The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1869-01-08
The Torn Bill.


the incident which / am to relate oc-
CURED. I was at the time Postmaster
In the town of l.. An unusual
spell of warm weather had carried
away much of the snow, left the roads
very muddy, and rendered the travel
ing very bad. / thought of this as |
closed the shutters, at 9 o'clock in the
evening, and also remembered that 1t
was Wednesday, the stage from c.
was due at 8; but owing to the bad
going it was not vet in. I therefore
determined that | would, as / had
often done before, lock the front doors
and the door between the inner and
outer rooms, and leaving light burn
ing, 90 to sleep, trusting to the driver
TO wake me by rafting the door.
1t seemed but few moments, so
soundly hadI slept, ere | was ava
kened by a pounding on the door.
CHANGING at the clock, which stood
opposite, I discovered, however, that
it was one o'clock In the morning,
and that I had slept nearly four
hours. As [ hurried toward the door,
I put my hand in my pocket for the
KEY and found it was empty. The two
door keys and both the keys of my
safe, all of which I had when l went
to sleep, were gone. Stepping to the
rear door, in the lock of which al
ways kept the keys, / found that also
locked aud the key gone. This so
surprised me that for few seconds /
remained on the spot, utterly unable
to do anything to solve the mystery.
From this state [ was aroused by re-
newed pounding on the door. There
was but one mode of exit from my
prison, and that was through side
window. Throwing up the sash, |
sprang out and hurried around to
where I expected to find the driver
Mysteries seemed to have no end, for
instead of meeting the driver, / came
upon an excited crowd of about TWEEN
ty. My appearance was the signal for
all to commence telling me the cause
Of their excitement. Silence was,
however, at last obtained, and then
he Sheriff told me in as few words az
possible the state of affairs.
1t seems that one of the physicians
of che town, DR.. Smith, was returning
from a prolonged visit to a patient,
aud when about mile from the town,
heard in the road ahead of him a
pistol shot Hurting on, he found
the stage | was expecting, drawn up
by the side of the road, and in the
middle of the road the body of man.
Bringing his lantern near the face.
he found that it was the driver, and
that he was dead, having been shot
through the head. He found the
robes, &c, of the vehicle scattered
around on the ground, as was also
the mail bag, but the latter had been
unlocked, not cut open, and the con-
tents were gone. He lifted the body
up and placed it In the stage, and was
lust starting on for assistance, when
he saw a revolver near by, which,
from the fact that one barrel had
been discharged, he decided was the
weapon with which the deed had
been committed. Arrived in town,
he aroused the sheriff and a few
neighbors; and while some were dis
patched after the body, the sheriff
had gone to my house after me. Find
ing l was not there, they came to the
office, and Just as l joined them the
body arrived.
This was the substance of the facts
related to me. 1t seemed strange that
the sheriff should have gone to my
house instead of after the body, and
l was about to express myself, when
he stepped forward, and laying his
hand on my shoulder, said:
| arrest you, John Blanchard
for the murder of Charles Smith
stage driver"
If lie had struck me / should have
not BEEN more surprised. l tried to
reason with him, but, although he
was v,ry civil, he was equally firm,
and the result was that | spent the
remainder of the night In the county
Jail, which building was situated In
L., that being the county seat
The examination the next morning
elected the following rather curious
facts: o
When the sheriff searched my per
son, he was surprised to find no keys
and indeed no wallet nor memorials
DUN book. Sending to my assistant
he obtained the door keys, but the
safe key could not be found, and M!
clerk said that / always carried then
with me. Upon entering they foun,
that the letters were all gone, tn
money drawer empty, and a few
eaem were always left on the safe a
be found of the safe keys. Supposin
that | had disposed of them In orde
that the trace of my guilt, which
was taken for granted l had conceal
ed In the safe, could not be discov
ered, they brought locksmith. an
after much trouble forced the loci
This labor served only to show theI
that the safe had been completed
Al Al q
thousand dollars, which had been i
it the night before, was all gone.
/ found that the causes led to su:
picion being fastened on me weI
the three following: First, the re
volver, with which the deed was con
mitted, had upon the but-end a silve
plate, on which was engraved m
name. The clerk took oath that til
weapon was mine, and that i alway
kept it in my office. When they prt
doubt that it did belong to me. SET
ond, that the bag was unlocked an
not cut open, showing that it mu
have been by some one having in b
possession a United States mail ke
Third, that / had not been hon
during the evening, and that whe
sum mOlou at the pOSb OMc0, q
laved so long in making my appea
anee.
10 combat these facts. I argue
that the state of the Office Prov
conclusively that it had been robbie,
and that without doubt the keys 81
revolver had been taken at that tim
Also, that no trace of the stolen ART
Giles was found about me, my hous
or my Office; and that, further, if