Butte record. (Bidwell, Butte County, Cal.) 1853-1858, 1855-05-12

| III 'ho htSe pioSC " S'i ming hi'' oo 'iie
head with some heavy, blunt weapon
and in the second place by stabbing him
in the b east, etc To all this the prisoner
plead g not guilty. From the first
testimony called up, | learned the fol
lowing facts:
| Near sundown, one afternoon, about
a week previous. Matthew Hampton stop
| ped at t. e shop of the prisoner, to. get
his horse shod This Hampton was a
wealthy fnrmer, and his estate lay to
the southwark, near the Tennessee line,
and only about fifteen miles distant from
NJ -. He was known to have had some
two thousand dollars with him at the
time, money which he had received at
Columbia for corn. 1t was nearly dusk
when he started from the prisoners
shop. He took out his pocket-book to
pay for the job of shoeing his horse
This he did within the shop, and two
persons we're present who testified to
the fact, and also " hen the pocket book
was opened, a large bunch of bank notes
wasexposed About an hour after Hamp-
ton left, the prisoner came out of his
shop and vent to his stabl and having
saddled his feetest horse, he mounted
and started off in full gallop in the d.
rection Hampton had taken.
Next came two witnesses, M. Simple
and Mr.. Jordan,o both OF them resp CT
able citizens of NJ -. who testified rs
follows: They had been in Tennessee
on BUSINESS, and were returning home.
At about 8 o'clock, on the evening in
question, they came to q point in the
road where a high bluff overlooked the
way, and while passing this they were
startled by seeing something in the
moonlight which looked like a man.
They at once dismounted, and found that
what they had seen was the body of
Matthew Hampton, all gore, covered
and bleeding They had not been there
more than a minute, when they were
JOINED by third man, who said that he
saw the murder committed, and that the
murderer fed towards NJ -. Simple
and Jordan both recognized this new
conner as one Henry Bilger, and though
his character was by no means of the
most exemplary kind, yet there was no
time for discussion. The body of Hamp
ton was still warm, so that the murderer
could not have been gone long. Bilger
had no horse, so Mr.. Simple agreed to
remain by the body while Jordan and
Bilger went in pursuit of the murderer.
They put their horses to the top of their
speed, and in half an hour overlook the
prisoner, whom Bilger pointed out as the
man. Jordan hailed the young black
smith, and found hin. nervous and excl
ted. He then asked if he had seen Mat
thew Hampton, and Adams replied in
the affirmative, but be spoke in very
strange manner After some expostula-
ton, the prisoner accompanied Jordan TO
NJ 4 j
placed in the hands of the Sheriff, and
upon examining his person, Mr.. Hamp-
tons pocket>book, containing two thou
sand dollars, was found upon him, and
his hands were also covered with blood.
At this junciure the excitem n, in the
little courtroom was intense. The crowd
ed mass swayed to and fro like wind
swept grain, murmurs broke the sanctity
of the place murmurs loud and deep
and it was few minutes before any thing
like order was restored At length Hem
ry Bilger VS. called upon the stand He
was known by most of the people of
NJ -, anu though nothing positive was
known against him of 8 criminal nature,
yet he was known to be reckless, wan
dering fellow, sometimes dealing in hor-
ses, and sometimes trading in slaves and
driving a fat boat down the
Mississippi He stepped upon the wit>
ness block with complacent bw, and
he gave IN his testimony clearly and dis,
tinctly
He said he was coming down the road
towards NJ -, on foot, and W N near
the bluff he heard the sound Of a s,rug-
gle, accompanied by loud groans aud en-
treaties He sprang forward, and ar
rived in time to see the prisoner leap in
to his saddle and ride off The moon
was shining at the time so ne could not
have been mistaken. As soon as he
found Mr.. Hampton was. as he supposed,
dead, he started to go after help. The
murdered mans horse fed towards