The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-10-28
THE MURDERER,s DOUBLE.

On the Zod OF may, 1907, mary RAND,
the keeper of a huckster shop in
the village of Houghton, in the
county of Durham, England, arose early,
as she was going to make some purchases
In a neighboring town. 1t was just day
break as she opened the curtains of her
bedroom and looked forth. Immediately
in the rear of her house was the open
country, and In the field adjoining her
premises she observed a man digging.
As this was no unusual sight, she paid
no particular attention to it, but dressed
and went about getting her breakfast.
As she was engaged at the fire, a shadow
crossed the window and she looked up.
At the same moment q tall, strongly-built
man presented himself at the doorway.
Mrs. Rand started and gave a shout, the
man stepped into the room, and seizing
q knife which lay on the table, he said /:
course you, be still or I'll make a
hole in you'll"
The uni dropped into a chair and
smothered her alarm.
Where's your husband ?" the man
asked.
"My husband has been dead five
years" was the answer.
"Who is there In the house with you2"
the man inquired.
"Only my two boys, twelve and four
teen, and they're upstairs, fast asleep"
the woman answered.
"That's lucky for you," said the man /;
"come, hustle and get me some break
fast"
The woman with much fear and trem-
bling complied, and the man ate a hearty
meal, and drank q quart of home brewed
ale. When he was through he said:
"You get up early, mistress. But for
the light in your window l should have
missed a good breakfast. l happened to
be near by, so I jumped the fence and
called In to see you"
The woman then for the first time
identified her visitor as the man whom
she had seen digging in the field behind
the house.
After a pause the man asked, shave
you got any of your husbands clothes2"
eyes, 1 have, was the reply, "and
won't part with them"
"Would they fit mel" the man asked.
"My husband was just your size,"
Mrs. Rand said.
"Look here" said the man, taking up
the knife from the table and toying with
it ; I want you to lend me a good suit of
your husbands clothes, and I'll return
it tonight. Don't say no." he added,
"for then I'll have to make you"
The woman, in great trepidation and
fear, said she would have to go up stairs
for the clothes, whereupon the man said
he would accompany her. The clothes
were procured, and the man insisted on
the woman's remaining in the
while he removed his old worn garments
and put on a suit of the dead Mr.. Rand.
"Now," said he, "if any one asks
who I am, you must say I am your hus-
bands brother, just returned from sea.
The oma then explained that she
was going to town, whereupon the man
said
"Thst's frst-rate, and I'll go with
you"
The poor woman was greatly taken
aback, but burst not decline, and having
aroused her two boys, she left the small
shop In their charge and started for
town, accompanied by the man. When
they reached the suburbs Of the town
the la suddenly disappeared, and
that was all the woman saw of him.
-W1aAMr1Rand returned home the
same afternoon, the village was In a fear
full state of CONSERVATION. At eight
o'clock that morning, Mr.. Greene, who
resided at Houghton Hall and owned
property adjacent worth fifty thousand
dollars a year, had been found in his
bedroom murdered. The hall stood
only about one hundred yards from a
street known rs the Quay, the village
consisting of three thoroughfares In the
form of an arrow head. Mr.. Greene
was a widower and childless !; he was
over fifty years of age, and was much
respected for his simplicity of manners
and generosity.
Investigation showed that a wall
over thirteen feet high, which shut of
the garden from the quay, had been
scaled, and the perpetrator Of the crime
had entered the house by climbing a
laburnum tree whose branches extended
almost to the window of Mrs Greene's
bedroom on the second floor. He en-
tered, it was thought, early in the even
ing, and concealed himself in the gar
den, and later on scrambled up to the
ccCOuu bVOIJ W1uuOW. NI. OIecn0 WINS
found lying on the floor close by o desk,
at which he had evidently been sitting
when assaulted in the rear. Atowel had
been flung over his head and then his as
sassin had strangled him, as was evident
from the marks on the dead mans throat.
His desk had been rifed, but it was not
known that any money, or anything of
value had been taken, as nobody was
cognizant of Mr.. Greene's private affairs.
When Mrs. Rand heard the story OF the
crime, her mysterious guest of the
morning arose to her mind, and she
could not help associating him with the
murder of Mr.. Greene. The fact of his
digging in the field behind her house
suggested the possibility of his having
hidden away plumber. All the evening
these things dwelt in her thoughts,
and she was once on the point of com
municating the whole story to the police.
She hesitated, however, to do so from
the dread of being mixed up in the
dreadful affair, and finally resolved to
keep the visit of the man and all con
nected with it a secret.
The officers of the law had meanwhile
secured the neighborhood to discover
the murderer, and ia Sunderland, the
town to which Mrs. Rand had gone with
her unwelcome companion, it was ascer-
tanned that OF the morning after the
murder a man and woman had been seen
to enter the town together, and o af-
terward separate. A farm laborer resid-
ing in Harrington, a village halfway be-
tween Houghton and Sunderland, swore
to having seen the same man and woman
passing through the place at about seven
o'clock On the morning of the day in
question.
Finally, a tcIgate-keeper identified
the woman as Mrs. Rand, and the author
tiles visited her house to make inquiries.
In her fear she denied having been
with the man, but in such a way as to
aYcita aua,;o;on fhof eha uvoa Ir;nc H.