Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1830-1846, 1833-02-14

/ Town IN q COfIlfnOtlOH-tHc uIIlNul VI
stranger who took up his abode at the
White Heart; not that there was any
thing remarkable about the stranger; he
was a plain, middle aged, respectable
looking man, and the incest scrutiny
Il (and heaven knows how narrowly he was
watched failed to discover any thing
odd about him. 1t was asceltained that
he rose at eight, breaklasted at nine, ate
two eggs and piece Of bacon, sat in his
room at the window, wrote a little, and
looked out upon the road good deal -
he then strolled out, returned home, din
ed at five, smoked two cigars, read the
.Morniag Herald, (ior the post came in
Of AN evening" and went to bed at ten.
Nothing could be more regular or unex-
ceptionable than lis habits, still it was
most extraordinary what could have
brought him to Dalton. There was no
| chaly spring, warranted to cure ev-
cry disease under the sun; no ruins in
the neighborhood left expressly for anti
quarians and picnic parties /; no fine
prospects, which like music, people make
| it matter Of conscience to admit; no Gel
ebrated person had ever been born or
| buried in its envrons; there were no ra-
COS, no ascizes-in short there was ono
nothing" 1t was not even summer so
country air and fine weather were not
the inducement. The strangers name
was Mr. Williams, but that was the ex-
tent Of their knowledge and shy and 81
lent, there seemed no probability of learn
ing any thing more from himself. Con
lecture, like Shakespeare, "exhausted
words, and then imagined new" Some
supposed he was hiding from his credi-
gerry; one suggested that he had escaped
! from mad house, second that he had
/ killed some one in duel; but all agreed
{ that he came there for no good.
/ 1t was the twenty third of March,
when triad of gossips were assembled
at their temple, the post office. The at-
/ fairs Of Dalton and the nation were set
tied together ; newspapers were slipped
/ from their covers, and not an epIstle but
/ yielded a portion of its contents. But
on this night all attention was concentra-
ted upon one, directed to John Williams,
Esq at the White Heart, Dalton Ea-
/ gerly it was compressed in the long fin
/ gers of Mrs. Mary Smith, of dlnnerless
memory; the fat landlady of the White
Heart was on the tiptoe to peep, while
( the post mistress whose curiosity took a
semblance of official dignity, raised a
warning hand against any overt act of
violence. The paper was closely folded,
and closely written in cramp and Illeg-
ible hand, suddenly, Mrs. Mary Smiths
look grew more intent-she succeeded
in deciphering sentence /; letter drop
/ ped from her hand. "Oh, monstorW-I
shrieked the Mortified pecper. Landla-
! dy and post-mstress both snatched at the
terrible scroll, and they equally succeed
ed IN reading the following words--'We
will settle the matter Tomorrow at din
ner, but am sorry you persist in poison
ing your wife, the horror is too great. >
Not Il syllable more could they make
out; but what they had read was enough.
"He told me-" gasped the landlady,
"that he expected IA lady and gentleman
to dinner-oh the villain! to think of poi
soning any lady at the White Heart;
and his wife, tool should like to see
my husband poisoning me!' Our host
ess became quite personal in her indig-
nation.
\ 81 always thought there was some
thing suspicious about him; people don't
! come and live where nobody knows
them, for nothing" observed Mrs. Mary
Smith.
4 81 dare say" returned the post-mis-
tress, civilians is not his real name"
4 81 don't know that" interrupted the
landlady; civilians is e good hanging
| name; there was Williams who murder
ed the Mars family, and Williams who
/ burked all those poor dear children;
dare say he is some relation Of theirs );
but to think of his coming to the White
Hepr-it's no place for his doings,
I can tell him; he shant poison his wife in
my house; out he goes this very night
Ill taks the letter to him myself"
! "Deai dear! | shall be ruined, if it
! comes to be known that we took look
into the letter and the post-mistress
thought in her heart that she had better
/ let Mr. Williams poison his wife at his
leisure. Mrs. Mary Smith, too, repro
bated any violent measures; the truth is,
, she did not wish to be mixed up in the
matter; gentlewoman with annuity and
front and back parlor, was rather a
shamed of being detected in such close
intimacy with the post-mlstress and the
landlady. 1t seemed likely that poor
Mrs. Williams would be left to her mis-
cradle fate.