Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1857-09-03
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1867.

this, L even wrote to H. B. Ashmead for
the estimated cost Of 10000 pamphlets.
Two weeks later Mcclure could get no sat
lsfactlon out of him. He declared his in
! nocence Of the crime most vehemently to
the very man whom he promised confes-
sion
1t will thus be seen that he had o con-
fesston to MAKE. The reason why he did
not make it is evident. Subsequent events
prove that he had made up his mind to
cheat the gallows by either escaping from
prison or committing suicide, and under
this hallucination he labored up to the day
on which he was executed.
But if there is any other evidence want
ING not elected at the trial, look at his incon-
gruous statements. TO his counsel he sta
ted, that on the morning Norcross was mur-
dered, he got off the cars about fifteen
miles west of Altoona, in order to meet a
friend, leaving Norcross in charge of a man
named Robinson. To his spiritual advisers
he sald, that he got off at the first station
west OF Altoona, thinking it was Altoona,
and expecting Norcross to follow. When
the discrepancy Of these statements was
pointed out to him he had nothing to say.
4 visitor asked him whether, when he
left Gallitzin for Altoona, he took the rail
road or the country road. He Immediately
answered "the country road" Now the
fact is that no road leads to Altoona but the
railroad. He might have reached Altoona
by going down Sugar Run to Allegheny
Furnace, but that is road no stranger
could find in daylight, much less at two or
three o'clock in the morning. No man
would venture through the tunnel at night,
and 1T would keep stranger busy to find
his way over tunnel hill Once on the
other side, no person but one exceedingly
well acquainted with the country could find
the Remington road and even if found,
one who did not know the path and foot
logs, would soon lose it, for at places the
wagon track is directly in the bed of the
rivulet.
During the trial, McKim told one of the
Illinois witnesses that the first time he saw
Attix in Dubuque, he looked upon him as
man who would swear another's life away,
and yet ON the gallows he declared most
emphatically that he never saw Attix until
he saw him in the Court House of Blair
county.
Another case in point, aud | am done
HIS blttcrest invectives were against Mr..
Fleck, who testified to McKim's taking
breakfast at his house on the morning Of
the murder This Mckim denied. and
gave an accurate description of Kearney's
house, as the place where he breakfasted.
1t may be that Fleck was mistaken, and yet
it is not at all unlikely that he was at both
places. The evidence only went to estab-
lish the murderer's presence in Altoona,
and yet in almost the same breath with
which he denounced Fleck, he tpice &c
h"otcledged being IN Altooaa on NE morn
ing of de tragedy!
But, it is useless to pursue this subject
further His career in Reading, Pottsville
and Long Pond, proves that he was an un-
mitigated liar, and there was not single
person who listened to his long and loud
protestations Of innocence, but what knew
that all the statements he made were lies,
malignant and black as hell itself.
Ii those who have read the speech,
could have listened to the tone and energy
in which it was delivered and then con-
trasted the whole with the evidence given
on the trial and what have above written,
the conclusion must have forced itself upon
their minds that no such an extraordinary
criminal ever expiated crime upon the gal
lows in this or any other country.
| consulted Mr. Mcclure in regard to
this statement, and he is willing to certify
to the entire truth OF what have stated,
If necessary. [. j. JONES.
LoiliRnnsLRLu. 1mnna 2a. 1871.