Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1883-09-20

MN OF MS sleep. one lurlleu lnto tie .Ii
line turnpike to Milford, and her lover lost
her form in the darkness. He never again
saw her alive.
For a quarter of a mile the airline turn
pike has gentle descent. There is but one
house on the way, an unpainted gloomy
looking mansion on a high bank on the lett
of the road. The road itself is simple
country turnpike, fringed with dusty ferns,
thistles, brambles, milkWeed and golden
rod. At the forks of the road, ut the foot OF
the hill, Rose turned to her right over
short cross-road and entered the main street
of Stratford. From the airline turnpike
to her fathers house there are fifty DWELL
ings The main street is two hundred feet
wide. Wide grass plots stretch on either
side, shaded by mOnstrouS elms and many
leafed naples. The sidewalks are varied,
according to the whims of the owners OF the
residences along the route. In some places
there are fiag-stoneS and in others boards,
but for the most part the only walk isa tiinty
path worn through the turf. There had
been no rain for weeks, and while the road
was dusty the path was unusually hard.
The night was rendered more dark, If pos
sible, by the shade of the leaty elms and ma
pies, and more gloomy by the chirping of
the katydids in their branches. The only
light upon the woman's path was the feeble
tages embowered along the road. Most of
them are set well back, with turfy front
yards.
Half way to her fathers house Main street
forks, forming long turf triangle known as
Paradise Green. A little school house
suuats on this green, and a belfried church
faces the base of the triangle. Roses route
lay by the lower, or Ravenstream road. 1t
is hardly as broad as Main street, and its
dwellings are more deeply embOwered, and
more scattered. Corn fields and meadows
intervene, but the turf walk is still shaded
by overhanging elms and bushy NAPLES.
Along this road Rose walked until within
hailing distance of her fathers house. Her
former husband was then in his bed twenty
miles from Stratford. Her father was scud-
ding the waters of Vineyard Sound, and her
mother had gone to sleep, leaving door un-
fastened for the entrance of her daughter,
convinced that she would return home safe
and sound, as she had done so many times
before. She never returned alive.
Preston II. Hodges lives within seventy
rods of the residence of Rose Amber's pa
rents. His house is on the south side of the
road. Roses home is on the north side,
two hundred feet or more beyond the resi-
dence Of Elbert O. Curtis. Mr.. Hodges is
retired gentleman, oWninga beautiful farm,
with trout ponds, shrubbery, conservato-
ries and other indications of wealth.; His
two married daughters, Mrs. Isbell and
Mrs. Mary Merrill, are spending the sum-
mer with him. Mrs. Merrill's husband is
with her. He suffers from palpitation of the
heart. On the night of Sunday, September
9, the family retired about 10 O'Clock.
smart shower was falling, and there were
flashes Of lightning in the black sky. After
doing for some time Mr.. Merrill was
awakened by shrill scream. He took it
for the screech ofan owl, but it startled him
so much that it set his heart to beating. He
arose and turned up the light. His wife
aWoke and asked what was the matter. ut
is bad enough" he said, "to have toss and
tumble for hours to catch Il nap, without
having these screech owls awake you when
you are asleep" Mrs. Merrill looked at the
clock to see how long her husband had slept.
1t was twenty-five minutes OF II. The
scream was not repeated. 1t was heard by
Mrs Isbell and by Mr.. Hodges, who also
took it for the screeching of an owl. In the
morning they changed their minds.
".
Charles Mason is Il sun-browned farmers
boy who works for Preston II. Hodges On
Monday morning, Il week ago, he awoke
before daylight, got his breakfast, did the
chores, and drove the cows to pasture.
The pasture lot is an open meadow, as flat
as a window pane, adjoining the front yard.
A low stone wall bars it from the street.
Charles turned the cattle into the street
from the barnyard, and was following them
to the pasture when he met Will Roberts
and Preston Ospell driving COWS in an OPP
posite direction. The herds went to hook
ing each other, and gave the boys some
trouble. Charles, however, managed to
open the red gate, and turn 1Iodges's cows
into the pasture, while Will planted his
elbows on the low wall and waited for him.
When Charles returned he leaned on the wall
at the side Of the smaller boys, and they be-
gan to chat about tie cow fight Suddenly
Will pointed little 10 his left and whisper
ed, ooh, Charley, look at the man." Char
les turned and whispered back, ut amt a
man. It's Il woman" At tirstthey thought
''She laid on the broad of her back, with
her hands under her hips and her bonnet
on the back of her head" Charles says:
"Her dress was kinder drawn up around
her waist, and her feet were about two
feet apart" He saw nothing unusual
in the arrangement of her undercl0thing.
There were no marks of struggle. 10
use the boys words, "'rhe grass stood up
Just as straight around her as in any other
part of the meadow" Her closed parasO
lay at her side, and her mouth seemed to
be stuffed with cotton. Seeing that she
was dead, the boys hurried away. Near
Mr.. Hodges front gate they met Elbert o.
Curtis and Anson Dart, and told them that
there was dead woman on the other side
of the wall Curtis asked Charles whether
he knew the woman. He replied that ne
didn't. When they approached the spot
Curtis jumped over the wall and looked at
the body The soil is coarse-grained, and
the heat of the sun had thinned out the
grass near the wall, making the grains as
soft and dry as the grains Of earth in
an ant-hill. Charles Mason is confident
that he saw no footprints near the body
until Curtis was over the wall. The dead
woman lay parallel to the wall, with just
room enough to walk between the body
and the wall. Her parasol was wet with
rain drops. Curtis thOughtessly left his
tracks in the loose soil and said, "Why,
Anson, isn't it Rose Clark ?" Arson made
similar examination, and they decided
that it was the corpse Of Rose Clark Am
bier. When Mr.. Merrill, Mrs. lsbel and
Mr.. Hodges heard the news they simultan-
eously said: at was no owl that we heard
last night. 1t was the death cry of Rose
Amber"
The body was found. about two hundred
feet from the line fence of Hodges door
yard. 1t was in the eastern partition of the
pasture lot 1t could have been seen from
the windows of Hodges house, or from any
part of either of the meadow lots. The
mouth was covered with froth caused by
strangulatiOn. The troth had been mistak-
en- for cotton by the boys who first saw the
corpse.
The stone wall is shaded by Il row of half
| o.ro,,-p c,,nor pop1pc which SnOD r1tp the