The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-03-28

had been quite oflicious in hanging up
festoons and Wreaths
At three O'Clock on the afternoon of
the day preceding the examination.
while Miss French SIT in her school
room looking moodilv over an atlas.
and while DIR. Brown, hammer in hand
was mailing and arranging the mys-
ferrous stranger entered the school
room
Miss French left her seat and adj
Tancef towards him The stranger
drew paper from his pocket, and ex-
tending his hand, said solemnlv, Il ar
rest you, Babara French, for the muir
der of Walter Knowles"
The school-mistress stood motion
less, while deathly pallor crept over
her features the little boys and girls,
who didn understand the scene. look
ed wOnderingly on, and the hammer
fell from the dentists hand, as he turn
ed round on his ladder, actually frozen
with amazement. Miss French, after
a moments Wild stare around, fell to
the ground with a shrill scream, and
the stranger and the Doctor lifted her
from the floor
"Who, in Gods name, are YOU ?"
asked the astonished dentist, ''and
what is this you have said about the
murder of Walter KnowIes?"
Il am a detective" rejoincd the
other, "and hold positive proof that
this young woman murdered the hus-
band Of the lady who is now at the
hotel in your town. l have worked
this matter up, and we have discover
ed the criminal in this unfortunate
woman"
There had never been such a sensa-
ton i'll ShallOwtown. At the trial,
which took place six weeks after the
arrest of the schOol-mistress, the en-
tire mystery was explained. Walter
Knowles was connected with q wealthy
and respectable family in New York,
and had married one of theSbeauties of
the metropolis. A disreputuble trans
action, in which he had victimizCd one
of his best friends, was made public in
the circle in which he moved, and he
was compelled to leave the country.
In Shallowtown he turned one of his
requirements to account, and obtained
a position in a telegraph office He
had remained true to his wife until
the pretty face and strong character
OF the schOOl-mistress led him to fall
desperately in love with her. 4 Sc
cCet marriage in San Francisco follow
ed and for one month the pairl met
secretly, keeping, by mutual agree
ment, their union concealed from the
world. One evening the school-mis-
tress visited her husbands apartments,
and, whilst arranging with loving care
the articles in his bureau, a large pack
age of letters attracted her attention
She opened them, and the whole his
tory of Knowles unworthiness and
her own betrayal was revealed. Mad
dened with rage, and putting p life
preserver that lay on the table in the
folds of her dress, she went out in the
evening to seek for the man who had
married her even while corresponding
with another and a lawful wife, and
whom she at that moment hated with
intense bitterness. They met at the
place where the body was afterwards
found. She reproached him He jibed
her, and was turning away with q
curse, when the fatal blow fell, and
Knowles dropped dead by the way
His real wife, who, Notwithstanding
: all his unfaithfulness, had given him
her only love, employed clever detect
i've to ferret out all the circumstances
of her husbands murder, and, accom-
panied by him, took up her residence
i'll ShallOwtOwn.
Barbara French was found guilty
/ of murder in the first degree, and SEN
/ fenced to death While a motion for
new trial was pending, she died in
prison, and, excepting perhaps by the
two men who hoped to win her when
she seemed pure and good, her name
is forgotten in Shallowtown. The
bones of the murdered man were car
ried to the family vault in New Y ork,
and in a few years the mystery and
the romance became a thing of the
past.