The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1875-10-21

4 ssen s.sen Wv NsASs tsAi.s oSsut = r.
sYes, she is-strangled acord.a
gislseq rose gig ssees md lcss,
said, slowly and solemnly:
esquire, ifNancy's dead. l don't
know it. I had a quarrel with her
the night I left, and gave her a piece
Of my mind, but God is my witness
that l didn't put hand upon her" /"
The officer looked with some inter-
est upon man who could thus deny
a crime with which he was so clearly
linked by circumstantial evidence;
but, without parley, took him from
the sloop, and placed him in cell OF
the station house. He made no re-
sistance, and did not again volunteer
any protestation CT his innocence
While IN the statlon-house, and DUR
ing the journey to Providence, when
ever the question was directly put to
him, he always denied his guilt in
the same emphatic terms, but he was
never the first to broach the subject,
and it was especially noticed that he
never made any inquiry for the de-
tails Of the murder.
When the officer and his charge
arrived at Seakonk, the latter SEEM
ed amazed to find himself the object
of universal execration. When he
reached the village, and while he
walked beside his captor through the
street to the Jail, he was surrounded
by a hooting mob, that pelted him
with opprobrious epithcts, and with
difficulty was restrained from doing
violence to his person. lie bore him
self braycly and undismaycd through
it all. But his conduct was noted
only 10 his discredit. and the citizens
.teould notsEemember and :hardened
wretch who had ever so flaunted his
crime in the face Of an outraged peo-
pie.
In due time the Grand Jury was
convened and his case considered
There was no doubt of his guilt in
that official body than in thecommu-
nifty at large, and he was formally
indicted for the murder Of Nancy
Buckson.
When the news was taken to him
in his cell he only said Goods will be
doac!n
His perfect resignation had, by
this time, won slightly on thejailor's
heart, and he inquired if he did not
wish to engage counsel to defend him
at the approaching trial. Buckson's
face frightened with this first faint
sign Of sympathy, but he answered:
Il thank you, friend, but | don't
need lawyer. God knows l am in
nocent OF this crime, and He will
prove it in His own good time"
The day appointed for the trial of
the prisoner was close at hand when
the quiet village was startled by a
new terror. 0nepleasant September
morning a ghost descended from the
eastern coach, and walked leisurely,
and with every scmblancc Of LIFE up
the street toward the long-dcscrtce
cottage. 1t was horrible ghost, for
it nodded familiar greetings to sew
eral persons it met upon the way,
and once tried to pat shrinking
child. 1t almost seemed endowed
with human passions, for many were
ready to make oath that they saw its
check flush with anger when it found
the entire town avoiding it in un-
concealed terror. But it was a per.
sistent ghost, for it walked steadily
on until it reached the gate OF the
cottagc-gardcn which, it found nailed
up; and it became 4 talkative ghost
when it discovered the pigs running
riot in the garden. In the very voice
of the dead Nancy Buckson, it said
in 4 pccvish tone:
"That John Buckson'll be the
death ofmc yet! Just sec how he lets
these pesky hogs root up things"
It was, indeed, Nancy Buckson her
self.
It is necdlcrs to prolong the story
On the night of the quarrel Captain
John had left, as usual, to take out
his sloop, and Nancy, smartins un'
der the severe censure he had, for the
first time, expressed, had gone off or
foot. during the night. to a neighbor