Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1880-10-15
three thousand pounds sterling were

| three thousand pounds sterling wer
missing.
| A search of the premises disclosed tn
fact that some person had entered by thu
small balcony from the garden. Their
were marks Of footsteps beneath and sol
was on the balcony. Among the bushes
| in the garden was found stick with Z
ldog's head for a handle, which was GOV
cred with blood and hair. The fact came
to Mr.. Craig, who testified that be had
met the young sailor the night before and
that he carried stick precisely similar te
the one found. There was no doubt that
the fatal wound had been inflicted with
the stick; for the hair on the to p of itcor-
responded with that of the murdered
man.
Constables were sent off in pursuit Of
the supposed murderer. He was traced to
Bristol; but there the officers lost sight of
him. Several ships had sailed early that
morning, but whether the young man had
left on any of them could not be ascer-
| tanned.
Those were not the days of steamboats,
and telegraphs, and all the authorities
could do was to wait patiently and see
what would turn up.
| By the death of her father Emily Bull
Ter had become heiress to his estate, and,
as the will specified that in case he died
she should come into possession of the
property at the age of eighteen, she was
virtually the mistress Of splendid do
main. She received several offers of mar
riage, but rejected them all, and lived
within her own dwelling.
Soon strange things were whispered
around, and at length it was openly said
that before long tile young lady at the
Oaks, as the dwelling was called, would
become mother. This event did actually
happen in June, 1882, much to the sur
prise and CONSERVATION of all respectable
people in the neighborhood.
Immediately after the chlld's birth she
had him christened Charles Ransom, and
announced that she had been secretly mar
ried to the father who bore the same
name. Who he was or anything about
him she refused to say.
One month later, that is in July, 1882,
person was arrested in Bristol answer
ing to the description of the young sailor
who was supposed to be the murderer of
Indian trader, had just arrived in port,
and he was captured as he put his foot
ashore. Investigation showed that the
Dover Castle sailed from Bristol on the
morning of September ID, 1881, the day
after the murder of Mr.. Butler.
The young man gave his name as
Samuel Carter, expressed surprise when
told he was arrested for murder. but when
informed that Mr.. Butler was the victim
he sank to the earth. He solemnly averred
his innocence, but admitted that he had
in his keeping on the day of the murder a
stick with dogs head handle, and said
that he had lost it, he did not know where.
When confronted with Mr.. Craig the
latter instantly identified him as the sail
or who met him near Weston on the night
of the crime and asked him the time.
| There was the same smooth face, the dark,
| curly hair, and the scar over the left
eye.
It was proved that he had left the Dover
Castle with the stick in his possession the
afternoon preceding the murder, and that
he did not return until four o'clock the
next morning. his excuse being that he
wished to spend the last night at home
with his relatives. It was also shown that
his shoes were dusty, as though he had
been walking along country road.
Carter persisted in his denial of all knowl-
edge of the murder, but was convicted and
! sentenced to be hanged.
What had become Of the money taken
on the night of the murder was not dis
closed on the trial.
The very day On which Carter was SEN
! fenced the Sheriff of Gloucester received a
letter from the manager of bank ia Exc
ter, Devonshire, saying that just about the
time when Mr.. Butler was murdered man
who gave the name of Crafts deposited
G3, 900 in the bank, saying that he was 60
| ing to start business in Exeter as saddler
| and his father had advanced him the mon
ey. AS it was not usual for a stranger to
deposit so large sum in notes the manager
of the bank examined the notes carefully
He found that they had been counted and
arranged s100 at time, and between each
lot small piece of paper was placed right
| mi ho IN ov,o nf fboco mot horo
was writing, and with care peculiar to
the manager he had placed the scrap in a
small drawer with other like odds and
| ends. Having need to 90 to the drawer a
few days after, he saw the slip Of paper
and the name of Butler" written on it in
! bold hand attracted his attention. He
had just read an account of the trial which
was in progress in Gloucester, and the sin
gular facts he was narrating struck him as
important.
They were deemed so important by the
sheriff that, instead of ordering the execu-
ton of Carter to proceed within five days,
the court deferred it for thirty days, in
order that inquiry might be made.
Crafts, it was found, had really opened
saddlery in back street in Exeter His
place was watched, and several suspicious
looking personages were seen to go in, and
part of letter written by a lawyer in Bris-
| tol to Mr.. Butler was found.
| On October Is, 1885, the detective who
had been summoned from London to ill.,
vestigate the Crafts matter, called at his
saddlery store disguised as a farmer. He
| inquired the price of certain harness, and