Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1865-04-07
IRASBURGH, VERMONT, FRIDAY.


and alarm, said there was the body Of
murdered man lying by the roadside
and also stated what he had heard dur
ing the night.
All hurried to the scene Of the tragedy
and there beheId the body of a coarse
featured man Of forty, which the officers
believed, from its general appearance, to
be that of the villain they were seeking
but whether that Of the stranger, who
had lodged at the tavern, no one could
tell. The body was covered with blood
and the man had evidently died from
knife wounds in the breast
Throughout that thinly,peopled section
the news spread rapidly, and before night
a large number of excited spectators, in
cluding the sheriff, coroner, and two mag
istlates, had collected at the inn. An
inquest was beld, and virdict rendered
in accordance with the facts; and though
there was no direct evidence against the
landlord, yet suspicion SO strangely points
ed to him as the murderer, that he was
taken into custody and committed for
trial.
In due time the trial came on; but
the jury could not agree, and finally dis
charged. A second trial resulted like
the first and the ;nnSkeeper, whose
name was Williams, was kept in prison
over year.
How the affair would haYe eventually
terminated, had the mystery not been
cleared up in an unexpected manner, it
is impossible TO say; but ere the time
fixed forthe third trial arrived, a strang-
er appeared before magistrate of the
county, and deposed that he himself was
the individual who had lodged at the inn
on the night Of murder, and for taking
whose life The landlord was still in prison.
In the course Of lis evidence, he stat
ed that lie had been a merchant in Phil
adelphia, who, finding himself on the eve
Of failure, had collected a large amount
Of money and run away; and that all
trace of himself might be lost, and his
death expected, and be adopted the plan
Of putting a small part of his money in
the hands Of The iun-keeper, ostensibly
for safe-keepiug, aud secretly departing
in the night on foot, not supposing any,
thing very serious would result to the
landlord from this course of action
On getting up somewhere about mid
night, his nose had set to bleeding, which
would explain the traces of blood he
had left behind him. He had made i,
way to Baltimore, and thence sailed to
Havana, where he had been so fortunate
in his speculalions as to find himself in a
condition to return and settle h0Dorably
with all his creditors. On coming home
and giving an account of his adventures
to a friend, he had for the first time
learned with horror of the almost fatal
consequences to the inn-aeeper Of his
unjustifable disappearance, and had has
tened to make what reparaton lay in
his power. His testimony was subse-
Quently corroborated on all important
points, and the inn-keeper was honorably
discharged, to the great relief and joy
of his sympathizing friends. As a par
tial reeompense for what he had suffered
on his account, the merchant made him
a present of the horse and money he had
left with him, and two thousand dollars
besides.
But the clearing up of one part Of this
strange affair only seemed to involve the
other in still deeper mystery. A murder
had surely been committed; but by
whom ? and who was the unfortunate
victim?
Even this, in course of time, was also
made manifest. Some years after viii
lain, under sentence of death, confessed
that he was a partner of the bank-rob-
ber; and that, having made an equal
division OF the spoil, they had agreed to
leave the city by different routes, and
meet at an appointed place that, eager
to secure the whole of the booty, be had
secretly taken his partners road instead
of the one agreed upon, and had way
laid and murdered him within few rods
of the tavern kept by Williams, who, by
being arrested for the crime, had drawn
off all suspicion from himself.
Thus were these recorded deeds of
that tempestuous G ht eventually |
brought to light, and the innocent cleared |
and rewarded, and the guilty detected
aud punished.
The prospects for wheat out west are
very fine. The fields in Ohio are cover
ed with the young wheat, scarcely any