Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1857-07-02
0URNAE AND BUSINESS DIREcTORYS AIM TO AMsF TO NSTR
FREEHoLD, n j. THURSDAY MORNING. July 81 1857

which led to The iron grating that formed
the door Of his cell. 1t was thrown open
"a voice exclaimed, :" You are free!"-
and the cell was Immediately filled with
his neighbors, their familiar faces wearing
a smile Of JOY.
He heard them not-saw them not
his upifted eye had lit upon a female
form-he knew it well. He sprang to
his feet, gazed for moment with an in
tensity that seemed to start the very eve
balls from their sockets, and the next mo
ment husband and aoifs were clasped in
each others arms.
That was an affecting moment; one
that rivalled in power the most moving
scenes of the drama. Not face that be
held that meeting but was suffused with
tears. lie asked no questions drew
his embrace still closer, az though he
doubted his own senses fearful lest all
he felt, was but dream.
Their friends silently withdrew and
left the reunited pair alone for an hour.
She told him how sire left on a visit to
her relatives in Maine. Immediately after
his departure for the South-how she had
not mentioned it to him, owing to the
angry feelings and foolish chickering's in
which both had allowed themselves to
participate on that day-that her resolu,
ton to leave home was in fact taken sud
denly, and without word to any of her
neighbors; she heard of his arrest and
her supposed death, through newspaper
several weeks Old which she seen by
accident, and with the utmost possible
haste, she accompanied by one of her
brothers, had travelled night and day
without moments respite.
We will not pry into the mutual cou-
fessions of that hour-but they left the
dark walls Of the prison, .entwined in each
others arms, an! with the deepest alfec-
ton beaming from ihairAeyes. He aban,
Sloned tie sea, 'betooK E.0nSelf to agricul-
tural pursuits, and froa4ssbat date more
loving and devoted couple could not be
found.
But asks the reader, who was the MUIR
dered woman that was found in the wood?
That mystery was not solved for years.
1t was at last discovered. through the
confession Of a thief and murderer, who
was hung in a distant city at no very dis
tant date.
He stated that at the time of the mnr,
der, he had been stopping in the nei4 b
horhood, committing burglaries, thefts,
&c, as opportunity permitted; that he
had formed a Haison with a woman who
temporarily boarded at the place; that
the latter, two or three days before the
children's excursion in the WOOD, had
left in light wagon. accompanied by
him. for Providence-while driving
through the wood he, in a fit of jealously
struck her senseless from the vehicle, and
then took her life. Alarmed lest he should
be discovered, he hastily hid her in the
thick brush, but returned to the spot at
midnight, when he buried her near an
unfrequented thicket, and then fed from
the scene of his crime. The resemblance
between this woman and the captain s
wife surprising strange; but if the feat
ures had been perfect, the difference in
the person would have been at one appa-
rent. Thus was solved the mystery at
t ndng one Of the most remarkable cases
of circumstantial evidence that ever trans
spircd.