Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1873-12-25

Ih"t 1iS hOliII DS ttG lClIlC SUN
that he had left the letter at
home, &c. Mrs. Belknap went
directly to the 'Squire's house
without communicating her in
tention to him, and inquired Of
the family for the letter that the
Squire had received from her
long-lost boy. The family
seemed surprised, and knew
nothing about such a letter hav-
ing been received.
This was all the evidence /
could get as to the probable fate
of her son. What was | to do?
l went to my room and studied
over the matter. How could |
say that young Belknap had
been murdered? His body had
not been found; and who would
dare accuse Squire Mosely of
such a crime? | lay in my bed
that night thinking over the cir
cumstances, and it was near four
O'Clock III the morning when [
fell asleep. | slept until eight
o'clock. [ got up, washed and
dressedmyself, fully determined
to indict Squire Mosely for the
crime Of murder. | went to
the grand jury room, directly
after eating a hearty breakfast.
[ told the foreman what my in
tentions were. [ drew up the
indictment, accusing Squire
Mosely of the crime Of murder,
committed as follows, viz: The
said Squire Mosely, on the =
day Of August, 1863, in the
county of o., did felonious-
ly and with malice aforethought
Kill and murder Charles Belknap
by shooting him with a gun
loaded with Il leaden bullet, a.
gainst the peace and dignity Of
the Commonwealth Of Ken
lucky. | presented the indict-
ment to the grand jury, and
they indorsed it a tue bill. |
the members Of the
Jury to say nothing about what
we had done, but to keep the
whole thing secret, and if be-
fore the court adjourned moth
ing turned up to fix the crime
onthe Squire, that we could des-
troy the Indictment. The grand
Jury found indictments against
eighteen persons for murder,and
so secretly was it managed that
the sheriff had them all in jail
at once.
The indicting Of so many
personsnaturally produced great
excitement among the citizens.
| went to my room that night
and double-locked my door, ex-
amined my pistol and put it un-
der the head Of my bed. About
II o'clock | heard a knock at
my door; l demanded to know
who was there. y person an
swered, "a friend" | got up,
lit a lamp, took my pistol in my
hand and opened the door. a
stepped in, / closed
the door and demanded his nu-
siness. He seemed very much
frightened, and casting a hasty
glance around the room to salts
fy himself that there was no
other person in the room ex-
cept myself, he told me that his
name was Colby, and stated
that he wanted to communicate
a very important fact tome con-
corning the fate Of young Belk-
nap. | told him to proceed
He wanted to know whether he
could turn States evidence or
not and save himself. | replied
in the affirmative. He then told
me that he knew where young
Belknap was buried, that Squire
Mosely had killed him, had got
81, 500 from his person, and had
run BeIknap's horse off and sold
him to some Confederate SOL
diers, and that he had assisted
Mosely in burying Belknap. |
told Colby to keep his seat in
my room, that he should not be
hurt; l went out hunting up the
sheriff and told him to geteight
or ten reliable men and bring
them to my room. He did so.
I then took the sheriff and Col
by into my room, and made Col
by repeat his story over to that
officer. | then directed the
sheriff to procure a sack and
take Colby and the men he had
brought with him and go and
get the bones of young Belk-
nap and bring them to my room
thatnight. The sheriff did as |
directed him.
When court convened the next