Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1876-03-30

At this juncture there was a disturb
ance in the court, and the officers were
seen striving to prevent young man from
quitting the room.
The young man was Richard Steele, the
blacksmiths SON.
g Let me co. he said; chats the old
scoundrel that did it. He knows that
hammers his, well enough. He knows
that he planned the whole thing and led
me into it. I'll turn Kings evidence; I'll
blab the whole story. Let me go and I'll
hang the old villain, though he is my
father
The scene that followed cannot be de-
scribed. Suffice it to say that a aa0lIe
pr0seQu5 was entered, and Scott was trans
ferred into an important witness, Steele
and his son being duly indicted and tried
for the murder Of the peddler Scott
swore to the blacksmith's having taken
the nail from the horseshoe, remarked
that it had been made in Holderness, and
driven it into the hammer head as a
wedge. The hammer was furthermore
identified as having belonged to Steele,
and testimony was given which showed
that the blacksmith and his son wee alb
sent from home the night Of the murder, a
marketman swearing he passed them near
Doncaster, going in the direction of Wick
hill, at three O'Clock on the morning of
the 21st of June. But the evidence that
settled their fate was furnished by SCOTS
valise, which they had taken at the time
Of the murder of the peddler. 1t was dis
covered in the ash-heap at the back of the
smithy. Steele and his son were con-
victed and sentenced to be hanged, and
both made full confession to the follow
ing effect:
Steele, ST., resolved on the robbery and
murder, if need be, of the peddler imme-
diately after he discovered that the man
was possessed of a large sum of money.
After the peddler and his companion had
quilted the smithy, Steele closed it, and
communicated to his son his design re-
specting the peddler. The son, who was
profigate man, assented to the scheme.
Both were about to start after the two
men and get ahead of them by Bride
path but the smith changed his plan.
If they did that they would have to at
tack them both in the open road and on
horseback. The smith knew the inn to
which they were going, and was well ac
quainted with the outbuildings in which
they we're to sleep. He proposed, there
fore, that they should rob the peddler in
his sleep, and only use violence in case it
was necessary to secure safety When
they entered the outbuildings the smith
went toward SCOTS bed, while Richard
remained near the door.
Finding the man wanted was not there,
Steele and his son approached the other
bed and found the peddler, knowing it
was he from his bald head They tried
I to remove the valise on which he slept,
from under his head, but he evidently
had his hand in the strap, and the tug
aWoke him.
The reader knows the rest from the
story told by Scott. After the smith and
his son had quilted the room, with what
they supposed was the peddler's valise,
Steele's mind misgave him, and dread
that Scott had been an observer Of the
bloody deed, and would recognize the
perpetrators, seized him.
He hurried back to the room resolved to
brain Scott if he found him awake On
discovering the bed empty, the smith
dropped his hammer in alright, the only
explanation to his mind of SCOTS absence
being that he had witnessed the crime and
Quilted the place secretly to give the
alarm. The smith and his son departed
panic-stricken, and on reaching home dis
covered, to their intense modification and
disappointment, that the valise for which
they had murdered man and exposed
themselves to the gallows, contained only
a few old clothes Steele and his son
were hanged at York, Dec. s, 1887.