Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-01-22
CHAPTER XIV.


The morning succeeding the night of the
terrible tempest, the entire county was in
state of amazement. Mrs. Katrine McDon-
ald-it was said-had escaped from the Jail
in which she was confined and the ends of
Justice were thwarted and defeated.
The hapless jailer was found, tied securely
with ropes tied by Mcdonald himself, no
doubt, and the public outcry against the fam
ily rose louder than ever "The old woman
should be shot down, like brute, the moment
they caught her." everybody exclaimed.
"There was no need of a trial; )" not voice in
the land could be raised but in condemnation
But the motion of the tongues was checked,
and people stood about dumb with horror and
CONSERVATION, when later, on the self-same
day. dead body, on a roughly.constructed
bier, was carried through the principal street
! of the town.
BLESSED Virgin !" cried man, with his
cobbler's apron on, to woman who stood
near his shop-door, with her child in his arms,
"what has happenedS An accident? Who
was killed."
The woman paused not to answer him, but
Joined the stream of people, and now he fol-
lowed too; but laying hold of the arm of the
first man whom he approached, he cried out
again
"Tell me the news, Robards. What is the
meaning of all this?" And he pointed to the
moving mass of people and the bier in their
midst
The man crossed himself piously, and lifting
his eyes upward, CALCULATED
"God defend us all But to the wayward
and the erring his vengeance is always swift
and sure Just see! That wicked woman,
whose evil deeds are so dark and so numerous,
escaped from prison, but was overtaken and
riddled with balls"
"Ofwhat woman are you talking, Robards?
Who was shot?' interrupted the cobbler, i'm
patiently.
"Well if you're in such hurry about get
ting to the end of the story, suppose l stop
and let you guess at it. l certainly will, if
mayn't tell it in my own way! You ask who
is shot. Why, nobody, more nor less, than
the mother of the counterfeiter, Mcdonald,
who shot two or three men to save his un-
worthy life!'
"Is that the corpse of Katrine Mcdonald p
returned the cobbler, in voice of awe, point
ing, at the same time to the stretcher on which
the majestic proportions the womans figure
reposed in the stiffness of death.
"Aye that is the harmless clay Of Katrine
Mcdonald, which, when it was warm with
life, made men tremble before it anG 60 down
like dead leaves"
"The Lord protect us!" murmured woman
standing near, instinctively clasping her child
closer to her breast "And the son-the soil
what has become of him?'
Eyes, sure enough and who is going to
tell the truth of that?"
His wife ought to know"
"His wife? No; she is i'll, and he has dis
appeared, no one knows whittier. She knows
less about him than anybody"
"Who, then ?"
"Well, if anybody could know, that Mrs.
Vaughn Fessendcn ought-she who has been
widowed. They say she and Mcdonald were
lovers"
"What? Who found it out? How
When? Where?"
There YOU are, impatient as ever Why,
they were overheard, one day, when out on
scenery hunting excursion !"
"Mrs. Fessenden and McDonald?"
"Have 1 not said it once?'
"Who overheard ?"
"Ah who can truly answer that? You're
trump for questions"
GLOW strange! And how did the mother
get out of prison? Could her son have helped
her?"
"Nobody knows. She was found all in a
heap at the foot of a tree, at the edge of town,
shot through and through. Likely as not it
was Judge Lynch, and not her son, who took
her out of JAIL"
1T was" said another man, coming up
"the jailer was found tied up with ropes, and
many footprints are on the Jail floors, from
the muddied boots and the rain, showing that
one man alone did not save her-and after.
wards lose her-to the Justices, for she is
bruised and beaten! p
"Poor woman! She must have loved her
son. They say he was handsome, if he was
wicked !"
"Some women are so weak p cried out an
old dame, shrilly.
"Well " answered another, 81 could love a
handsome man, if he was courageous, though
he was cunning as a fox, fierce as wolf, and
cruel as tiger!"
A companion received this speech with a
shrug and sigh and with mods of farewell
the parties walked away and disappeared
amongst the crowd:
; CHAPTER XIV.
We must now return to poor Gertrude, who
you may remember, was carried, by the or
der of her motherin-law, in state of utter
insensibility, to her apartment, after thai
dreadful night, when she learned who ano
what her husband was Many days-many