Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1859-03-30

~ set out lOf the spot where | G had bcen
kli'ed' They found the body in the same
place and nearly in the same lposition, in
winch 1t had fallen. The pockets had
oeen rtled of the money-a small sum
reserved to defray the expenses of the
Journey; the pistols, set of silver sleeve
buttons, and some small articles worn
ABOUT tie person or carried in the pock-
cts, were also missing. But the belt, cons
: tanning a large amout of money, was un-
touched, the robbers having failed to dis
cover It,
A rude grave was dug, and the body,
sun warm but entirely lifeless, was placed
IN 1t, and covered over with turf The
spot was marked, for future recognition,
ny deep cuts upon the nearest trees, and
Is indicated, at this day, by handsome
monument, reared, in after years, by the
tiIial piety Of the son.
After the burial, seach was made for
traces Of the robbers. Except in the inn
mediate neighborhood of the spot where
the killing occurred, no signs of their
presence-not even of the way by which
they had come and departed-could be
discovered. Upon the left breast oc the
white vest worn by M, the full impres.
SION, IN blood. on the left hand, with the
ring finger shortened to the first Joint.
was distinctly visible and carefully no
ted by all present. No other mark or
impression could be seen upon the clothes
or traced upon the ground, beyond mar
row circle Immediately around the spot
where the body lay. Pursuit being thus
mpractcable all idea of it was abandon
ed. The company returned to the settle,
ment, and \. NJ, having sold his
fathers horse and equipments for fair
I price to one Of the settlers, went 10 Geor-
! ga.
The events just described, made, Of
course, vivid and lasting impression up
, on the mind of A. Al. The sudden
I ness and bloody issue of the assault-the
assassin untalrnoss of the attack, which
| lett his father no chance for defence, and
himself no opportunity for assstance-a
suspicion that the perpetrators of the
murder were from the same section ofI
Georgia as his father, where, perhars.
they had learned the facts which fred
their avarice and inspired the diabolical
plan for gratifying it-above all, the un>
timely loss OF a parent whom he greatly
venerated and ardently loyed-all these
circumstances aggra ated the crime of the
murder in his eyes and implanted deep
seated, ineradicable purpose to avenge it.
Though young, he possessed the vigor of
will and bravery Of heart to form and to
execute the most daring plan for the de-
lection and punishment Of the assassin
slayers of his father. lie felt, indeed. that
the case called for the infction of the ret
ributiye blow by his own hand, the guilty
should, if ever be punished Thus the |
spirit and the purpose of the AvENGER en- |
tered into his soul. With what vigor |
they impelled, and to what issued they
conducted, the progress of the narrative |
will disclose.
Having attained his majority, A. NJ
removed from Georgia to Alabama: mar
ried, settled upon a plantation Of his own,
and become an assiduous and prosperous |
planter. But these changes in his outward |
condition wrought no change in his inward
resolution. In strong and inheXible ma
lures, and such was his, fixed purpose.
OF any Sort loses none of its yigor with /
the lapse Of time. The desire to avenge
his fathers death rather strengthened as |
he grew older. and lost none Of its lnten.
sity by his greater, geographical propin-
quty to the scene of the murder which |
his removal from Georgia to one of the .
western counties of Alabama had pIodu-
ced. Amid all the incessant activities of .
his planter life, the memory of that ror-
rid scene of assassination in the wilder> |
ness still survived, undimmed in freshness |
and inefiaceable as the lineaments Of the .
soul upon which it was impressed. The .
unavenged blood of his father seemed to .
be evermore crying from the ground and .
demanding expiation for the treachery and .
murder by which it had been split. To
avenge it remained still the cherished
purpose of his life, made holy to his heart
by filial reverence, and approved to his in
tellect by the precepts OF that unwritten,
perhaps erring, code Of ethics which teach.
es that the child is the natural ayenger of
the blood OF the parent.
But at what point to begin his detective
inquiries, and by what means TO prosecute
them, remained still, as it had been from
the first, an apparently insurmountable
difficulty in the case. For all the ordina-
ny methods usually employed for the de-
lection of criminals had been already
tried. Rewards, official and priv ,te, lib
eral in amount, and accompanied with the
best description that could be given of
the murderers, had been offered for their
Personal search had been
made by himself and Others throughout
all the inhabited sections Of country con-
tiguous to the place of assassination. In
quiry had been pushed, by means Of let-
tiers and handbills, into every more distant
locality likely TO be tho resort of the
criminals. But no tidings Of them had
been received Year after year passed {
by; the baffled inquiry still went on, and {
all but one had forgotten, or ceased to feel .
any interest in the affair.
After such repeated and prolonged
failure in the use Of every available means {
of detection, the best, in fact all, that A. |
o.,1I Il. r,s ,,aItc,,tI, A., atpait | l