The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1852-05-13
heiuous uad say that you are innocent of this


the vo,,nn "ueea Innocent, my dear uncle.n said
men, be wbae thu ban nor did know until this mo-
unt,meiy death am accused" ' = "hoSe
"Here he is, gentlemen; we've ro, IL;
ana sound. cried several voices. ana d.a. sa'o
wild and haggard-faced man. the Ssb..gg gging
officials OF justice approached the trio ,ah aha
stood by the Nut hole. NV VINO
"Ihe Lord be our guide!" exclaimed Al.
Comyn, "it is really David Balm! !" and as
the wretched sexton struggled to free himsele
from the arms that pinioned him, the minister,
prompted by sudden impulse, advancing to-
ward him, and looking steadily in his face,
said
david Balm, look not to deny your crime,
but confess it, and imPIore your Makers par
don, even at this the eleventh hour. In my
Bible, this morning, found paper written
by the spirit of him you murdered here last
night, and charging you with the commission
of the deed.''
AT these strange words, which in our mod
ern times might have produced mirth, the
guilty creature, losing all selfpossesson, ut
tered loud cry, and pointing to the bloody
cudgel which still lay at the magistrate's feet,
exclaimed
q! did it with that l did it with that !" and
fell back in fit.
1t would be easy to lengthen out our his.
torIette into one of circumstantial evidence
trial, condemnation, and ultimate discove.
ry; but we have preferred telling it as it re-
ally happened. On the person Of David Balm
were found a pocket-book end purse, recog-
nlzed as the property of the late MIR. Bruce,
and containing bank notes and bills to a con-
siderable amount; the sight of which, in the
possession of his lodger, had evoked the Gu
pldity OF the bell man. He made full con-
feSSiOn. n N dino siu,o h.
due to his offence. Meanwhile the minister,
in the thanktulness of his soul to find his ne
phew guiitess, embraced him tenderly, and
| ifeeiy permitted that courtship to proceed be-
tween his daughter aud him, which he had be-
| tore so strenuously opposed.
| One circumstance sill remained mystery.
| undeveloped TO all save Barbara's aunt, Per.
| clvai, and the worthy magistrate,-by whose
advice, indeed, 1t was concealed from the min
| istef; VINO, to his dying day, confidently be
| ileved that the paper be had found in his Bible
| had been placed there by supernatural inter.
position. But the hand of the dead had no.
| Thing to do with il, as we mean to explain,
On the evening of the murder, Barbara
Comyn sailed forth to meet her cousin, leay.
| ing MIR. Bruce and her father ;scussing punch
| aud polemics. She was later than usual, aud
| as she sped along, she became aware of the
| approach from Aberdeen of an individual,
| whom she could not avoid meeting if she pro.
ceeded direct TO the tryst. She therefore stole
| into different track, thinking to make circuit
which would occupy the time the stranger
| might take in passing the copse of hazels; but,
unfortunately Tor fortunately, was it y she met
poor woman, the wife Of a neighboring peas
ant, who was on her way to the manse to i'm
plOre some black currant Jelly for q child suf-
| fering from sore throat. The call of distress
| was never disregarded by Barbara, and she
| flew back TO the manse, procured the jelly, and
giving it to the woman, FASTENED adnidsi
| falling rain, to the trysting place. As she W,
| about to round the point which hid the Nut.
| hole from view, she heard the sounds of strug-
Cling feet and wrestling arms; and, regardless
Of danger to herself in her feurs for Percivel,
she forced her way through some bushes, and
beheld two men, in no friendly embrace stag.
| gering on the yeiy verge Of the pool. Before
she could look again the one had fallen on the
earth: and the other, with desperate blow of
his stick on the head of the PROSTATE man, ut.
tered an oath in a voice whose peculiar tones
were well-known to Barbara, and in the twink.
ling of an eye showed the wounded man over
the bank into the Nut-tree hole!
Her blood curdling with horror, Barbara
found no voice, no strength, to speak or stir;
butshe became, so to speak, all eye; and as the
murderer, swiftly cramming into his hat and
pockets something which she could not define,
rose up, and forgetful of the cudgel, which lay
blood-dabhled on the grass, rushed from the
place where he had taken the burden of a
deadly sin upon his soul, she saw his face, and
recognized her fathers sexton-David Balm.
In terror that found no tongue, she reached
her lover, and became insensible; nor was il
till her recovery, when she found herself alone
with her aunt, that she felt how important
to her future life might be the events OF that
night. She resolved, ere yet she spoke one
word in reply to the questions of her aunt, TO
| ascrlbe her swoon to anything but the real
cause; and was, perhaps, well she SO deter
mined, for she remembered that. in her fight
from the fatal spot where she had witnessed
the perpetration of so foul deed, she had
picked up letter, which she had hid in her
bosom, scarcely conscious of what she did,
yet, perhaps, ilnperceptibly aware-with the
foresight of inexplicable convctions-that it
might yet prove of essential service. When
she retired TO her chamber, and had got rid
of Aunt lienny, she took the paper from its
concea ament, and saw that it was the empty
cover of a letter addressed TO "Mr. Bruce, at
tn house of David Balm, Sexton;" and then
the ceranty struck her of the murdered man
being her affianced husband.
The character of David Balm was marked
by extreme avarce, and Barbara's conclusions
to the instigating cause OF the crime he
what means could she pursue in order TO con-
vict guilt, without at the same time rendering
her own appearance before public court OF
justice necessary? from which she shrank
nervOusly, since the cause Of her presence in
such spot, and at such an hour, must of
course be revealed. A sudden thought struck
her-and, wild as it was, she put 1t into in
stant execution. She knew her fathers belief
in supernatural agency, and trusted strongly
TO the effect such document as that which
she now prepared would have upon him.
She wrote the note which MIR. Comyn disco
vered in the Bible, initiating Mr. Bruce's
hand, which was peculiar, as closely as she
could; and then, when the minister left il there
IA circumstance which, though she did not
foresee rejoiced her--she subtracted it thence,
uninterrupted and unsuspected. But when
it pleased the Almighty TO make manifest the
murderer by the means thus strangely sug-
ges,ed to her. she confessed the whole to the
indulgent Hcnny and her lover, and by their
advice took the magistrate also into her conf