The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1868-07-28

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60, !, 4. aha was suffering WITH The tooth@
ache and I supposed that wassW 4. sag.
wanted With it at the same time. one SEM ny
also for some blueing, which Z poushts =: y
Tbonaa Hatch, and the blueing was in
ha s,e, rocket when the body waB examined;
WalI them what to do did not KNOW. !
tbonght would take the vial on home ana
show II TO nv wife, and tell her all about IL.
Well. as went bordering along home, not
.,,nn1v;np what would be best IN the case, l
Thought to myself, well, / have perhaps
cansed this woman to take her life; now,
WON'T tell my wife anything about 1t al al,
and if they find her and l am arrested !
will abide the consequences, let them DC
what they may, and as she had told me thas
abe had burnt the notes did not iooA IN
her pocket at all to see, ana she
had burnt or destroyed one that explained
ali about who was going to get to keep her
for q day or two; and it would, perhaps,
have been better if she had not'destroyed
either one; for--well, 1 went on home,
taking the vial with me, thinking TO myself
ali the while that did not know which
would be best, to go end show 1t to my WlIe
or saw nothing about it; and just thought
to myself that she is out of the scrape, ana
want her to stay out, as she has three little
children. I will just hide it, not thanking
at that time that / would ever have any
occasion to get it again; but providence
provided in that case that it should be put
where it would be found again; and hid
it about two or three hundred yards from
the house, on q path running from the
house ,up by the potato patch, and | reckon
il is between fifty and o hundred yards
from the potato patch, on the right hand
side of the path, at the root Of some little
blackjack bushes, and some leaves over 1t,
and small rock on the leaves. ..
".Well, L hid the vial and went on to the
house. and nv wife said to me, What do
YOU think told herr did not know what
thought !: and SO she said to me that Mollie
had not gone home. then asked her how
she knew, and she told me that Fuss, that
is young daughter of Mr.. Lumsden's, had
been over that day and said Mollie had not
been home. Well, the poor writer's mind
was then in all the suffering that one could
suffer at the thought Of what the poor Wo-
man had done to herself.
"Now, will tell also what that neck-tie
was doing at the body. Mollie had it tied
round her abdomen, and she had it on the day
she was at home last, when she went home
to get some yarn that she was going tocolor
for stockings or knitting, and she told me
that it was so tight that she sit down to the
table and eat her dinner and she turned
80 sick at the stomach that she went out
and threw up all her dinner as soon as she
was done eating; and she told me also
that when her brother Charles was up, that
he asked mother and sister Ann If there
was not something the matter with Fannie,
and she said her mother asked her
about it that day while she was at home,
and her answer to her mother was
that you must be deranged, and that there
was nothing of it OF all and she told me
that she had told her mother and sister that
she had gotten vial of laudanum to de-
stroy herself, and told her mother and sister
what she wanted them to do with her clothes.
Also, that she wanted Mrs. Herndon to have
her new cotton dress; and that she wanted
Nan Jacobs (that is her brother James +
Lumsden's wife) to have worsted dress
that had bought for herr and other things
that she wanted given to her small brothers
and sisters; and would just say, If this is
not the truth, no man never spoke 1t; and
God knows it is SO; yet, at the same time,
l told her that before she should do such a
thing that the last dollar had should be
spent in taking care Of her, for regarded
her very high indeed, Notwithstanding our
course had been as it was. Now would
lust say l had no thought of her having me-
dicine of any kind with her that morning,
nor did think that she had the least notion
that morning of destroying herself; for,
said she, hope they will not find me out,
now as I have gotten started on my way to
Richmond = and told her that we could
get to the depot by midnight, and that l
could get home by day, or before, and put
t he horse back in place. ..'t
To this confession was added the follow
ing: - T.
" THE EXPLANATION AND STATEMENT OF THE
. END OF MARY F. LUMSDEN, A DAUGHTER
OF MARTHA A. AND RICHARD NJ. LUMSDEN,
JULY THE 4TH, 1868.
81 will just give the reasons why have
prepared this explanation and statement OF
facts in regard to the end of Mary F. Lums-
den 80 long before my trial and knowledge
of what will be the result of the trial. The
last of June l was very sick indeed, and
thought that I might die, and that the pa
rents Of the suicidal woman would never
know how she came to her end and would
lust say if am executed this is the state
ment and explanation in truth and fact OF
her end and one other very important
reason is this: Should die before my trial
comes off the people will know the facts, and
then it can't be. said to my dear companion
and dear little children that your husband
was murderer and that your father was
murderer, but the facts will then be known
to not only parents, but to the world, OF the
great and grand mistake. =.
"Giyen under my hand, and scaled this
the 4th day Of July, 1868.
s..s - "REUBEN D. HERNDON."
have thus given the substance of this
revolving story. need not add that he is
still believed guilty of the murder. Apro-
fessed minister who lies and commits adul-
terry would hardly scruple to cover up these
base crimes by murder. PURNELL. :