The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1879-02-08

tne case winch draws sympathy 10 the
girl. There was not only lover to be
given up, but lover to be accepted.
While Shaw banished John Lawson, he
urged forward the suit of one Robert
son. Catharine passionately declared
that she would die sooner than marry
this man; and many alterations were
overheard between the father and
daughter. The family seems to have
consisted of these two only, and they
lived in one of those flats" or suite of
rooms, opening from a common stair,
which we're common in Edinburgh then.
as new, though in London, except in the
Inns of Court, they are modern inno-
walton. Under somewhat imperfect ar
rangement this plan of building offers
facilities for hearing high voices or
heavy falls. The nearest neighbors of
the Shaws, a family named Morrison,
often overheard the quarrels of the
father and daughter. Without troub-
ling themselves to listen, they could
hear words which the girl screamed
shrilly in her grief and rage. One day
the quarrel waxed very loud and hot
James Morrison, as he sat following his
occupation as a watchcase maker, heard
Catharine giving vent to such express
sions as "barbarityW "crueltyW and
"deathw
Presently he heard some body leave
the room, shutting the door noisily and
wards there was silence. Then he
heard several faint groans in what
seemed Catharine's voice. He felt
alarmed, and called the attention Of
others to the sound They went to the
door of Shaw's fiat and listened there.
Presently they heard the daughter
family exclaim: "Cruei father, you
are the cause of my DEATH" They
knocked imperatively for admittance,,;
there was no answer, and, calling the aid
of the town guard, they forced the
lock. Catharine was found lying in a
pool of blood, with knife beside her.
She was in the agonies of death, and
quite speechless, but when neighbo
bent over her and inquired if it was her
father who had done this, she was just
able to make an affirmative motion with
her head, and then expired.
At this moment William Shaw re-
turned. At the sight of his daughter
he turned pale, trembled, and was ready
to sink, which, after all, was only nat
ural. Blood upon his shirt bore less
doubtful witness against him.
He was soon hurried before the mag
istrates, and on his trial he admitted
the angry terms on which he and his
daughter had lived of late; also the
bitterness of the quarrel before their
last parting; but be declared that he
left her then unhurt and WELL He per-
sisted that the blood on his shirt was
there in consequence of his having bled
himself, some days before, and the
bandage becoming united, but of this
he could offer no corroborative evidence
So he was found guilty and hanged in
chains at Leith Walk.
Exactly one year later the new tenant
of William Shaw's fiat was making
some arrangements in his room, set
ting up a cupboard or shelves, or some
thing which led him to pay particular
attention to the skirting- board round
the fireplace. Suddenly he caught sight
of paper, which seemed to have fallen
behind it, He took it out, and when he
unfolded it, he read the following letter:
" Barbarous father, your cruelty in
having put it out of my power ever to
join my fate to that of the only man /
could love, and tyrannically insisting
on my marrying one whom had always
hated, has made me form a resolution
to put an end to my existence, which
has become burden to me. My death
| lay to your charge. When you read
this, consider yourself as the inhuman
wretch who plunged the murderous
knife into the bosom of the unhappy
Catharine Shaw"
Many relatives and friend readilys
recognized the handwriting. The high
flown language, the egotism of tone,
alike reveal mind poisoned with the
romance in fashion at that epoch, and
make us feel with the poor father, who
was probably honestly DESTROYS to save
his child from real miss ry, though, per-
haps, he did not take the best way to do
so. 1t reads like solemn irony that the
magistrates of Edinburgh ordered the
body of William Shaw to be taken from
the gibbet (the bones were still hang
ing IN chains, according to the CHASTITY
old custom,) and given to his family
for interment. And, Gas the only
reparation to his memory, and the honor
of his surviving relatives, they caused
pair of colors to be waved over his
grave in token of his innocence"
Far less pathetic, but scarcely less
grim, is the story of three gentlemen
supping together at Norfolk tavern in
the year 1854. One became deeply in
toxicated then the others, also some
Uh 10 I'M or cd hvr 1aI Il
one snatched up the sword of the
drunken man and stabbed the other to
the heart. And not until years after
the drunkard had been tried and exc
cuted for the murder did the other, then
dying in extreme misery in France, ac-
knowledge that he, and he only, had
done the deed
In the year 1860 two men named
Perry and their mother were hanged for
the murder of a man who had never been
murdered at all. Mr.. Harrison, Lady
Campden's steward, having been collect
ing his rents, suddenly disappeared.
John Perry accused his mother, him
self, and his brother of having robbed
Mr.. Harrison in the previous year, and
of having again robbed him and muir
dered him on the night when he was
missed. The mother and Richard Perry
denied all knowledge of the matter;
but at length pleaded guilty to the first
indictment, under some pressure of pol
icy. The other indictment was not
then proceeded with, on the ground that
the body was not found. But John per-
sisted in his story, and at the next as
size they were all tried for murder.
John then retracted his confession. and