[CHAPTER XIII.]
CORRESPONDENCE—VISITS AT ANGELICA WITH D. D. HOW, THE MURDERER—HIS SERMON AT THE GALLOWS.
From the extensive correspondence of Mr. Badger, little at present can be introduced, as the interest of his published journal and things relating to his personal life and public labor have the paramount claim. Yet the freedom in which a large variety of minds addressed him evinces that he was beloved confidingly, as well as respected and admired. As an example of the free expression of one class of correspondents, we may take the following lines, dated near 1824, from the pen of a gentleman of the medical profession, Troy, Pa.:
"I think I informed you I was not a professor of religion, though I have a friendly regard for all such as appear to worship God in a rational and consistent manner, whose minds have not been circumscribed by undigested creeds and by uncharitable proscription. I have read some and thought much on the subject of religion, and after all I confess I am rather skeptical. I have endeavored to view it abstractedly by the lights of reason and philosophy; to consider what it is, its origin and design. To sum up in a few words, if I may be allowed the expression, I should consider it indispensably necessary to those who would not be good without it. Take this away, and what method would be left to bring the mere child of nature to the practice of virtue? You could not discover to him the excellency there is in goodness, and the reward which it brings. His imagination needs to be awed by the penalty annexed to vice. It may seem paradoxical to say that when men become good for goodness' sake, they have no need of religion."
Bold thoughts were no alarm to Mr. Badger; and not many persons had his faculty for taking away effectually the objections which really stood in the path of the unbelieving, though in doing so his methods were his own, and he had no use for the logical phrases of those who have been styled apologists for religion or Christianity. In looking over lines like those first quoted, is it not impossible to repress the sentiment, that "he who becomes good for goodness' sake," instead of having no need of religion, already has it in its highest possible form? It cannot be otherwise.
1824 finds Mr. Badger engaged in the local sphere of pastor; and, among the solemn and responsible duties of his profession for this year, was that of hearing the confession of a murderer, of leading his mind into faith and penitence, of administering to the bereaved families the consolations of Christian views and sympathy, and of preaching the funeral discourse of the prisoner to the immense concourse who witnessed his execution. At that time, cool and deliberate murders were comparatively rare; generally, there was great avidity to know the causes and incidents involved in the crime. The surprise and dread such intelligence awakened corresponded somewhat justly with the awful nature of the guilt which caused them. David D. How, of the town of Angelica, Alleghany County, New York, a few miles from the place where the horrid murder of Mr. Othello Church was committed, December the 29th, 1823, was a man originally from New England, and of respectable connexions; but, from a series of misfortunes and injuries experienced in life, and probably also from the peculiar organic defection which the organization of murderers usually exhibits, was prepared, though not without a violent conflict of inward emotions, to execute a murder of revenge on the person of Mr. Church, whom he regarded as having been instrumental in promoting the misfortunes that left him destitute of property, in the summer of 1823. Several angry disputes had occurred between them; and, judging from the treatment he rendered to Mr. Palmer, for having, as he thought, taken undue advantages of his troubles, one is willing to infer that revenge was his predominant tendency.
"I went," says he, "in the month of October, to Hornelsville, and being detained there one day, I had occasion to ride in the evening of the 23d, and about 12 o'clock at night came to Mr. Palmer's, near Angelica. I saw his valuable mills, on which the orbs of heaven faintly shone, and the sable curtains of night had mantled the scenery in majestic grandeur. Now, I said, is the time for me to have vengeance on one of my greatest enemies on earth. I dismounted and surveyed the scene before me. Finding the door fast, I obtained an entrance by a small window which I could raise; I entered the dark cavity; all was solitary and silent, and every step resounded with midnight horror; the sweet stream uttered its innocent murmur below, and all nature seemed combined to reprove me of my sin."
Though hesitating for a moment, a brief meditation on the causes of offence induced him to turn the mills of his neighbor into a scene of flames, which, to use the language of the criminal, "shone upon the heavens with alarming lustre" to his "guilty conscience," before he arrived at home. With equal determination, on the night of the 29th of December, after returning from the village of Angelica, between 10 and 11 o'clock, at a season when the condition of the snow would not allow him to be tracked, did he proceed to execute the awful deed on which he had long meditated, the murder, in his own house, of Othello Church,[35] whom he called from his slumbers to receive the fatal shot. This murderer thought and reflected on his end and his means. Once before, he had waylaid the path of his victim, and watched at night, with rifle in hand, behind the great pine tree; "while I stood here," said Mr. H., "I had some solemn reflections. The sweet evening breeze gently pressed the lofty forest, and the tall pines could bend beneath the power of heaven; but my obdurate heart remained unmoved." Such was the character of the man whose depths of heart were moved by the influences of Mr. Badger. Though a murderer, he was far, very far, from total depravity, for he could sincerely mourn over his own guilt, and weep over his beautiful daughter with a father's love. He was tried for his offence at Angelica, before Judge Rochester; was, by the force of circumstantial evidence, declared guilty, and, on February 8th, was sentenced to be hung March 19th, 1824. By the request of Judge Griffin, who had consulted the prisoner, Mr. Badger was requested to attend on Mr. How, and to do what he could in preparing his mind for the awful crisis before him; and, as these duties are a part of his journal for this year, we will look a moment longer at its particulars.
March the 2d, Mr. Badger took rooms at Judge Dautremont's, in Angelica, (a place 65 miles from his residence,) that he might every day have familiar access to the mind of the prisoner. The day of his arrival he entered the gloomy apartment, at 2 o'clock, P. M. found Mr. How reading the Scriptures by candle light; soon the mind of the guilty stranger unfolded freely and without reserve, to him who now endeavored to render assistance in making his peace with the eternal powers. A chain-bound prisoner in darkness, seeking to know how he shall whiten his spirit from mortal crime! A herald of the cross genially making him feel his brotherhood with man, and bowing with him in prayer to the Infinite Pacifier! A scene like this in a world of sin is a gleam of light across the ocean of darkness, even though the inveterate past should refuse to be blotted out by prayers and penance.