Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-11-23
A DARING ATTEMPT TO MUIR.
DER IN WALLlNGFORD.
A Man Assaulted by Three High.
Waymen.
A MARROW ESCAPE FROM DEATH.

1ne oueWay On the ROAD from the VII
laee of Wallineford to South Wallingford,
and about two miles south of the former
village, was, on Saturday evening, the
scene of daring crime, which was one of
the most bold, desperate, and persistent
in the criminal records of Vermont, while
the escape of the intended victim, if such
he can be called when he was, beyond all
peradveuture, mistaken for another, and
against whom the desperate villains had
evidently no design to iniure, unscathed
is without parallel in the annals of the
country.
At about nine o'clock in the evening Of
Saturday last, Walter Earl, a young man
some twenty-five or three years old, was
returning from the village of Walling-
ford, in wagon drawn by one horse, and
had jast ridden into dugway, with high
rocks on the one hand and the banks of
Otter Creek near by on the other, and was
within some sixty rods of the house of his
father, George Earl, a respectable farmer
of that town, when his further progress
was arrested by sudden assault from, at
least, three disguised, masked and we'll
armed villains, who were in deadly ear
nest in carrying out deliberately
planned and we'll concerted scheme of
crime, whose end could only be bloody
and most foul murder.
The first intimation Mr.. Earl had of
the approach of danger, was by seeing
man Jump from the side of the road and,
at the same time, grasp the bride near
the horses head. AS quick as thought
Mr.. Earl gathered up the reins of the
bride with one hand, and, with the other,
gave the horse a quick, sharp blow with
his whip. The horse answered to the
blow with sudden rear and spring, lift
ing the assailant bodily from the ground,
but failing to release his hold of the bril-
die, to which he still chung with that de-
termination born only of the most appall-
ing danger or the most desperate crimi-
nality.
While these scenes were transporting,
an accomplish, masked and armed, ap-
peared at the side of the wagon and peer
ing up into Mr.. Earls face, at the same
time making violent and we'll aimed
thrust with a dirk knife, at his right
breast. The blow was true to it's aim,
penetrating the coat, cutting it in two
places, and entering a pocket memoran-
DUN book in the pocket, where its fur
Their advance was stayed by striking
against cent, which fortunately the
book contained. The cent was considera-
bly, indented, showing at once the uner-
ring aim and deadly Iintent of the blow
and at the same time how small thing
stands between time and eternity.
Almost simultaneously with this assault
two shots were fred at him from behind,
one ball passing just above the ear and
through his hair, and the other striking
and penetrating the back of the seat The
ball still remains in the wagon and from
it's position and the direction it must have
taken in entering, demonstrates beyond
controversy, that that shot at least must
have been fired from an elevation, and
by a different person from the one firing
the first or other shot. Immediately after
the second discharge and so near to it as
to be almost simultaneous with it, the
man who used the dirk knife, arose from
ha haI
sumed after making his allonge, and
again looked up at aud into EArfs face.
He then for the first time seemed to rec
ogniza him, and at once exclaimed my
God ! hold on, boys, 1t IS Walter - or, My
God! held on, boys, ii is the a0r0ng man "
AS soon as this exclamation was heard,
the man who had at first caught hold of
the horse, and who had remained at his
head during the whole time, relied the
horse into the road, from which he had
been partially, or wholly, removed at the
of the assault, and then
turning bis back to the wagon, allowed
Mr.. Earl to drive by. 1t is needless to
say that the remainder of his trip was
accomplished at a reasonably rapid rate.
Fortunately, for the ends of justice it is
hoped, Mr.. Earl retained his presence of
mind, and is able to partially describe the
persons of two of his asssilants, although,
of course, the fact of their being
masked rendered it impossible to recog
nize their countenances. The man, who
used the dirk, is described as being thick
set with short arms, while the one who
held the horse was taller and stouter
built.
From these brief descriptions, as well
as from the voice of one of them, it said
that the rufi4ns, or some of them at least
are now under suspicion and surveillance,
with every possibility of their speedy
arrest. We trust that these suspicious
may prove correct and that the guilty
parties may be brought to speedy and
condign punishment. We, from obvious
reasons, refrain from giving a fuller des-
cription of the suspected parties, or from
mentioning their names.
The most intense excitement, of course,
prevails in Wallingford, and recalls
wildly to mind the state of feeling that
existed, and the scenes that were enacted
in that quiet village forty years ago.
early in May 1881. 1t is to be hoped
that this natural excitement may be pro-
perly directed, and may result in the
turtheranoe of justice.
A STRANGE PLEA-In a suit brought
by the widow of passenger who was
kilIa1 hr The ax niosinn nf tho Staten Isl-