The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1882-06-09

-@-<--t ~ Wa@A tAAC1 WCIo ike. rs ho
thought nothing about them at The Tina.
could not say even if the two weaa men
or women; thought they had alighted
on the way, and that the gentleman Ia
the coach was one of those who startoa.
first at WoodIey. When about fwe,
miles on the other side of Winfield Hol-
low he heard what seemed to him to 10
q violent dispute going on inside thu
coach. He stopped the horses and went
to the door. Only two passengers vera
then insice-one young man with dark
eyes and chestnut hair, and the other he
could swear was the murdered man
They seemed to be In high dispute: I'm,
when they saw him, and knew that their
alteration had stopped the coach, the
murdered mamie was certain he could
swear it was the murdered man-put
his head out of the window, and said
what do you want? Ny friend and
1 had a few harsh words, and what is
that to you ?"
When he heard this he remounted the
box. About five minutes lataea oesshof'
The Hes@.eEnen stopped hiIh to get out
seeming to be much agitated, which he
supposed to be on account of the dis
pute. He did not notice at the time
"A-t~A SeAAtACA4sAA ACAts but CCutll certain
" swear that it was the murdered man
who had spoken to HIM from the win
dow, and who appeared to be the prin-
cipal IN the dispute. A few minutes after
the unknown gentleman left the muir
dered man the accident occurred which
prevented the goodman from anv very
close remembrance of particular in
cidents.
Rush, the stage coachman, appeared
to be much troubled during his exam
nation by the police, which was very
natural, as he had good reason to know
that he would be greatly blamed, and
would probably in the end be dismissed
for carelessness. 1t is no pleasant thing
10 drive n coach. and to have people
murdered In it. He was, however, much
relieved when he found that his conduct,
on account of the excitement occasioned
oy the accident. was not considered to
be very culpable, and that he was only
bound over to attend and give evidence
at the inquest, which he was very willing
to do.
The inquest was held in due course.
Mr.. Pr1tchard, the Coroner, being an
active, sensible man, nothing was left
undone which might subserve the ends
OF justice. Several people were called
as witnesses, but only three gave evil
dence of any consequence. The first
was the clerk at the Office where the
coach started. He gave the names of
the passengers booked, but could not
identify the murdered man.
The next was the coachman, John
Rush, whose tale was much as has been
already told.
The most important point in his evil
dence was that he affirmed that the muir
dered man spoke little huskily through
his nose, and had a way of hsping out
his words so that, even in the midst of
the fight, he could hardly help laughing
at him.
All this evidence he gave in clear,
straightforward manner, such as, 1t was
thought, proved him beyond doubt
to have no completely in the foul deed.
The third witness was the porter who
discovered the dead body; and after
these were one or two others who were
present at the time, including the med,
ical man who examined the corpse.
The Coroner summed up with great
ability, and the jury, without moments
consideration, returned a verdict OF will
full murder against some person or per-
sons unknown.
The next day the body Of the MUIR
dered man was buried and the police re-
newed their search. but everybody saw
that, after little popular Indignation,
and little fuss ON the part of the news
papers, the tragedy of the Bellair stage
would probably become one of those
mysteries which wait for calculation
and punishment until the day of doom.
Strange to say, however, the perpetrator
of the crime was discovered, and con-
victed on his own evidence, and the very
means which he adopted to hide the
dreadful deed were the occasion of it
being brought to light, as I shall now
briefly explain.
The town of BeIlair was about forty
or fifty miles from Woodley, and the
stage ran between the two places A
few miles from Woodiey was another
small town called Oakbourne, and In
Oakbourne lived a widow lady, named
Conway, and her daughter.
Mrs. Conway had brother who was
deaf and dumb. His name was Thomas
His affection, as might be
was source of great trial to
his family, and had his parents been
poor il would have made his course In
life much harder than it really was; but
his father, old Nh. EIlwood, had but two
children. the eldest girl-who married
while young certain MIR. Conway-and
Thomas. of whom am about to speak.
After Jane Ellwood became Mrs. Com
way she saw very little of her own lam
lily, for her mother was already dead. ana
In less than a year after her wedding day
she lost her father, and now her only
surviving relative was her brother
Thomas.
To Thomas Enwood his father left
almost all that he possessed, saying that
his daughter, being married, wanted lit
tie. and that poor Tom could do nothing
for himself. "Poor Tom, however, at
the time of our story, was no longer .
boy. for he had nearly reached his 4Oth
year. but he had never married. His
sister, Mrs. Conway, was older than
himself, and had an only child, a daugh-
ter, now about II years of age, called,
after her mother. Jane.
Jane had great expectations, for not
only was her widowed mother well-to-
do In the world, but her uncle, Thomas
Ellwood, had declared that as he was,
on account of his infirmity, likely To-
spend his days In bachelorhood. he would
leave all his property to her. Jane had.
moreover, lover, right good young
man, to whom her mother had prom
ised that she should in due time be
united, which meant whenever Uncle
EIlwood found opportunity. as he had
promised, to settle a certain large sum
upon her. But Uncle Ellwood had
hitherto neglected doing so, chiefly on
account of an innate dislike which he
had to doing business with lawyers.
But time and love would allow of no
longer delay. Uncle Tom had promised
his sister and niece thathewould arrange
about the property early In the month
of August, which had already begun
but when, two days after, he called at
Mrs. Conveys house, he allowed that