Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1866-09-27
An Elderly Lady Brutality Murdered-Es-
cane of the Murderer.

| uuJ1I ldUo IN the aIU0ruOOu Lie fACbllu Wa
Mrs. Eliza NJ Miller, an elderly lady, VIII
was found in her own house with her throa
cut in terrible manner, three wounds OF
her head penetrating the skull, and mark
of strangulation about her neck and breast
and surrounded with pool of blood. Th
particulars of the tragedy as given in thu
Philadelphia papers are as follows:
Mr.. Miller and Mrs. Miller's sister boil
went to their work as usual about O'CLOCK
on Wednesday morning, leaving Mrs. Mil
Ter alone in the house. Both took thei
dinners with them.
About the middle of the afternoon a lady
residing next door wondered that since
O'Clock in the morning, when Mrs. Miller
aged sixty-three years, was seen sweeping
the steps, she had not been visible -
There was a woman in the neighborhooG
who frequently was seized with fits, and
when in this condition shrieked in fright
full manner. Screams were heard from Mrs
Millers, house butdeeming thatth unfortr
nate creature had been taken in commissions
while on call there, no attention was Civ
en- to the matter. Familiarity with the cir
cumstance had begotten comparative indif-
ference to it.
Toward mid-afternoon this neighbor
knocked at the front door of Mrs AIiller's
house, and finding no response from within,
went up the alley to the back gate, and en-
tered the kitchen To her horror she be-
held lying on the floor, in the centre Of a
pool of blood, the body Of Mrs. Miller
razor was by the right hand and the idea
that presented itself to the discoverer OF
the tragedy was that the old lady had com
mitted suicide. The neighborhood was
speedily reused and the police called in.
An examination of the body at once
showed that frightful murder had been
committed that the unfortunate lady had
been grappled by the throat, stunned by
three heavy blows upon the back of the
head, and that her throat had then been
severed from ear to ear. A colored hood
or working bonnet which belonged to de-
ceased was found on Il table in the room,
and on it were spots of blood. Blood marks
were discovered on the table, and also on
the wall close by the table.
By frugality and thrift the AIillers had
ccumulated some 5000 dollars, which they
kept in the house. This money was found
safe in its place of deposit Whoever did
the murder seems to have been actuated by
other motives than those of plumber. No
thing in the house appeared to be missing.
The unfortunate husband first learned
OF the commission of the damning deed
from the lips of his employer. He seemed
stunned at the tidings, stupefed and be-
wildered. His grief was too terrible to dis
solve itself in tears. The sister went into
commissions when the information was con-
fded to her, and has since been lying in a
state ofcoma. The deceased, as well as the rest
of the family, were noted as being very
quiet, respectable, and exemplary people.
The entire family were on the best OF terms
with everybody In the neighbOrhOOd, a;.l
it is not known that the deceased had an
enemy in the world, her entire time being
devoted to household affairs. The TRACE
dy has created great excitement, and every
effort is being made to arrest the murderer.
From the Metropolitan Record.
The Old North State and the Late War
The Force she Sent into the Field-Ac-
ceptance OF the Conditions by the Sol
diers and Pcople-The Philadelphia Com
vention,
PITTsBoRo', n. c., Sept. ), 1866.
To tie Editor Of tie -lctropolitaa Record:
DEAR SIR Having been a constant and
delighted reader Of your truly valuable pa
per ever since the close of the late war; and
observing that among your many cores
pOndents very few, if any write from North
Carolina, I will take the liberty of tres
y
your numerous readers, to give some ac-
count us to what is being done in the ''Old
North State" It might very naturally have
been supposed that as the war closed in
this State, Gen. JOhnstOn's surrender being
made at Greensboro, and as a natural con-
sequence of the disbanding OF large bodies
of soldiery, much confusion and terrible
state OF disorder and anarchy should have
prevailed among us but happily for US, the
same orderly, conservative, laW-abiding prin-
ciple which has always characterized North
CarOlinians, at that trying hour shone
forth most consplcuOusly order was soon
restored, the laws respected, and in a short
time the machinery Of government was
working as smoothly as in any Southern
State, and much better than in many
North Carolina may probably never receive
Justice from the historians of the war for
the gallant part she sustained in the late
bloody drama, and therefore I may be ex-
cused for mentioning a few historical facts,
for [ entirely concur in the old Latin pro-
verb fiat JustHi0 Tudt cOelun1." It is
WEI, known to all that the first battle of
the war was fought and won by North Car
DINA troops, under the command of the
then Colonel, but now Lieutenant General
d. II. Hill; but it is not so generally known,
though none the less true, that on the 9th
of April, 1865, Immediately before the sur
render of General Lee on the ever-memor-
able hills of Appomattox Court House,
North Carolina troops, commanded by an
other distinguished son of the old North
-Major-General Bryan Grimes, made
the last charge and .fred tie last rolJey for
Southern independence.
. With Il population of less than a million
whites and blacks, North Carolina sent into
the Confederate army 100000 well-armed
soldiers. Upon the ensanguined hills
around Gettysburg, on the burning sands
near Charleston, on the blood-stained
heights of Missionary Ridge, around the
beleag1lred trenches of Petersburg, on
every carnage-covered field of Southern
valor, and i'll the dreary hospitals of Rich
mond, were to be found the gallant, daunt-
less, suffering, fearless old ''Tar-heels"
And now, since grim-visaged war hath
smoothed his wrinkled front, " those battle
SCARED veterans have returned to their
homes, determined to repair the disasters
of war, and work as vigorously in the more
congenial pursuits of peace and as the re-
suits of their labors We now see fields wav
ing with their ripening grain and marks of
returning industry Oh every side. where
but short time since Sherman's "bum-
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