The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-09-28
THE LOST COLOR,

The Banefeld estate lies to the left of
the old London coach road, a mile and
half out of fShirlington. Some few years
ago public attention was directed to this
property as being the subject of an IN
terminable lawsuit between the mort
gagees, the creditors of the bankrupt
proprietor, and certain next of kin, who
disputed the validity of an old deed cut
ting off the entail. Day by day the pa
pers contained some desultory paragraph
headed " Mesturn and Others 0S. Dever-
ill, er parte Matcham and Toller," when
all at once the Banefeld estate started
into fresh notoriety as the scene of ter
rible tragedy.
The facts, it may be remembered, were
briefly these: William Pross Il purpose
ly alter the names) was charged with the
murder of Guy Mesturn, the principal
mortgage of the estate. The body had
been found stricken down among the
reeds and grasses of the great Banefield
lake; by its side a knife, identified as
belonging to Pross, who was himself
taken red-handed, fleeing from the scene
of the crime. The principal witness
against Pross was a hard-featured girl
named Anne Preston, with whom it was
understood the prisoner had formerly
maintained relations, and who gave her
evidence with some bitterness She
stated Pross to be of All ungovernably
jealous disposition, that he had repeat
edly accused her of meeting Mesturn,
and he had threatened Mesturn's life in
her presence, and in that of other per-
sons that going home on the evening
in question, she took her way across the
Banetield estate, as her custom was, it be-
ing the nearest way. She had no inten-
tion of meeting Mesturn had never met
him, nor, indeed, had there ever been
anything between them except the rela-
tion of master and servant. She knew
that during the lawsuit Mr. Mesturn
was in the habit of walking over from
his farm to inspect the property. Would
swear she had made no appointment to
meet him On that evening. Mr.. Mes
turn was hard man and bad master.
He was not liked by his servants, and
she shared in the general dislike. On
that evening, the 25th of March, she had
passed along the path by the lake. 1t
was a lonely path, sheltered by dense
trees and woven brushwood, and it bent
about in so many turnings that 1t was
impossible to see people at small dis
tance before or behind-they would be
ohscured by the trees. She heard cry
of Murder !" and a breaking among
the brushwood, apparently some dis
tance behind her. This was at seven
o'clock. She knew that, by hearing the
bell of st. Johns church strike seven
within minute before. She immtdi-
ately ran in the direction OF the voice. |
1t was some time before she could ascer-
tain the precise spot-sound being de- |
ceptive amongst close trees, and she hav- |
ing heard the cry repeated but once. 1t
might have been ten minutes from first |
hearing the cry to the time she came |
upon Mr.. Mesturn's dead body. Will
liam Pross was fallen down beside it,ap-
parently fainting. When he saw her, he
said, "Anne Preston, this IL your work"
She felt frightened for the minute,
thinking that if he chose to swear away
her life, it might be difficult to prove
her own innocence. She said, William
fross' ycu are coward as well as a MUIR
derer' to want to charge your crime on
me- Being terrified for her own safety
she 'hen ran along the path, out into
ihe open park and through the estate,
and hastened into Shirlington, where
she gave information to the police. Viii
liam Pross was applehended the same
evening. When charged with the crime
he denied it, but did not attempt to in
culpate any one else.
He remarkably self-possessed dur
ing the trial. The defense set up bv his
counsel was, first, an alibi. 1t was
proved by several witnt sses that Pross
had left the Maybush inn at ten minutes
to seven, and it was more than the dis
tance a man could run in a quarter of
an hour to the place where the crime
was committed. The clock at the Nav
bush Inn was not, however, proved re-
liable. Secondly, it was urged that the
crime had been committed by the wit
ness Anne Preston, who, 1T was urged,
disliked Mr.. Mesturn, and might not
unreasonably be supposed to have GER
tain good reasons for the deed which the
counsel for the defense fully hypothe-
Gated, and he suggested how readily she
might have used Pross's knife for the
purpose. Hubert Deverill, artist, son of
the late owner of Banefeld, gave the