The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1861-07-02

how all this could he asccraiUed.
was performed in tic dark, and every on
Of the parties has a strong interest 10 kee
\ the secret. Mrs. Ms, who was trie
for the murder, would admi, nothing
But there were circumstances tha
spoke very plainly. The hammer la,
there, telling It's connection with the shat
tered skull. Why was M---s Their
at that hour in the dark? Then Their
were people, however confusedly the,
gave their evidence, who saw the woman
Nh escaping, and another figure
who could not be identified, following in
short time. Then the amour betweei
Ms and her was known even be
! fore The murder. II became a much more
nice point to ascertain the murderer
There was nothing to trace by no article
left as connected with any one. II /.
true, however, that about this spot, a hal
was found at daylight in the gutter. The
bat formed the foundation Of many iheo.
ries. No one but drunken person oi
one pursued by fear, ever leaves his hal
in a gutter Now this hat was never
claimed, and no drunken man lad been
seen in the neighborhood. Next il is Ia
be observed, that the spot where it is
icund, is not more than forty or fifty good
strides from the scene of the murder, and
the lane Is, of the FIVE thofonghfares lead
ing TO or past the smilhy, th3 only pas
sage whereby the murderer could expect
70 have any chance Of passing rapidly
without observation"
(" AT first sight" said ], there seems
to be very little to be made Of the hat,
but | confess when you look at it narrow
ly, il is calculated TO suggest some consid-
erations very serious. Might not drunk
en- man have consented 10 lose his hat
rather than be suspected Of being drunk p
" Then his shame Of being merely drunk.
would be held to overcome his interest in
the triumph of justice Z" replied he. 81
was at the beginning impressed with the
conviction that there was more meaning
in this waif hat, than is often found IN
hats. Yet it did not take the authorities
of the scent Of the bonnet Mrs. Ms
was ruthlessly laid hold Of, and in her
weeds lodged in iail--.the tears for her
husband running down over her cheeks
burning with public shame of being sus-
pected his murderer"
At the trial of tie smiths wife. soon
after, the evidence against her was strange
Even ], myself was staggered by it. 1t
was sworn TO that on that night she was
on the watch for detection that she logged
Ms. She knew the mode Of open
ing the smiths door, and where the ham
ners lay, so as TO put her hand on one IN
the dark. She was even seen retreatinc
like criminal from the smithy, after the
deed was done. Then where was she
when her husband was discovered. man
gled, brainless, bloody, and with disorlered
clothes? ? Was she thus to be the first 10
lind her husband, to weep and tear her
hair in the ordinary fashion? No; she
was not there. She was at home, calm
md undisturbed, after all that watching
md dogging her husband and the stage
lancer
That woman will be hanged said
o a person sitting next me in court, "if
he jury are in the humor."
fear il, said he, shaking his head
and yet think her innocent"
But where was she of the Dutch gold
md the spanglesf" Z" inquired | "you
ave said nothing of her"
:" oh she could not be found; and the
'bsence Of that woman is another strange
eaturc in the prosecution. The case be- /
loved, in her absence--thc only person
Sho could speak to the actas tucidcrdi-
o be thrown back upon circumstances
liable in all cases, and particularly in one
where the darkness Of the night interfercd I
Sith perception, TO mystery and exagger-
tion. But, still stranger, in case where
here was so much Of the marvellous, il
tas the very absence of this woman,
'hieh, taken III one view, there is, in the
lew that she could have spoken to the
ammers blow without being able TO as
ertain the hand whereby the instrument
'as used, saved Mrs. Ms from tie
allows. After the witnesses were exam
ned, deep impression prevailed that the
udge would charge against her, and so he
ID, 10 the effect, at least, that no other
ian the prisoner could have done the
eed but then, as 10 mortal there could
III how, or for what reason the blow was
Iyen, he was entitled 10 hold by tile pos
biiity-enough in the circumstances
lat she might have inflicted il in self-de-
nee. Yes; 1t was upon this burnt
read by which the fate of Mrs. Ms
as hung, and the strength Of which saved
II from that thicker hempen one which, ,
the wishes of the prosecutor, was TO
ing her. The jury thus cautioned, ac- !
lifted her. What them The same ye- {
Gle that conveyed her to her family.
'nveyed the reporters for the press, and !
r character was committed 10 the edito-
al pen, the scissors, and the pasie-pot.
be ought TO have been hanged, only for ]
c suggestion Of the Judge that il was +
,ac III. I'll. L Il. IL