Litchfield enquirer., 1881-09-08
kgal .UH, Fil 5l5df ]. .Tff fE5 4 a .t -' THE < sTAGEs,.C COACH HiwTRAGEDY,


 Long ago. in the coaching days, was tray ellng agent for aalarge firm in London, and ii the course :, of business visited the flourishin,
 little town of. Bellair, where our people hat many cnstc merS. It was about the middle 0 August, and on the very night Of my arrlva that usually quiet and sober town was throwl into state of consternatiopa by the occurrenc, lof a very unusual circuihstance. The stage coach was accustomed to arrive about 'clocl but on the day tip question that hour passed and the stage, did not come in, cl, s5a. ... The time-keeper was in state of great agi tasien, walking to and fro, and wonderins what had become ofu1hd coach. There were itY9 or three people looking for friends. and on, old gentleman waiting for parcel which ht expected by the Bellair stage, and wanted tc take with him by another coach, which va upon the point siof searting. Every one wa annoyed, apd, all ths, oti1cialsf were looking ou eagerly and anxiously wondering what coult have caused the delay.
 But grutnbilng availed nothing they coalc only wait Eight o'clock, the proper hou for the arrival of the coach, had long sine passed. The halt hour came and went. 1 was less than quarter to 9, but still the Bel lair stage had not arrived. It was at last sup posed that some accident must have befallet the coach, and assistance was being preparet in the shape of horsemen to search the road These were nearly ready, but when just upor the point of starting the loud blast of tn, cOachman's horn was heard, and anxiety as t( the safety of the stage was exchanged for won der as to the cause of it's delay. A few mo ments later it drove up in due form before tho office, aud little crowd gathered to investi gate the origin of such an unusual circum stance. ...-,,.
 The coachman, upon being questioned, gave very clear and simple explanation of tho affair A passenger. he said, had suddenly insisted on aiighting, and had banged tht door so violently that one of the horses haC taken fright. This had startled the othe horse, and the two had at once .galloped mad. ly away, nearly demolishing the coach. and were not brought to until one of them fortu nately stumbled and hurt hls fore leg severely causing considerable delay. The appearance of the horse witnessed to the truth of thls statement Every one was for the moment satisfied with this account of the delay, but only forsa moment, for the next instant much more exciting and horrible discovery than the delay of the coach was made. .,.E .... -..
 One of the porters ionnglng about very naturally opened the coach door and prepared to assist the passengers to aight. But no one stirred within. It was too dark to see, but the porter putting his hand in felt the person of a human being, as he thought, very wet, and who must, from his insensibility, either be sleeping or else was, perhaps, stunned by the accident on the road. t. .H. -.... .r.
 'Halloa, John !'' cried he, ''who the deuce have you got here? The old gemman's either deadly asleep or else he's tainted when the horses ran off p .l. .".. 'l -'
 The coachman, whose name it may here be stated, was John Rush, replied very calm. ly:
 "Oh, he's all right, Bill Him and his pail had stiff. but fancy they'd been driukin', and now he's got asleep ....t .e ;.
 Saying so, lie brought forward lantern, the light of which Bill afterwards thought made him deadly pale. They however, cast the light into the coach upon the sleeping gen, tleman, but the next second they drew back with a shout of horror. Bill saw by the light that it was not the rain which had dampened his hands; the stain upon them could not be mistaken. Its blood. It's bloodl" he cried shaking the thick crimson drops from his tn- gers.
 As for poor Rush, the coachnan, he looked on in blank amazement, like a man stricken dumb. The noise which Bill made attracted the attention of all around, who were now only just beginning to guess at the cause of the delay. A scene of terrible excitement followed. The whole street was in confusion It was discovered that tie coach contained only one passenger, or rather his corpse, for he lay in pool of blood quite dead, and it was evident that he had been most foully mur- dered.. Examination showed that he was man in the prime of life, we'll dressed and of gentlemaniy appearance. but without purse, pocket book, papers, or any other article by which he could be identified excepting a small envelope with two cards in it--suppOsed the be- his own-and bearing the name of Sam- uel Robinson. It was evident that he had been stsbbed suddenly in the neck, and death must have been alGlOst instantaneous.
 Tbe excitement at BellaiF was very great. The proper officials were sent for and an in- vestigation made. Every one questioned as to who the murderer could be, and what steps could be taken to effect his capture. As might be expected, all eyes were turned to Rush, the coachman, who was naturally supposed to be likely to know something about the matter. In fact some people even suggested that possi- ply he might know more than he cared to tell, but this was only scandal. lie was very calm and collected, and, stating to the police that he could give valuable information, he accom- panied them to the station. 't """
 TLere he made the following important statement: He had started, he said, from Woodley, Tn the morning, with five passen. gers. This, of course, could be verified by reference to the officials there. At various places, so he said, he had set dowu five pas sengers. He had also taken up two, but did not remember what they were like, as he thought nothing about them at the time ,; could not say even if the two were men or thought that they had alighted on lo,, fbo was one of those who started first at Woodiey When about to miles on the other side of Win- field hollow he heard what seemed to him violent dispute going on inside the door; he horses and went to the door; only ,wo passengers were then insideluone a young nan with dark eyes and chestnut hair, and the other he could swear was the murdered man. They seemed to be in high dispute, but when hey saw him, and knew that their altercatiOn lad stopped the coach, the murdered man le was certain he could swear it was the mur- tered man put his head out of the window md said: +Hf A'. '""[.
 <. "What do you want2 My friend and lad a few harsh words,. and what is that to 1ou ?" ,t When he heard this he remounted tie box. About five minutes later one of the gentleman topped him to get out, and went away, seem- HE u UC LluCn dsS ltdeSu, WHiCA) AC SuppOSSu vas on account of the dispute. He did not lotlce at the time which gentleman left, but would certainly swear that it was the murder d man who had spoken to him from the win low, and who appeared to be the principal in he dispute. A few minutes after the un- Inown gentleman left the murdered man, the Iccident occurred which prevented the coach nan from any very close remembrance of par icuar incidents. ..,,..- ....t.
 Poor Rush appeared to be much troubled turing the examination by the police. which vas very natural, as he had good reason to ,now that he would be greatly blamed,i and would probably in the end be dismissed for arelessness. It is no pleasant thing 10 drive coach and have people murdered in it. He vas, however, much relieved when he found hat his conduct, lon account of the excitement accustomed ny the accident was noi considered 0 be very culpable and that he was only ,ound over to attend and give evidence at the inquest. which he was very willing to do.
 The inquest. was held in due course. Mir. oritchard, the coroner, being an active, sen ible man. nothing was left undone which <ln