Litchfield enquirer., 1872-04-11
restoring her to conseious.

HGE6.
 Nervously she glanced round the circle of eager faces that environed her, till her eyes fell upon Armstrong and his wife, when she gave loud shriek, and mutter- ing They, they are the murderers P sWeoned, or appeared to do SO, again in
 The accused persons, in spite of their ffenzled protestations of innocence, were Instantly seized and taken of to a place of security; Mrs. Strugnell was conveyed to neighbours close by;s- the house was carefully secured; and the agitated and wondering villagers departed to their sev- eral homes, but not, fancy, to sleep any more for that night
 The deposition made by Mrs. Strugnell at the inquest on the body was in sub- stance as follows:
 ''On the afternoon in question she had, in accordance with her usual custom, pro- ceeded to town. She called on her aunt, took tea with her, and afterwards went to the Independent Chapel. After service, she called to see Miss Wilson, but was in- termed that, in consequence of a severe cold, the young lady: was gone to bed. She then immediately proceeded home wards, and consequently arrived at Craig USU3l time. She let herself in with. her latch key, and proceeded to her bedroom. There was no light in Mir. Wilson's cham Der, but she could hear him moving about in 1t. She was just about to go down stairs, having put away her Sunday bon net and shawl, when she heard noise, as of persons entering by the back way, and walking gently across the kitchen floor. Alarmed as to who it could be, MT. and Mrs. Armstrong not being expected home for severel days, she gently closed her door and locked it. A few minutes after, she heard stealthy steps ascending the the creaking stairs, and presently her door was tried, and voice in a low hur- ned whisper said, ''Mary, are you there?'' She was positive 1t was Mr. Armstxong's voice, but was too terrified to answer. Then Mrs. Armstrong-she was snre it was said also in whisper, and as if addressing her husband, ''She is never back at this hour" A minute Or so after there was a tap at Mr. Wilson's door She could not catch what answer was made; but by Armstrong's reply, she gathered that Mir. Wilson had lain down, and did not wish to be disturbed. He was often in the habit of lying down with his clothes on. Armstrong said, "I will not disturb you, sir; I'll only just put this parcel on the table," There IS no lock to Mir. Will sons door. Armstrong stepped into the room, and almost Immediately she heard a sound as of violent blow. followed by 3 deep groan and then all was still. She was paralyzed with horror and alright. After the lapse of few seconds, a voice Mrs. Armstrong's undoubtedly y-asked in a tremuious tone if ''all was over?" Her husband answered "Yes; but where be the keys of the writing-desk kept ?" s1n the little table-drawer, was the reply Arm strong then came out of the bedroom, and both went into Mr. Wilson's sitting apart ,nent. They soon returned, and crept .stealthily along the passage to their own bedroom on the same floor. They then went down stairs to the kitchen. One of shem-the woman, she had no doubt went out the back way, and heavy foot steps again ascended the stairs. Almost dead with fright. she then crawled under
 she foandd fea fefsef b1 the villagers.
 In confirmation of this statement, a large clasp-knife belonging to Armstrong, and with which it was evident the murder had been perpetrated, was fonud in one corner of Wilson's bedroom; and mort gage deed, for one thousand pounds on Craig Farm, theproperty of Wilson, and which Strngnel swore was always kept in the writing desk in the front room, was discovered in chest in the prisoners sleeping apartment, together with nearly one hundred and fifty pounds in gold, sil- yer, and county bank-notes, although it was known that Armstrong had buta fort night before declined very advantageous offer of some COWS he was desirous of pur- chasing, under the plea of short of cash. Worse perhaps than all, key of the back door was found in his pocket, which not only confirmed Strugnell's evidence, but clearly demonstrated that the knocking at the door for admittance, which had reused and alarmed the hamlet, was a pure subterfuge. The conclusion, there fore, almost universally arrived at through out the neighborhood was. that Armstrong and his wife were the guilty parties; and that the bundles, the broken locks, the sheet hanging out of the window, the shiny, black hat, were like the knocking, mere cunning devices to mislead inquiry.
 The case excited great interest in the county, and I esteemed msef profession ally fortunate in being selected to hold the brief for the prosecution. I had sat- isfied myself, by perusal of the deposi- tions, that there was no doubt of the prisoners guilt, and I determined that no effort on my part should be spared to in- sure the accomplishment of the ends oi justice. I,drew the indictment myself; and in my opening address to the jury, dwelt with all the. force and eloquence o1 which was master, upon the heinous na- ture of the crime, and the conclusiveness of the evidence by which it had been brought home to the prisoners. I may here, by way of parenthesis, mention that resorted to plan in my address to the jury which have seldom known to fail It consisted in fixing my eyes and addres- sing my language to each juror one after the other. In this way each considers the address to be an. appeal to his individual in telligence, and responds to 1t by falling into the views of the barrister. On this occasion the jury easily fell into the trap I could see that I had got them into the humor of putting confidence in the evi dence I had to produce.
 The trial proceeded. The cause of the death was scientifically stated by two med ieal men. Next followed the evidence al to the finding of the knife in the bedroom of the deceased; the discovery of the mortgage deed, and the large sum ofmon ey, in the prisoners sleeping apartment; the finding the key of thes back-door in the male prisoners pocket; and his demeanol and expressions on the night of the per petration of the crime. In his cross s-exam ination of the constable, several facts per fectly new to me were elicited by the very able counsel for the prisoners. Their at torney had judiciously maintained the strictest secrecy as to the nature of the defence, so that 1t now took me complete. ly by surprise. The constable, in reply to questions by counsel, stated that the pockets of the deceased were empty; that not only his purse, but gold watch, chain, and seals, which he usually wore, had vanished, and no trace of them had as yet been discovered. Many other things were also missing. A young man by the name of Pearce, apparently sail. oF, had been seen in the village once oi twice in the company of Mary Strugnell