The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-10-18

Then ( sort Of scuAllng aesint The front
Of tho house was distinctly heard, and
next there slided slowly down past my
window the figure Of msn ! :
"By thunderl It's coming now" (!
said 10 myself q ! slid ont Of bed and
beesn 20 dress Is fast g / could. Not fast
enough though, for / Was too late to see
the end. M 81
The figure glided slowly past my win.
dow, and almost instantly there arose
strange mems voices and noises Of Q VIC.
lent struggle. "No you don't" / heard
one man say, and then there was the dall
thud Of blow. "Never, never" said
another voice, hoarse with passion or tssr
{" Never will I be taken alive" LOOK
out, Jones, he has Q pistol" shouted an.
other voice, and then added: Fire at him
II he lifts his arm" But he did lift his arm,
for the moment after loud report seemed
TO shake the house, and the shrieks OF
frightened women echoed from roof to
basement. -.
/ was down stairs and upon the lawn be-
fore long, you may be sure, and then saw
at q glance how the whole case stood.
There were four men, one Of whom carried
o dark lantern, which he turned to show
something upon the ground. A man who
was man no more q mere piece of dead
flesh and blood. For Layton's arm had
lifted quickly and steadily, toward his own
life, and there he lay stone dead, with q
bullet in his brain.
really cannot describe what scenes Of
agony followed, nor need /. The case was
one of suicide, which disposed Of one hor-
rible duty that ! had undertaken, and no
was peacefully buried in the cemetery near
our house. The wife was for weeks like
an insane woman, but we took care of her.
She begged me to take all her papers and
his and examine them, and l did so. All!
she was an injured woman, as innocent as
she had been wronged; for / found among
Laytons baggage box Of hers, with let
tiers in It and certain valuable papers, that
had belonged to the old lady at No. 80.
They proved that the daughter-Emily
was her name-had long been secretly en-
gagged to Layton, and that, the mother be-
ing adverse to any change in the daugh-
ter's condition in life, they had agreed to
midnight flight. Emily left the house as
described at the beginning of this history,
and as she did SO, hurt her hand and tore
her sleeve. She was arrested, and late in
keeping her appointment; and Layton had
gone to reconnoitre the house. Finding
the door open and the old lady at home,
the temptation arose to murder and rob
her. Then he returned to the meeting
place, and she was there. They fled to-
gether-he with his guilty secret, and she
with the fullest trust in him. She never
heard of the murder, never knew that her
mother was dead, nor, for the two women
had lived unhappily together, did she care
to inquire.
never told her all knew. Peters, my
wife, and !, alone were in the secret. She
settled down into solitary life in a cot
tage near our house. We gave her Bob,
and she never saw any connection between
her husbands fate and the dogs behavior.
She never knew Of her mothers fate either,
beyond that she was dead years ago, which
thought it best to tell her. And she
simply faded from the earth like morn
ing mist. Gentle always, she watched the
days come and go with a strange resigna-
ton. Sometimes she would speak OF her
dead husband. He was so good to her,
she would say to US; so kind always; so
generous to others; never harmed crea-
ture, for he had heart as warm as was his
face honest and handsome.
All true. And yet he was murderer.
The contradictions in human nature often
puzzle one. As lawyer, never trust to
appearances or doubt the possible perver-
sion of the brightest character. AT all
events, the old expression that so-and-so is
an excellent person but has spice Of the
devil in him, may contain theory that
when have more time l will try to find
out. lNG0LDsBf NORTH.