The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1879-08-26

been carried up the chimney by draft
and clung to protuberance. This scrap
of paper was thought nothing of by the
servant, and would have been thrown
away If the landlord had not seem it, and
observed on 1t the name Layman."
This attracted his attention, and he read
all that was there. 1t was as follows:
...,.., the way you can easily entice Fanny.....
use what aids. ......... find need. 49,.
................. .SALDON
The paper had been formed along the
fourth line, and then torn off at the
corner. 1t was conveyed to Layman,
and kept by him as likely to be of value.
There was small doubt that Fanny was
in the vehicle which Layman overlook
on his way home, and that the screams
which he heard were her cries for help.
Gould it be that Miller was at the bot
tom of the abduction ? Layman re-
membered that Miller had frequently
written in an album belonging to Fan
ny, and in comparing that writing with
the writing on the scrap of paper they
were found to be identical. Layman
made his way to York to consult q
lawyer as to the best means of discover
ing his sister. When he reached that
city almost the first thing he saw in
newspaper was an account of the dis
covery of the body of murdered woman
in the River Aire, just above Leeds,
near place known as the Forge. The
woman was pregnant, and her linen was
marked "F. L." Feeling sure that this
must be his sister, for the description
answered to her in every particular, Lay
man started back home.
On the outskirts of Selby he was way
laid by footpads, and robbed Then he
was left on the highway, half dead. He
was found by q laboring man who rec
ognized him, and had him conveyed
home. When Layman recovered con-
sciousness, he remembered distinctly
that one of the footpads said, when ex-
postulated with by the other
You know as well as do that the
understanding was that we were to kill
him.
Layman was a vigorous man, and
three days after his last mishap he was
on his way to Leeds. Arrived at Kirk
still, he found that the body had been
claimed by an old woman as that of her
daughter, and buried. Layman went
before Mr.. James Hargraves, then
Magistrate, and applied to have the
body disinterred. Leave was granted,
and the next morning was appointed for
the work. During the night, however,
the grave was opened and the corpse re-
moved. Who the depredators were was
involved in mystery. Layman saw in
it a conspiracy to defraud justice, and
by wonderful stroke of good fortune
hit upon the very device which the de-
spoilers of the grave had adopted. While
examining the church-yard and the
neighboring field, he observed deep foot
prints underneath very high wall, the
ascent of which was, however, easy to
an unen numbered person. These foot
steps led both ways, and Layman con-
cluded that persons rifiing the grave had
both approached it and quilted it by that
way. But it was next to impossible that
they could have done this with the coffin
in their possession, and therefore he ar
rived at the conclusion that the corpse
had been reburied somewhere within the
precincts of the grave yard. A search
was made, but no newly turned soil was
found. Mr.. Hargrave suggested exam
lining the old-fashioned square raised
tombs, of which there were many in
the grounds, and sure enough, under
one of the slabs was found the coffin and
the remains. Layman identified the
body as his sisters and it bore marks to
show that the girl had been strangled.
BY this time the authorities of Leeds,
York and Selby had become alike in
terested in the crime. That the man
Miller was at the bottom of it they had
every reason to believe. But who was
he, that he could bring his instruments
to bear so readily whenever he desired to
use them And what was his object
in accomplishing the death of the
girl9 The word d" seldom" at the end of
the writing on the scrap of paper found
in the chimney was evidently the wri-
ter's name. Was Seldom the same per-
son as Miller, and was that person inter-
ested in getting out of the way the girl
whom he lawfully married 2 Mr.. Har-
graves shrewdness seemed to offer o
rational solution of the mystery, name
lxv. L., A. n