The Hancock Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Ohio) 1857-1870, 1869-02-05

I'd 1t his beard l--uOeS not spare I'll
er fallen man, Tut beats him still abo,
IF the heads gray head surely--wit
n. his club. Horrible sight to look on
in l would give anything to tear myse
is away from the telescope, or at lea:
,h to close my eyes and shut out Ii
in sickenlng spectacle. But the butcl
cry is nearly over. The gray. .haire
70 man continued yet to struggle an
t. resist, but only for little while. I
t. very short time the contest, as
plainly gee, will be over. The cor
IS quered man, making one more 81
N preme effort, rises nearly to his fe /,
T. receives another crushing blow, fall
d suddenly to the ground, and is still
J. Merciful Heaven! what is this
II Who are these two men I? DO
n know them 1t caunot be that tha
e is my dear old friend lying helples
D on the ground, and that the other
the man whom j toek note of JUS
!, now in the rectory garden. 1t cal
j not be that this deed of which
: have been witness--inactive, pow
| erless to help or save--is a MURDER
I / felt for a moment as if all pres
, ence of mind and power of actor
had deserted me. What was l t,
! do? That was all that l could say
, over and over again, as / sat still
gazing through the telescope will
: an instructive feeling that l mus
| not lose one single Ingredient of tn,
scene before me. All that happened
, must see. recalled my senses by
a mighty effort and reasoned as mel
do in crisis. What was to be done
The place where this horrible deed
was being committed was so far of
about three-quarters of a mile as
the crow tlies--more than a mile 10y
any road knew of-that there could
be no possibility Of my getting there
in time to be of the slightest service
The end, if it had not come already,
and l felt certain that it had,--
must most surely have come before
co uld traverse that distance. There
was but Oae way now in which
could be Of the slightest service, and
that was in securing the detection OF
the murderer. ! must remain at my
post and watch his every movement,
besides endeavoring to render N.Y.
self certain, SO far as the glass
would enable Inc to be so, concern
ing his appearance and dress. So
there | sat, helpless and spellhOund,
but watching with devouring eyes.
There was a sudden stiffness where
there had been before SO much of
struggling and movement. The
blows had ceased to fall new. The
deed was accomplished, and there
was no more need for them. The
man himself, the murderer, was still,
and | made sure OF his identity.
There was the red halr, there was
the red beard, there was the scarlet
cap lying on the ground, there was
the canvas frock with the patch in
front. There was no doubt. Alas
was there any doubt either about
that other figure lying on the grass be-
side him 2 The light-colored summer
coat which he had worn when l last
saw him--the white hairs 1t was
nearly too much to bear, but a saw
age craving for vengeance came to
my aid and braced up my eneagies.
| dispelled by an effort of the will a
dimness which came before my eyes,
and, straining them more intensely
than ever, saw the man with the red
cap start up, as il suddenly conscious
that he was losing time, and set him.
self to work to rifle the body of his
victim. As far as | could see, he was
engaged in emptying the poor old
mans pockets, and once thought l
saw the gleam of something golden
but this might have been fancy. AT
all events he continued for some
time to turn the body over and over,
and then. having, ! supposed, salts fled
bimselt with what he had secured,
he got up, and, dragging the corpse
after him, made his way 10 the little
wood close by, and entering it, dis
appeared from sight. And now, in
deed, crisis had arrived when it
was difficult in the extreme to know
how to act. What if that disappear
ance were final What if he should
get out of the wood at the further
extremity and / should see him no
more
1t was a breathless moment.
continued to watch, and hardly breath
ed. At last, and when | was becom
ing desperate with uncertainty, j
saw something move again. The
trees were parted, and at the same
place where the murderer had enter
ed the wood, bearing with him the
body of my cid friend, he now reap
peared alone. He stood a moment as
if undecided, and then came out,
looking behind him first, and then
arranging the disturbed bOughs IS
though to make the place look as if
no one had passed that way. That
done, he stood still for a moment, |
looking about him as if IN search OF
and then he moved across
how unconscious of the pursuer on
his track, the telescope following his
every step, unseen and unsuspected
to where at the corner OF the mead
ow there was, as have mentioned, q
little pond with pollard willows round
about its margin. He stopped and
took up some object lying beside the
pond. What was it? There was
green about it. Was it
old Mr.. Irwin's butterfly net? l
could not see with certainty, but no
doubt it was and no doubt the poor
old gentleman had wandered away
from the footpath, which was near at
hand. in pursuit of some entomolog-
ical specimen.
The man with the red cap threw
his object into the water. Then,
taking off his canvas frock, he began
to wash the front of it, stained, no
doubt, with blood. Then he washed
his hands and face, and putting on
the frock, wet as it was in part, stood
up, and once more looked suspicious
Iy around. All this took time, but /
dared not remove my eye from the
glass for a single instant. Once
had tried to reach the bell-handle,
but could not. Something would,
have to be done presently,
and done on the instant.
For he was going. He turned his
back upon the pond; looked about,
as if to see whether there were any
traces OF his crime visible; then
..1naol Al. ella nof over tho cot,