The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-11-25

OF February 81 The detectives accident
ally came across one- Robert tombstone,
a shoemaker, who said that on the night
mentioned, about seven O'Clock, he was
at work in his shop in Brompto1 (which
was on the direct road to CouIteTs, when
young man, stranger, put his head
in at the door and asked for a light 1t
was very cold night, and the shoemaker
asked the man to come in and shut the
door. He did SO, and stood with his
back to the shoemaker while he got a
light. tombstone asked him whether he
had come on the train from Carlisle, and
he said he had. Johnstone remarked
that it was going to be sharp night,
and the young man replied that he
judged SO, and abruptly Quilted the shop.
What did he light his pipe with I"
the officer asked, after a pause.
"a THAT'S more than 1 can say" John
stone replied, though it may be he took
a bit of paper from his pocket"
How often do yon sweep your shop"
the detective asked. - -, "a
The shoemaker laughed, and, said
" Once q year, maybe 81 M
Then the detective, very much tothe
surprise of the shoemaker, went tx. work
examining the floor carefully all over.
Then he began in one corner, and lifted
everything from the floor, replacing it
where he found it. After he had been
at work over ten minutes,h he came across
a fragment of an envelope, burnt at one
end. This he scrutinized carefully, and
putting it in his pocket 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
illegible, but the words "private John
could be deciphered. =,
Whether the writing was a mans or
woman's it was hard to say, but the gen.
eral impression was that it was q wo-
mans. Coulter instinctively associated
the letter with young Armstrong, Kate's
former lover, who, as before stated, had
been driven from the house by her father,
and had, as was supposed, enlisted. The
jeering words of ofArmstrong's mother came
up fresh to Coulter's memory:
All, Mr.. Coulter, SO you've lost your
rretty Miss! Now we're even. You
drove away my boy, and the devil has
driven away your girl" gu
The officers resolved to search Mrs.
Armstrong; cottage, as there might be
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 to disturb a body"
On being informed that officers of the
law demanded admission, she opened the
door, and boldly confronted them.
"Take what you can fnd," she said,
that belongs to other than me-"
The officers began a careful search of
the place, and were rewarded by finding
q pair of boots slowed away under the
floor, bearing on them the traces of the
peculiar black mud found upon the bor-
ders of the Black Tarn, from which, and
the singularly dark hue of its waters, it
derived its name.
"Whose boots are these ?" the officer
asked
"They were my sons" replied the old
woman, before they drove him away
from home."
"When did he leave home ?" the de-
tective inquired.
"In November, '74," the old woman
answered, quickly.
"Did he put the boots under the
floor ?' the officer asked.
"'Deed did he, the very day he left
home" Mrs. Armstrong piled.
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-
Der s, "a" Mrs. Armstrong answered.
"And he wrapped up the boots then
as they were when found them, and
put them under the foor?" the officer
said.
$50 help me God, that's what he did,
sir" the old woman answered.
"This is Carlisle newspaper in which
the boots were wrapped, and it bears date
February 8, 1S75-the very day on the
night of which Kate Coulter was mur-
dered."
Before the officer had finished the SEN
tence, Mrs. Armstrong dropped to the
ground in a swoon. A neighbor was
called to attend her, and the officers left
There was no doubt on their minds that
Armstrong was the man who visited the
shoemaker's in BromptOn, that he wa:
the "Private John" whose name had
been en- the halfburnt envelope, and
that he was the outrager and murderer
of Kate Coulter.
But how had he communicated with
his victim, as he must have done? Ant
how had she been enticed to the Blacl
Tarn?
! These were questions to which tn,
officers sought an answer in vain. They
went to work, however, Immediately, Il
hunt down the perpetrator of the abom
Unable crime.
Mrs. Armstrong refused stubbornly II
answer any questions, although 1t wa
judged proper to arrest her as accessOr!
before the crime. All that could be go
out of her were those bitter words:
"He drove away my son, and the devi
drove away his daughterW
1t was easily ascertained that one Pri
vate John Armstrong had deserted from
the 45th Regiment Of Infantry, stationed
at Manchester, in February, and tina
nothing bad been heard Of him since
Hisdescription answered TO the person o
young Armstrong, Kate's former lover
in every particular. What puzzled tn,
detectives most was that nobody has
seen Armstrong on the road or In tn
village before the murder, and that
although he had evidently been home t
his mothers after the crime was perpe
trated, he had been seen by no one. DE
scriptions of the man had been sent b.
telegraph all over England, and tn
: officers awaited at Carlisle some informs
tion that would give them clew to hi
whereabouts. That information cam
in an unexpected manner. 'S
IL Mrs. Armstrong, who was confined i
: Carlisle Jail, asked that her brother VIII
{ was shipwright at Cockermouth, q
, seaport mott far distant, might be informe
3 of her condition. That was done, and
4 letter was sent nv the iailers IN nj