Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-01

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likely, he asked, that prisoner mad beer
caught by deceased in the act of killing th'
sheep, that this had led to a renewal OF tn,
feud between them, and that the death o
one had been the result? Certain portions
of the evidence (Which, for the sake of brew
ity, has been omitted) favored thi'
hypothesis.
In the end the jury found the prisoner
"Guilty," and he was sentenced to death
the Judges comment being that, although
the evidence was purely circumstantial, no
clearer case had ever come before him.
Upon three persons the verdict had a
very different effect.
Old Peter Teare heard it with evident re-
lief. He had on all occasions vowed ven-
geance against the murderer of his nephew,
and yet, in spite OF his muttered threats, he
had shown a perpetual sense of uneasness,
as if he feared that his own turn might
come next But when justice had declared
| the murderer to be the man safely under
lock and key, Peter Teare's spirits revived
again. He went back with feeling of Sc
| his nephew's and which now was his; he
took the necessary steps to assert his own
ership; he displayed a business capacity
which had never been suspected in him.
But for Hattie Caveen, the sentence pro-
nounced upon the man who had been her
I lover, seemed to be her death warrant also.
She began to pine away, avoiding all inter-
course with her neighbors and losing
strength daily. The doctor said that if her
life was to be saved she must have immediate
change of scenery and occupation. Partly
for this reason partly because of the un-
friendly attitude of their neighbors, her
mother resolved to emigrate to New Zealand,
where she had sister doing we'll, and she
lost no time making the necessary prepara-
tions 1t was arranged that she and Hattie
were to go in a vessel which was to sail just
a week after the day appointed Tor the execu-
tion of Dan Kinrade.
The last of the three persons who were
most deeply affected by the verdict was
Bets Bill. He had grown restless. sullen
and irritable; up at ali hours OF the night,
continually prowl;ng about the roads, often
in the neighborhood of the turnip field
which everybody else Stunned after dark.
For Hattie he had always shown a dog-like
attachment, and some said that her distress
ras the cause of the change in him. But
others shook their heads aud, no doubt
partly Influenced by revulsion of feeling
now that Dan Kinrade had actually been
condemned to death, hinted that Bets Bill
knew more about the murder than he cared
to say. Emphasis was laid upon his fits of
irritability, his violence toward boys who
teased him, his recent habits of loneliness.
1t began 10 be suspected that he was not
such harmless lunatic as he had been
taken to be, and several young men banded
themselves together to watch him.
About o'clock one night, when onlv
three DAYS remained to Dan Kinrade, Bets
Bill was observed, by two members of
this Vigilance Committee, making for Peter
Teare's cottage. They followed, keeping
carefully out of his sight; they saw him
enter with a rush; a moment or two later
they were startled by hearing cries of pain |
and terror, stified cries coming in gasps as |
if a man we're choking. Here was the con- |
firmatio. of their suspicious. 1t was plain |
to them that Bets Bill was afflicted with |
homicidal mania-that,, ,having dispatched !
the nephew he was now engaged in dispatch |
ing the uncle. So, with rapidly lessening |
courage, they rap to the door.
The air was filled with the sufocating
smoke of burning peat, and the Pickering
tsllow candle showed little of the room
except the big buttresses of the chimney
looming darkly In the background. Upon
the mud floor were two men, Peter Teare
struggling for breath, black in
the face, with eyes starting from his head,
while over him knelt Bets Bill, his knees
in the wretched old creatures chest, and his
bony knuckles buried in the short, thick
neck.
You done it, you oul' scoundrel," Bets
Bill was shouting. "You know you cone it.
Con instant-or I'll squeeze
the lie out of YOU" And his fingers tight
ened on his victims throat
One OF the lads at the door was for rushing
in, but the others bade him wait.
Mercy" gasped Peter Teare. "Pity-
have pity u
'Confess then" Once more the fingers
we're frightened. "Say you done it,
'Yes, I'll say it, but loose your grip,
man. I'm choking. done it."
"What with"
"a gum"
"a gun!' exclaimed Bets Bill, and in |
MS astonishment he relaxed his hold. But
he next moment he was strangling the old
nan again, and shouting: "That's another
lie, you ouP sinner. Spake the truth now,
or it isn't long you'll have the chance. 1t
was the pItchiork you done it with !''
mo, it was gum swear it. "I'll take
ny oath upon it. Stop-loose me-I'm ,
,hoking."
Where is the gun now?"
"Out in the beanstack."
What was in the gun? demanded Bets ,
Bill, who had now siackened his grip.
"Bits of lead. Part of an oul' pipe that {
cut up with my knife. stuffed the rest
If them into mouse hole yonder;" and his
ives turned toward the chimney corner
Bets Bill seemed puzzled what to say or !
10 next. He looked doubtfully round the
DOM, and tine two lads, also undecided how
% act In asituation for which they were alto.
,ether unprepared, drew back into the yard
rhe beanstack at the side of the cottage
to attract their attention. They
determined to examine it, and there, true
aough, they found gun. AT later
fod fosn elr L., |
eaden pipe were discovered in the mouse
lole pointed out to Bets Bill.
In other respects, Peter Teare's confession
vas subsequently, verified. 1t was he who
lad committed the murder, but the weapon
lsed had been gun, and not pitchfork,
nd at the time OF the post-morten exami- ,
ation, performed by DR.. Smithson, several
lugs must actually have been in the body! j
Not less remarkable was the fact, that the l
istance between the wounds. three distinct
ouples, corresponded exactly with the dis
ance between the prongs of the blood =
tanned pitchtork produced in Court. But
Tith reference to this point military officer
Fho had seen good deal of savage warfare,
olunteered the statement that slugs, when
red from gun, very frequently travelled in {
ouples, as in this case. .
Only one point remains to be cleared up
Peter Teare's motive. He had always
readed Johns marriage, believing that this
Vould involve his being turned adrift, and !
rhen his nephew, fresh from the interview
nth Hattie, came in and announced that
e really was engaged to her, the old man
etched his gun, and then and there COM
lifted the murder. Afterward, when fright
ned at what he had done, he remembered !
ne quarrel with Dan Kinrade, and with the
bject of throwing suspicion upon him, he |
ragged the body to the ditch, where it was
'und by Bets Bill. Such was the dying
On fession of Peter Teare, for before justice
ould claim his miserable life he was dead.
One word more by way of sequel. Dan |,
-inrade was liberated, of course, and fol-
wed Hattie to New Zealand, where, under
M he -,oJ |