nife, to cut their throats; just then they
awoke, and gazed upon me with bright, inquiring eyes--then recognizing
me, their rosy cheeks were dimpled with smiles, and they lisped my name.
Perhaps you think their innocence and helplessness touched my
heart--hah! no such thing; I merely changed my mind, and with the point
of my knife cut out their beautiful eyes! having first gagged them both,
to prevent their screaming. Delicious fun, wasn't it? Then I bolted down
stairs, but was so unfortunate as to encounter several of the servants,
who had been aroused by their mistress's shriek. Frightened at my
appearance, (for I was covered with the children's blood,) they did not
arrest my flight, and I made good my escape from the house. That scrape
was my last for some time; for people were maddened by the chapter of
outrages committed by me on that family--the murder of the husband, the
dishonor of the wife, and the blinding of those two innocent children.
I was hunted like a wild beast from city to city; large rewards were
offered for my apprehension, and minute descriptions of my entire person
flooded every part of the country. But my cunning baffled them all; for
two months I lived in the woods, in an obscure part of New Jersey,
subsisting upon roots, and wild herbs, and wild berries, and crawling
worms, which I dug from the earth. One day in my wanderings, I came
across a gang of counterfeiters, who made their rendezvous in a cave;
these were congenial spirits for me--I told them my story, and became
one of them. The gang included several men of superior education and
attainments, among whom was a celebrated chemist.

'This man undertook to procure for me a certain chemical preparation
which he said would alter and disfigure my features so that I never
could be recognized, even by those who were most intimately acquainted
with me. He was as good as his word; he furnished me with a colorless
liquid, contained in a small phial, directing me to apply it to my face
at night, but cautioning me particularly to avoid getting any of it into
my eyes. His directions were followed by me, to the very letter;--during
the night, my face seemed on fire, but I heeded not the torture. Morning
came--the pain was over; I arose, and rushed to a mirror. Great God! I
scarce knew myself, so terribly changed was my countenance. My features,
once comely and regular, had assumed the ghastly, horrible and
death-like appearance they now wear. Oh, how I