and only said, “ The dream! —the dream!” “What dream, Mr Jason?” said the sheriff. “You would do me a great kindness if you would dream yourself and me out of this disagreeable business." “ I dreamed,” replied the convict, “ that while you read the death-warrant to me on the scaffold, a man came through the crowd, and stood before us in a gray dress, with a white hat and large whiskers, and that a bird fluttered over him and sang distinctly, • This is Lewis, the murderer of the traveler.’” The officers and the gaoler held a short consultation, which ended in a determination to look sharply after the man in gray, with the white hat, accompanied with many hints of the resignation of the prisoner, and the possibility of his innocence being asserted by a supernatural agency. The prison doors were cleared, and Creel, pale and feeble] with a hymn-hook in his hand, and a mien all meekness and humility, was seen tottering from the prison to the scaffold. He had no sooner ascended it, than his eyes began to wander over the vast concourse of people around him with a scrutiny that seemed like faith in dreams; and while the sheriff read the warrant the convict’s anxiety seemed to increase; he looked and looked again; then raised his hands and eyes a moment to the clear sky, as if breathing his last ejaculation, when, lo! as he resumed his first position, the very person he described stood within six feet of the ladder. The prisoner's eye caught the sight, and flashed with fire, while he called out, “ There is Lewis, the murderer of the traveler!” and the gaoler at the same moment seized the stranger by the collar. At first he attempted to escape, but beiug secured and taken before the magistrates, he confessed the deed, detailed all the particulars, delivered up part of the money, informed where another part was hidden, and was committed for trial, while Creel was set at liberty, and hastened, like a man out of his senses, from the scaffold. Three days had elapsed. Creel had vanished immediately on liberation, when the pretended Lewis astonished and confounded the magistrates by declaring Creel to be her husband; that she had concealed the disguise and performed the whole part by direction; that he had given her the money, which he had successfully concealed; and that the whole, from the prison to the scaffold scene; was a contrivance to effect his escape, which having secured she was regardless of consequences. Nothing could be done with her, she was set at liberty, and neither she nor her husband were heard of again.