From this period my recollections are vague and indistinct. I remember
strongly remonstrating with the poor creature, and being pushed away by
hands which were now bleeding profusely with the intense efforts of his
awful delirium. I remember attempting to stop him, and hanging upon him,
until the insane wretch clutched me by the throat, and a struggle ensued,
during which I suppose I must at length have fainted or become insensible;
for the contest was long, and while consciousness remained, terrible and
appalling. My fainting, I presume, saved my life, for the felon was in
that state of maniacal desperation which nothing but a perfect
unresistingness could have evaded.
After this, the first sensation I can recall is that of awakening out of
that state of stupor into which exhaustion and agitation had thrown me.
Shall I ever forget it? The anxiety of some of my friends had brought them
early to the gaol; and the unusual noises which had been heard by some of
its miserable inmates occasioned, I believe, the door of the cell in which
we were, to be unlocked before the intended hour. Keenly do I recollect
the struggling again into painful consciousness, the sudden sense of
cheering daylight, the sound of friendly voices, the changed room, and the
strange looks of all around me.
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