The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1876-02-25
THE COLUMBIAN, VOL. X, NO. 8
COLUMBIA DEMOCRAT, VOL. XII, NO.

| lying on tDe ground, ueaus SCoVJ was III ="
terrible dilemma, and saw at glance that
he would be suspected of having murdered
the peddler. Panic-stricken, he hastily
dressed himself, picked up his valise from
the floor, took his horse from the stable,and
departed from the inn, resolving to seek
safety in flight 1t was daylight when he
reached Coninbro,' and then for the first
| time he discovered that the valise which he
had taken from the floor was not his, but the
| peddler's, which he had no doubt dropped
when the murderers fell upon him, and in
the place of which they doubtless seized and
carried off SCOTS, which lay on the carpet
close by.
The extraordinary story was not believed
by the Coroners jury in the face of all the
damning evidence against Scott. 1t was
shown that he had seen the peddler produce
his wallet from the valise, in the blacksmith
shop; that he had offered to accompany the
| peddler to Doncaster, and that he had taken
| up his quarters at the same inn, and slept in
| the same room with the murdered man. Be-
sides this, he was captured with the valse
in his possession, and what better evidence
of his guilt could there be?
Scott was sent to Jail, and in due course
tried for wilful murder Out of charity
young lawyer undertook his defence. The
evidence for the prosecution was clear and
| convincing, and Mr.. O'Brien-afterward
| Sergeant O'Brien-the prisoners counsel,
saw no chance of his clients escape.-The
| principal witnesses against him were the
blacksmith, John Steele, his son Richard,
the men that were in the smithy when the
| peddler and Scott first met, the landlord of
the inn, who swore that Scott urged the ped
dler to go another inn, and the officers who
found Scott with the pedler's valise in his
possession.
The hammer with which the murder had
been committed was produced on the trial.
and shown to the jury. One of them re-
marked to the Court that it was black
smiths shoeing hammer. Mr.. OBrien
quietly asked to be allowed to look at it, and
he examined it closely. Then he stood up
and handed it to the prisoner. Scott
glanced his eye over it for a moment, and
then handed it back to his counsel. The
next instant he clutched it, drew it from Mr..
O Brien's grasp and scrutinized it with the
most intense interest. Then he leaned on
the dock and spoke in a hurried tone to his
counsel. The latter, with flushed face and
hasty movements, made his way to the side
of the prosecuting officer, and conversed
with him in low tone for several minutes
The prosecuting officer then spoke with the
judge, and after few seconds, beckoned an
officer and whispered to him few words.
Mr.. Steele, the blacksmith was recalled to
the witness stand by Mr.. o Brien, who
said:
'Mr, Steele, you are an old and expert
enced blacksmith, are you not ?"
eyes, sir" Steele answered, with per-
| ceptible tremor in his voice.
"Did you work at your trade in Holder
ness ?"
ayes, sir, when l was young man."
Anything peculiar in the manufacture of
horseshoe nails in that district, Mr. Steel ?"
81 think there is, sir"
"Pray tell us what that popularity is, Mr..
Steel ?"
"The head is divided like in the mid
de-"
Anything like the head of that nail used
as a wedge in the handle of that hammer,
Mr.. Steele?" the counsel asked, handing the
witness the weapon found near the body of
the murdered peddler.
The witness hand shook like leaf as he
reached it out for the hammer, his cheeks
grew deadly pale, his lips became parched,
and though he held the hammer in his
hand, his startling eyes were fixed on his
questioner.
Anything like that nail ?" Mr. O'Brien
repeated, calmly looking at the witness.
Eyes, sir" Steele replied, at length, with
difficulty.
'Should you say that nail had been made
in Holdeness, Mr.. Steeler
SIT looks like it, sir" was Steele's re-
ply.
"Mr. Steele" the counsel said moving al
most close up to him, and standing so that
judge and jury could see both witness and
interrogation distinctly, did you ever see
that hammer before you saw it in this
Court?"
| The witness gave gasp, and then recov-
ering himself, said;
"Yes, sir; / saw it in the hands of the
Coroner"
At this juncture there was disturbance
in the Court, ,and the officers were seen striv-
ing to prevent young man from quitting
the room.
The young man was Richard Steele, the
blacksmith's son.
"Let me CO." he said, "that's the old
scoundrel that did it. He knows that ham
mer's 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 vii
lain, though he is my father"
The scene that followed cannot be de.
scribed, Suffice it to say that nole prose
qui was entered, and Scott was transferred
into an important witness, Steele and his
son heing duly indicted and tried for the
murder of the peddler. Scott swore to the
blacksmith's having taken the nail from the
old horseshoe, remarked that it had been
made in Holderness, and driven into the
hammer as a wedge The hammer was fur
thermore identified as having belonged to
Steele, and testimony was given which
showed that the blacksmith and his son
were absent from home the night of the
murder, marketman swearing that he
passed them near Doncaster, going in the
direction of Vickhill, at o'clock on the
morning of the 2lst of June. But the evi,
dence that settled their fate was furnished
by Scott's valise, which they had taken at