Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1865-05-18


! The soil was very light, and he soon sue
ceeded in opening the hole to at least four
| feet. He then threw down his spade and
entered the house again, | expected every
moment to hear them ascending the stairs
and made up my mind to sell my life as
dear as possible, when purring sound at
tracted my attention.
| now perceived for the first time that
the light from the room below penetrated
| thro' several chinks of the floor. [ Law
down on the ground, and looking through
one of the cracks, found that | could per-
! ceiye everything in the apartment One of
the men was sharpening large knife on
grindstone, and it was this that made the
purring sound that [ heard. He felt the
edge, and finding it sharp enough, discon-
tinued his employment. They then began
to converse. | could hear every word thew
said.
care you certain, Charles, that this is
| the detective 2" said the uncle.
"Perfectly certain p returned the clerk;
Il know Brampton as well as do you."
''It is certain he must die then. [ sup
pose he has plenty of money besides his
gold watch"
"Yes, he must be well provided with
| funds, and his business here is evidently to
arrest me-"
Come, then, let us finish the business
at once" said the uncle.
'Do you think he is asleep YETI return
| ed the clerk.
"No matter ifhe is not, he'll sleep well
enough afterwards anyhow"
The clerk laughed hideously, thought.
"Will you do it, Or shall 2" said the
nephew.
80, you may go, but be sure you make
no mistake Bill, you know, lies next to
the wall; he has a nightcap ON the detec-
tive has none. Leave the light outside the
door, for fear Of waking Brampton and
above all, be quick about it,"
In moment my plan was formed. Bill
was fast asleep. gently turned him ever
to the outside Of the bed, and pulling off
his nightcap, put it on my own head !
accomplished this without waking Bill. I
then cautiously laid myself in his place
near the wall. The agony Of the next few
minutes was intense-my heart seemed
ready to cease beating. | heard q step on
| the stairs; it advanced, the door opened
! softly, the floor creaked with the weight of
| a heavy tread. The murderer approached
the bed. | could feel his breath on my
cheek. ! had presence Of mind enough to
| initiate snore. / felt his hand passing
over my head-it rested on my shoulder.
o, agony of agones he had found out nv
ruse, and was about to kill me NY whole
body was bathed In cold perspiration.
Suddenly heard a heavy thud on the
bed which was followed by a groan and
| thor, ,o11 "a; I,o 10
and [ was not the victim. A pause Of
some moments ensued, and then / heard
the uncle ascending the stairs. They
wrapped the body Of the unfortunate Bill in
a sheet, and conveyed it at once into the
garden. They had no sooner left the house
than leaped out Of bed and ran to he win
dow. They had evidently not discovered
their mistake, for the body was already in
the grave prepared for me, and they were
| filling it in.
| lost not a moment to put on the rest of
my clothes, and creeping quietly down stairs,
escaped through the front door. [ ran as
fast as possibly could, and by chance the
right road. In less than an hour was at
Parkeville. | reused the whole village and
in few hurried words told my story. A
large body of men set off for the scene of
the tragedy accompanied by myself
When we entered the house we found
the front room still occupied by the uncle
and nephew. When they saw me they
turned deadly pale, and I really believe
they thought | had risen from the grave,
for they had not yet discovered that they
had sacrificed Theodore MunsePs son.
When they saw that was alive, they as
sumed an air Of bravado, supposing that I
had only come to arrest the clerk for bank
robbery. Their dream, however was soon
dissapated, for IN few moments the body
of the murdered man was exhumed and
they were confronted with their bloody
work.
twas shocking to see the uncle's agony
when he discovered that his son had been
murdered. Neither of the criminals at
tempted any defence Three months after
wards they were tried, convicted and exc
cuted.