Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1875-11-18

tUO dohCut dilCI a pduSfs
That's more than can say" John
stone replied, "though it may be he
took a bit of paper from his pocket"
"HOw often do you sweep your
lshOp?" the detective asked,
The shoemaker laughed and said:
'Once year, maybe"
Then the detective, very much to
the surprise of the shoemaker, went to
work examining the floor carefully all
over. Then he began in one corner and
lifted everything from the floor, re-
placing it where he found it. After he
had been at work over ten minutes he
came across fragment of an envelope,
burnt It one end. This he carefully
scrutinized. and putting it in his pock-
ct, departed.
The same night a consultation was
held, and the detective exhibited his
scrap of paper. AS before said, it was
part of an envelope, and on it was
writing. The writing was blurred and
almost iilegible, but he words "private
John" could be deciphered.
Whether the writing was mans or
woman's it was hard to say, but the
general impression was that it was a
woman's. Coulter instinctively asso-
ciated the latter with young Armstrong,
stated, had been driven from the house
by her father, and had, as was supposed
enlisted. The jeering words of Arm
strong's mother came up fresh to Coul-
ter's memory:
"Ah, Mr.. Coulter, 80 you've lost your
pretty miss! Now we're even. You
drove away my boy, and the devil has
driven away your girl"
The officers resolved to search Mrs.
Armstrong; cottage, rs there might
have been some indication of her sons
having been recently there. They
went down at once and aroused the old
woman, who was doing by the fire.
"What dye want with me and
mine?" she asked querulously; "this
is no time o'night 10 disturb body"
On being informed that officers of
the law demanded admission, she open
ed the door and boldly confronted
them.
"Take what you can find," she said,
"that belongs to other than me-"
The officers began a careful search of
the place, aud were rewarded by find
ing pair of boots slowed away under
the floor, bearing on them the traces of
the peculiar black mud found on the
borders of the Black Tarn, from " hich
and the singularly dark hue of its
waters, it derived its name.
"Whose boots are these?" the officer
asked.
"They were my son's," replied the
old woman, "befOre they drove him
away from home."
"When did he leave homer" the de-
tective inquired.
"In November, IA" the old woman
answered, quickly.
"Did he put the boots under the
f1oor?" the officer asked.
"'Deed did he the very day he left
home," Mrs. Armstrong replied.
"You saw him do it?" the detective
inquired.
''Saw him with my own eyes," was
the reply:
"And that was when?" the officer
asked.
"The very day he left home, Novem-
ber 5, "a" Mrs. Armstrong answered.
$50 help me God, that's what he did &,
sir,". the old woman answered.
.'This is a Carlisle newspaper, in
which the boots were wrapped, and it
bears date February 8, 1S75-the very
day on the night of which Kate Coul-
ter was murdered"
Before the officer had finished the
sentence, Mrs. Armstrong dropped to
the ground in a swoon. A neghbOr
was called to attend her and the officers
LETT. There was no doubt on their
hat N
who visited the shoemaker in Bromp-
ton, that he was the "Private John"
whose name had been on the balf-burnt
envelope, and that he was the Outrager
and murder of Kate Coulter.
But how had he communicated with
his victim, as he must have done? And
how had she been enticed to the Black
| Tarn?
These were questions to which the
officers sought an answer, Immediately,
to hunt down the perpetrator Of the
abominable crime.
Mrs. Armstrong refused stubbornly
to answer any questions, although it
was judged proper to arrest her as ac-
cessory after the crime. ALI that could
be got out of her were those bitter
words:
"He drove away my son, and the
devil drove away his daughtefr'
Ii was easily ascertained that one
Private John Armstrong had deserted
from the 45th Regiment of Infantry,
stationed at Manchester, in February,
and that nothing had been heard OF
him since. His description answered
to the person Of young Armstrong,
| Kate's former lover, in every particu-
lar. Whst puzzled the detectives most
was that nobody had seen Armstrong
on the road or in the village before the
murder, and that although he had evil
IDENTIFY been home to his mothers after
the crime was perpetrated, he had been
seen by no one. Descriptions of the
man had been sent by telegraph all
over England, and the officers awaited
in Carlisle some Information that would
give them clew to his whereabouts.
That information came iu an unexpect-
ed manner.
Mrs. Armstrong, who was confined
in Carlisle Jail, asked that her brother,
who was shipright at Cockermouth. a
seaport not far distant, might be in
formed of her condition. This was
done, and d letter was sent by the iail-
ers to his address. The same day the
officers were Informed of the fact, and
they resolved to go down to Cocker
mouth, entertaining a faint hope that
the man for whom they were looking
might be there. They found Mrs.
Armstrong; brother, whose name was
Reuben, ut his wo,k, and represented
, themselves as two lawyers who. had