Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1854-08-22

LewiSburg, lives a man named joseph
Graham. he has three or four grown-ur
sons living beneath his roof, and (untiI
the 2lth ult.) one unmarried daughter
Miss Jane eGraham-aged about fortv-fiv
This daughter had an illegitimate daugh
ter by a man who recently died in Mis-
souri,, leaving the sum of $4,000 to this
child, who is nuw married to Mr.. Mil
Ter, of Nicholas county. Quarrels of the
most violent character are represented to
have been common in this family. 4 re.
cent quarrel had taken place, and one Of
the brothers sought to injure the charac-
ter of his sister by leaving anonymous
and defamatory letters upon the highway,
and also by writing to Mr. Miller, of Mich.
olas, giving the mother of his wife char.
acter as +" black as hell, and rotten as car.
ron. and asserting that. her daughter
(Mlller's Wife was no better. 80
Without any knowledge of this, Miss
Jane Graham, a few weeks ago, went to
Nicholas county to visit her daughter
found that she and her husband had sep
arated, were living apa t, and learned
that the cause was the anonymous letter
which Miller had received. Miss Gra-
ham, full Of the violence and determine
ton which characterized her, immediate
ly returned home. A violent quarrel en-
sued between her and the brother who
wrote the letter, into which the old man
and woman were drawn-tthey siding
with the son)-the upshot of which was
the forcible ejectment of Miss Graham
from the house. She went then to the
house of brother-in-law, one Mr.. Nolan,
who lives hard by, who gave her shelter
and protection. On the night of the 9th
of July, Nolan and wife went. to visit a
neighbor, leaving Miss Graham to take
care Of the children. After they were
gone, (about nine. o clock, as the children
of Nolan say, one or two of whom are
competent Witnesses Miss Graham
dressed herself and went out. She took
bonnet belonging to her niece, and
pair of stockings belonging either to her
niece or her sister. Remember this. J
Nolan and wife soon returned, and were
surprised tc find Miss Graham gone. At
a little pest ten o'clock they were aroused
by the cry of fire, cause by the burning
of the barn of MIR. Joseph Graham. From
her well-known vindictive temper it was
at once suspected that she burned the
barn, and hence her absence was not
noted as anything remarkable after such
an act.
The Grahams made no effort to learn
anything of the absent member of their
famiiy-never even suggested pursuit or
revenge for the injury done them.
. Their conduct in this respect added
strength to the rumor that was beginning
to find tongues-a rumor charging the
family with putting Miss Graham g out
of the way" This rumor grew so strong
that ON Friday last, 4th instant, partv
of neighbors gathered together for the
purpose Of searching for the body of the
absent woman. They went to the house
of Graham to ask bis permission to search
for the body on the premises his answer
was: "Go look in the ashes of the barn
1T her bones amt there, they are in
hell - The party went forward on their
search. A few rods below the ruins Of
the barn they found Indications of a
scuttte-then of running fight then,
again, Of more severe scuff1e, in which
a person appeared to have been thrown
down. The ground was imprinted thickiy
with footmarks of human beings and of
. dog. From this place they detected
such signs as indicated the drawing q a
human body along the ground towards
creek. This trai. they followed to the
creek, where it was lost but on the other
side they re-diScovcred it. Here dark
stains. which appeared to be of blood,
covered over with fresh ashes, were occa-
sionally detected. This train was followed
with tolerabie ease until they reached
the bank of another creek or brooklet
beyond,
Here there were such appearances as
induced the searching party think the
body, before dragged, had been rested
and then shouldered. The print
of a persons knees and the toes Of two
booted feet were seen plainly imprinted
in the soft earth, exactly as they would
have been had a person got down upon
his knees. From this point blood was
occasionally detected on the leaves two
or three feet from the adding
fresh conviction to the suspicious Of the
party that the body had been should .red.
Ashes were still occasionally seen to be
scattered along the path. But about half
dozen rods from the place where the body
was supposed to have been shoullered,
all traces Of the trail were lost. One of
the party looking in the direction of the
sun, saw an unusual number of blue or
carron flies flying about. He took it as
an indication, and by using switch sue
ceeded in establishing line of buzziug
flies toward q hlown-down tree below on
the bank Of the creek. The instinct of
the flies was superior to that of man, and
enabled them odetect signs that might
have otherwise escaped trem Coming
to the tree they found foot steps leading4
into the water, ana by going into the wa.
ter and following down so as to getra
view into the thick top of the tree and
surrounding hedge, they discovered the
dead body of Miss Jane Graham!
The body was extricated, from the
bushes after much difficulty. 1t was con-
siderably. putrescent. The dress she
wore had been taken off and lay beside
her havinp the snnearance of hayino