Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-02-04
STRANGE CLEWS TO CRIME.

OIAtnuOE VIkHO ~ V1lsNtkl
John Cooper kept q small hosiery at
Castleford, in Yorkshire, England. In
June, 1929, young man calling himself
William Jones, came to the place and
asked for employment. He said he
knew all about horses, and, further
more, he wrote a good hand. Cooper
was illiterate, and had long felt the need
of some one to help him, as he had re-
Gently built -four mill and found it
hard to keep a. reckoning with the
farmers who brought their wheat to be
ground. Jones was about twenty-three,
tall and robust, and of very pleasant
manners, and, having read to Cooper and
his wife out of an old newspaper, and
having shown them what he could do
with pen, he was engaged at salary
of one pound a month and his board
About three weeks after this there
come to the house a peddler-a man
nearly twice the age OF Jones and of a
different kind. He was short and robust,
with red hair, a hump Oh one shoulder,
with arms unnaturally long and sinewy.
This man drank his ale, ate his bread
and cheese. and offered his wares for
sale. Then he sat by the fire, told good
stories and related strange adventures In
out-of-the-way places among the hills
and on the moors.
In the evening he walked outside with
his pipe and watched Jones curry the
horses and fodder them for the night.
Now it so happened that Cooper's bed
room was over the stable, and that,
having drank more than ordinary, he
had gone to rest soon after tea. After
two hours slumber he suddenly awoke
and became conscious that two persons
were talking in the stable below. Get
ting out of bed with due caution, he
PUT HIS EAR To THE FLOOR,
and overheard distinctly what was said.
What he heard was this:
"Weu," said the peddler, CT came
just as soon as [ got your letter. 1t lay
at the cottage for some days before [ got
it; but as soon as / read it [ started
right away
''This thing can not last much long
er," said Jones' ''Im worn out already,
but I am obliged to bear up so as not to
arouse suspicion. A nice idea, isn't it,
for me to be doing this drudgery?"
SIT is your own fault was the an
swer; "why did you not stop and face it
out? Why did you sneak away and
leave others to bear the brunt 2"
"Sneak away!" Jones said in bitter
tone; "who would not have done the
same, with the gallows staring him in
the face?"
''You should have made complete
job of it, - the peddler said; "s dead men
tell no tales. -
''Look you here Jones replied; 'as
you know, I'm not the man to finch
when bullet or knife can do the bust
ness, but to put ones own sister out of
the way is another matter altogether"
.'The question now is" said the ped
der, "what are you going to do if you
quit here?'
$50 back to the word was lostl, and
take my chance, was the answer.
"You are id fool, the peddler re-
piled, In low growl.
"And you are worse than a fool, %
Jones said, cor you would have man
aged things better than keep me waiting
here"
"Well, we strangled the old wretch,
anyhow" the peddler said, "and that
put him out of the way. If you can't
manage your sister and get out of her all
you want, you will be to blame, and
not L y
The conversation was then continued
In lower tone. and Cooper
CREPT CAUTIOUSLY FROM THE ROOM
and Joined his wife below stairs. Like
many shrewd business people who can
neither read nor write, Cooper and his
wife had wonderfully retentive memo
ries and Cooper bad related to his wife
word for word the conversation he had
Just overheard.
After consulting together for some
time Mrs. Cooper said:
"We've had trou BILE enough on our
hands with our boy, who is now over the
sea, suffering for his share in that poach-
ing affray at Shadwick Hall. Don't let
us NEEDLE with this matter, whatever it
may be. -
"But it may bring us into worse
trouble still, Cooper replied. "Murder
has been committed, and the men who
did it are under our roof, and one of
them is our servant. If this was found
out it might go all the harder with us,
because our boy has been in almost as
bad trouble himself
After a pause Mrs Cooper said:
There's still two hours of daylight
I'll put on my things and go over to my
brothers. He's constable, and will be
able to advise us what to do. I'll stay
there all night, and you must keep the
men here till L get back In the morning
early"
This was agreed to, and Mrs Cooper
departed. Later on Jones and the ped
der came into the house and sat with