The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1870-10-20

insulting language she had used. and the blows
shc hau deait me, made me lose control Of my
temper ior the moment or wouldn't have struck
ner. l asked ner to let me see if had hurt her
1e.,' ' anu see II could do anything for her. She
dldnt speak, and when stopped over to look at
hcr head. she waved me off with her hand. As
stood looking at her in silence for a few minutes
and wondering what | could do, heard sleigh
bells approaching from the direction Of Plat yilr
and, almost at the same time heard the voices of
the people in the seighs laughing and talking. |
thought when first heard them they were quite
near, put 1t was very STILL frosty night and they
Mere farther OFT than thought they were. ! think
MIS- MIS- II. must have heard them at nearly the same
tihe dld, for she commenced screaming again as
f iouu as sne could and the boys cried with her.
begged OF them to stop, but they took no notice OF
me. | was in terrible dilemma: alone in the
woods at night in il strange country, with the girl
lying dead, the woman wounded and screaming
ana me Two BOYS crying out a if in mortal terror
| picked up the feather bed that was living al my
feet and threw it over Mrs II. and the bows 10
keep their cries from being heard till the approach
ing party We're passed. Mrs. II. threw the bed oil
with her hand and seemed to scream louder than
ever | nm sure the approaching party would have
heard her if they had not been making much
noise themselves After she had thrown the bed
OIL, put the light out and put the bed over her
again ana held it 50 she couldn't throw it of. she
struggle terribly to get the bed off, and to cry out
I'LL the first of the sleghng party were almost by
Us, when she ceased her cries and struggles. The
boys had also stopped crvng. | was afraid 10 re-
move the bed until the sleighs had passed but did
not hold it down after Mrs. II. had ceased >truG-
Cling.
AS near as ! could Judge, there were five or six
teams OF the sleighmg party didn't see them, -
the hind end Of my sled was towards the road and
was closed up, t'.ink there were three or four 4
couldn't say which, sleighs pretty close together
been some sort of pleasure party. A short dis
tance behind them was what appeared to he load
ed team-]ndging by the craunching noise the sled
made in the snow-and about the same diStanr-
h..1t hat thor
leader with it. AS soon the last sleigh had pass
ed short distance, removed the bed There was
no one spoke or made any noise. called one Of the
Doys by name but received no answer then
lighted the lantern and looked at them. The twt
boys laid on their backs. with their eye, open and
seemed to be looking straight at me. spoke t.
them again hut could get no answer. | then shook
them, but they never moved. l became alarmed
then. l looked at the woman. She was lying
partly on her face turned her over and spoke t'
ler and shook her. but she showed no signs of life
She had on hood with the strings tied around her
neck. | run my fingers in between the strings and
Ter neck and pulled them as to loosen them about
the throat. took the boys comiorters Oft; then
got snow and dashed in their faces got the hotttc
Of wine and poured some in the mouth of tho w"-
man and one of the boys, but couldn't open tine
other boys mouth--hs jaws seemed 70 be locked
and his tongue protruded. continued to rhat'
thelr hands and dash snow IN their faces. | heard
some more teams coming and put out my light. |
worked with them Il long time, probably an hour on
morC-l don't know how long. | chafed their
uitluS, Ciiltu luetl all DS Hitint Idlstu lltlI UP
and shook them by turns but all was of no avail
THEY WERE DEAD. HAD SMoTIERED THEM
Having committed the murder, Thompson
says he was stupeied, and for three hours sat
upon the trunks in scmi-unconsciousness. Ii
then occurred to him that he must conceal
what he bad done. and he started for Beetown,
near which he had observed mineral holes in
which he thought he might hide the bodies.
Through Lancaster he drove, lost his way,
stopped to procure directions, and having
wandered for hours with his freight of ghast
ly corpses, came to the mineral holes only to
find them too shallow for his purpose. He
then determined to 90 to Cassyille and hide
the evidence Of his crime in the river. Again
he had difficulty in finding his road, but ut
nearly daylight passed through Cassvillc,
went to the river and there cast away the
bodies. In his confession Thompson give
the incidents Of this night ride with par
ticularity OF detail which $ appalling The
bodies having been disposed of, he drove Il
short distance and burned his sleigh cover
to destroy the identity of his outfit, lie then
drove rapidly towards Prairie du Chien, ull
near that place put the baggage Of the mur-
lered family into the river, and then mudc
his way home