Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1879-08-21


lived in one of those "aats," or suites Of
rooms, opening from common stair, which
were common in Edinburgh then, as now,
though in London, except in the Inns OF
Court, they are modern Innovation. Under
somewhat imperfect arrangement, this plan OF
building offers facilities for hearing high voices
or heavy falls. The nearest neighbors Of the
Shaws, a family named Morrison, often over
heard the quarrels of the father and daughter.
Without troubling 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
watch.case maker, heard Catherine giving
vent to such expressions as "barbarity p cru
city !" and DEATH" ..-..a...
Presently he heard somebody leave the
room, shutting the door noisily and locking
it. Fer some minutes afterward there was
silence. Then he heard several faint groans
in what seemed GATHERINGS 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, "Cruel father,
you are the cause of my death y They
knocked imperatively for admittance. There
was no answer, and calling the aid of the town
guard, they forced the lock. Catherine was
found living in pool of blood, with knife
beside her. She was in the agonies of death,
and quite speechless, but when neighbor
bent over her and inquired if it was her faith
er who had done this, she was just able to
make the affirmative motion with her head,
and then expired. -.,........
At this very 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 only natural. Blood
upon his shirt bore less doubtful witness
against him.
He was hurried before the magistrates, and
on his trial he fully 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 we'll. He persisted
that the blood on his shirt was there in con-
sequence of his having bled himself, some
DAYS before, and the bandage becoming un-
tied but to this he could offer no corrobora.
tive 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 rear
rangements in his room; setting up cupboard,
or shelves, or something which led him to pay
particular. attention to the skirtlng-board
round the fireplace. Suddenly he caught
sight of a paper which seemed to have fallen
behind it. He took it out, and when he had
unfolded it, he read the following letter:
"3arbarous father, your cruelty in having
put it out Of my power ever to join my fate
to that of the only man l could love, and
tyrannically insisting on my marrying one
whom had always hated, has made me form
a resolution to put an end to an 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 Catherine Shaw" H.a
Many relations land friends readily recog.
nized the handwriting. The high flown lam
guage, the egotism of tone, alike reveal a
mind poisoned by the style Of romance in
fashion at that epoch, and make us feel with
the poor father who was probably honestly
desirous to save his child from real misery,
though, perhaps 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 we're still hanging in chains, ac-
cordiug to the ghastly old custom) and given
to his family for interment. And "as the
only reparation to his memory, and the hon
or to his surviving relations, 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 togeth-
er at Norfolk tavern in the year 1854. One
became deeply intoxicated; then the others,
also somewhat infamed by wine, quarreled,
and one snatched up the sword Of the drunk
en- man and stabbed the other to the heart.
And not until years after the drunkard had
been tried and executed for the murder, did
the other, then dying in extreme misery IN
France, acknowledge 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, hav-
ing been collecting his rents, suddenly disap-
peared. John Perry accused his mother,
himself, and his brother Of having robbed
Mr.. Harrison in the previous year, and OF
having again robbed him and murdered him
on the night when he was missed. The moth
er and Richard Perry denied all knowledge
of the matter; but at length pleaded guilty
to the first indictment under some pressure OF
policy. The other Indictment was not then
proceeded with, on the ground that the body
was not found. But John persisted in his
story, and at the next assize they were all
tried for murder. John then retracted his
confession, and said he must have been mad.
Nevertheless, they were all condemned. Some
years after Mr.. Harrison appeared alive,
and thus accounted for his mysterious ab.
sence: "After receiving his rents, he had been
set upon by gang of ruf6ans, carried to the
seaside, put on shipboard, and sold as slave
to the Turks. After his masters death he
escaped, and with great difficulty. working his
way, first to Lisbon, and thence to Dover, he
arrived in England, as our law book coolly
says, to the surprise Of all the country
The last story we shall tell is another tale
of an inn. The Rising Sun was the name of
public house on the high road between York
and Newcastle 1t was kept by man named
Harris, assisted by two servants, a man named
Morgan, and maid. One evening black.
smith stopped at the Rising Sun, supped and
slept there. Early next morning the ostler,
Morgan, went to a neighboring magistrate
and gave information that his master, Harris,
had Just murdered the traveller in his bed
The traveller was found at the public house
lying dead, with every appearance of having
been strangled. Harris was apprehended, but