The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1878-07-25
THE HERslrT's LIFE AND DEATH.
An Old Man WHO Lived like Wild seast
in the Woods.
FtOm he Bsdalo IN " Courier.


County, will be read with interest. This
singular man was C. native. of Ireland,
coming tc his country very young
Thirty years ago he was engaged in The
capacity of hostler at Clark's Hotel,
Waddington, st. Lawrence County, and
leaving there after several years. service,
he went to act in the same capacity at
Raymondville, where he did not stay
long. He was always noted to be say.
ing and industrious man, anG courted
solicitude habitually. Nothing is known
OF his career from the time he left there,
twenty years and moro ago, until he
South Cotton. To appearance he was
then about As years Of ege. and smoke.
which was but seldom, with an unpistak.
able "brogue." He engaged board at
Armstrong; Hotel for six weeks, paving
weekly In advance. He disappeared
after this for two weeks, when he re.
t5Rned and boarded another week at the
hotel. While he boarded at the hotel he
sought seclusion and busted himself du-
ring the day in rambles in the woods,
gaining an accurate knowledge of oil the
locations of the country around; every
spring, brook, crag and mound In the
Upon leaving Armstrong's the last
time he began to live the life of her.
init, upon piece of woodland which he
Bought Erom M. D. Beckwith, situated
Two miles northeast of South Cotton, on
the section. known as the "Dead Creek
Road" Daulter's manner Of living here
was not above that Of wild beast. He
erected log hut, consisting of three
apartments connected by holes, fhcing to
tne east. Ihe s0uth apartment. ten by
eight, paulter lived an. 1t mad no floor,
no windows, and he cooked from fire
against the wall. The middle apartment
was used to sleep in, the bed consisting
of husks and old straw thrown on thee
ground; and the north apartment, the
in. He had cleared about six acres of
land around the camp and had iuclosed
1t with q substantial fence, which must
hags taken :;s::ssHyy ;si1oa7,sa5 ;si1oa7,tsaa5 10 sTcut. In
front OF his camp were o few rods square
evidently intended for potatoes. In the
entire clearing, under the most favorable
circumstances, it gcnij be impossible to
raise hay, grain or vegetables to the value
of five dollars. Hero Daulter lived alone.
seeking the companicnship of no one.
and nobody inquiring after his.
The last time he was seen alive was on
tuesday :Sselioon, April 80, standing in
front OF his shanty cutting potatoes for
planting On the same afternoon two
boys named Morgan passed the hut and
looked In. They saw inside one Peter
bresnaham, who slammed the door in
their faces. They told the circumstance
70 .heir father on reaching home. The
iatters curiosity being excited he visited
Inc siianty the next day. The door was
Standing opsE and tbs COW was lowing
continuously. Entering he found It
empty. and noticed that the floor in
many places was dug up. The neighbor-
hood being alarmed, more than 100 peo-
pie turned out 70 search for the absent
man; this was Wednesday. The search
was continued until 1 O'Clock Friday
afternoon without success. The remains.
soon after, we're discovered by dog be.
longing to one of the party: thew vera
lying behind log about thirty rods from
the shanty. The head was thrust under
o log and covered with leaves end dirt.
The sec.. 55ooTre 55ooTre marks of having been stood
upon to crush them out Of sight and
vere covered with leaves and dirt. One
hand grasped some leaves, as though
they had been clutched in the aponies of
death.
Peter Bresnaham having been seen in
the hut by the Morgan boys, suspicion
ct once fell upon him as the murderer of
Daulter. Investigation revealed that for
some days before he made several at
tempts to borrow gun from different
persons. He pretended that he wanted
to shoot wood-chucks, He eventually
secured an old flint musket from one
Joseph Matthews. On the day of the
killing, toward evening, he bought -four.
tobacco and tea. One Lindsay, Of whom
he purchased the flour, kept the money,
being induced to do 30 on account of it's
peculiarity. It was all in ten.cent silver
pieces, five-cent nickles, and two-cent
p:eces, and looked dark-colored. as
though it had not been used for scme
time. When asked where he got the
money, ne could give no rational account
OF 1t: When buying the -four he had on
his shoulCer tue same gun he had bor-
rowed from Matthews. One man saw
Bresnsham as he was going to Daulter's.
and another saw him as he was leaving.
Blood was found also on his coat, pants
and boots.
Bresnaham Is an I.ish-Csnadiap, and
came to reside at South Cotton last Octo-
ber. He is shiftless, dissipated, poverty
stricken, and ragged. He has q wife and
child; the latter twelve years old. Last
winter he cut logs for one George Will
Hanson. Jho he'd some trouble with him.
1t was noticed that about the time of the
.: &c ssesd change change h:s 4 ah.-Ls w!:.-s.
On his examination he accounted for
this by saying that he had fire in front
of his house on the Thursday evening
after Daulter was missed, and the wind
blew the flames into his face and burnt
his whiskers, which necessitated his
trimming them with shears. On being
further pressed on examination he stated
tLat he never knew Daulter nor had
heard that he was singular man, or that
he had money. But he had heard that
he lived in peculiar hut or camp.
.fAast winter, when playing cards with
the Hutcheson boys, some one remarked
that they would have to knock over Mike
Daulter and get some money to put up |;
am innocent of this murder; never saw
Daultef until saw the corpse yesterday
afternoon; went down TO the Dead Greed
Road aud passed Daulter's Wednesday,
the day after the murder; went to see q
man; do not see that there are any moro
suspicious hanging over me in regard to
the murder than attach to any other per-
aon in South Coiton.;
Tbs younger boy Morgan identified
Bresnahan as the same person he saw In
the hut, notwithstanding sho change In
! his .yhisksTs