The Iowa transcript. (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1858-1866, 1866-03-21

Inoso WIN Tehu the StuSuIur adventures 70
be shortly recorded, it may be needful to
recall the events which had given Garrow
its dark and fearful celebrity.
Some three or four years before Mr.. Lang
worth's accession TO fortune, Garrow Hall
had been tenanted, as well as owned, by q
Mr.. Nicholas Durham, brother Of the lady
mentioned above. Attached to the house
was an estate, yielding some sixteen or
eighteen hundred year, which came to
Mr.. Durham through his mother, the heiress
of the Garrow family, family Of great anti
guilty, but now no longer SO wealthy or SO
important as they had once been. Nicholas
and his sister had been born in India in
which country their mother had also died.
Nicholas had married well. Fortunately. US
was then thought, he possessed ar estate
independently Of his father, who was gen
orally believed to be partly, il not wholly,
dependent on him for maintenance.
At the date OF his marriage he was Just
ine-and-twenty years Of age. His maternal
grandfather, WHO had in great measure
brought him up, and from whom he inhcr-
tied Garrow, had died only year or two
before. His sister Emily, left with small
annuity, lived mostly with her father on the
Continent.
Nicholas and his wife had been united
some six or seven months, and as far as was
afterwards ascertained by strictest inquiry,
had lived on most affectionate terms. 1t
wanted week to Christmas day. party
Of friends were to keep Christmas at Gar
row, but rs yet the husband and wife were
entirely alone. On the fatal day, the 18th
of December, Mr.. Durham dined with his
wife at six o'clock, their ordinary hour, and
behaved as usual Mt dinner
When without company, it was their habit
to occupy the dining-room for tho whole
evening; and they did so on this occasion.
These, and other particulars, to which
the coming event impaired fearful inter-
est, were all given in evidence by the serv-
ant who waited on them ut table.
The same servant deposed, that by his
nearest guess, the hour was half past seven
when a ring summoned him to the front
door.
lie opened it to admit tall gentleman,
with black whiskers and moustachcs, and
whose age, to all appearance, was between
forty and fifty. The gentleman asked to see
Mr.. Durham, and was about to put card
into his hand ESQ he thought), when his
master came out from the dining-room in
person. The man thought Mr.. Durham's
face expressed some annoyance at the visit;
he, however, invited the stranger to enter
the library, which they did both together.
About ten minutes later-(lhe pantry in
which he was at work was close to the hall)
he heard his master cross back from the
library to the dining room, and return, ac-
compan:cd by his wife, to the former apart
ment.
lie thought it could not be more than five
minutes after that ere the bell summoned
him into the library. lie answered it at
once, but found his master and mistress,
with the stranger, already in the hall.
That there was some dispute going on be-
tween Mr.. Durham and his wife glance
made clear to him. TO all appearance, her
husband was trying to persuade Mr.. Dur
ham to something which she firmly, almost
angrily. refused. As the witness entered
the hall he heard her say, .'I owe the duty
TO another, and will not consent 10 it, or
words to that effect. Then she took a candle
from the hall table, lighted it, and went up
stairs. MIR. Durham turned to his servant,
and said, s. rang for you to show this gen
tlcman out I; but I'll see him out myself; you
can CO.
Witness went hack to his pantry, while
his master and the stranger, convcrsing in
whispers, moved towards the hall door.
Witness also tnncicd he caught the words
uttered by the stranger, in what seemed a
taunting tone, Your wife stands in the
way !" and then Mr.. Durham said, " Hush !!
go away now, and we will make il right
YETI Witness then heard the front door
close, not more than minute later, heard
his master push open the swinging baize
door that separated the hall from the vcsti-
bule, and rapidly ascend the stairs just as
the bell rang for the servants supper.
Witness heard his mistress address her
husband on the landing above. She asked,
lis he gomez Mr.. Durham answered,
:. Yes but want to speak to you" Wit
ness did not remain to listen, but went at
once to supper in the kitchen. About five
minutes later, he and his fellow servants
were startled by the report of pistol fired
las it appeared) in the hall. Before they
could as much as exchange word, another
report succeeded TO the first. The dreadful
confusion and alarm rendered witness ut
terly unconscious how many seconds might
have elapsed, but at the second report he
hurried out Of the kitchen into the hall.
He found his master and mistress lying
the former halfway down the lowest flight
Of stairs, the latter ut the foot Of the stair
case. Mrs Durham was already dead; her
husband mortally wounded, but still alive.
II appeared as if he had first shot his wife,
and then himself
He survived until early the following
morning, to the last unable or
unwilling to explain his motive for the
frigh,ful deed. So conclusive seemed the
evidence against him, that none save the
sister, who succeeded to his estate, felt any
doubt as to his guilt. The fact that the
door had closed upon tho unknown visitor
(who could not possibly reopen it from the
outside) before the murder was done SEEM
ed entirely to exculpate him; though it did
appear rs if his visit had somehow caused
the unaccountablc frenzy which must have
inspired the wrctchcd murderer.
All search after the stranger (for diligent
inquiry was made) proved fruitless. No
ono in Stilbury, the nearest town, nor any
where else in the ncighborhood, could testify
to having seen any one answering to the
man servants description Of him. The most
plausible and popular conjecture was, that
his visit had brought to Mrs. Durham's ear
some bygone fault or folly Of her husbands,
which she could not be persuaded to view
with Performances; and that anger at her
firmness, and dread of disgrace, had prompts
ed Nicholas to the fearful revenge against
her, and subsequent outrage on himself.
OF course, every possible conjecture was
exhausted.
Was there ground for believing the murd-
crer insane
As far as could be gathered, none.
The closest scrutiny into his earlier days
revealed nothing eccentric, nothing which
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