Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1902-02-13


taken sick In prison. Under the i'm
fessed to the murder OF Squire Belling-
ham. and related the circumstances of
the crime exactly as they had occurred.
Whether 1t was malignant and
avenging fate that had preyed upon his
fears to bring him to this position.
and then to restore him to health, 1t
Is not for the historian to say; he has
simply to chronicle events as he finds
them In the evidence before him.
Foster confessed to the Jail chaplain
that 1t was he who shot Bellingham.
and he also narrated the details OF the
tragedy to the warder. As IL the load
on his mind gave his physical nature a
FLIP. he began to recover. and IN due
course he was arraigned at York as
sizes ION his own confession), upon
the charge of highway robbery and
murder, his confession being fully sup
ported by such evidence as could be got
together.
He died, as he had lived, a coward
struggling with his fate to the last
/ .
been tricked by the Jail doctor into a
fear Of death. and at the last moment
denying his guilt and having to be sup
ported to the scsffold, miserable exhi-
bition of judicial strangulation; but he
was quiet enough when they made
sign OF him near the rafting chains of
his fellow criminal. the remainder OF
whose wretched body had almost dis.
appeared between the assaults Of the
wind and the rain, and the birds OF
prey and the human relic hunters.
One calm autumn evening many a
year afterwards. there came an old
man to the Star and Garter.
He was tanned by wind and weather.
wrinkled with age and travel, his hair
sparse and of an iron-grey. He had
bright blue eyes. white teeth. strong,
bony hands. carried a staff like an
alpen stock, and wore a struggling
| beard.
He arrived by coach with a pair OF
great brown leathern trunks, covered
II they had seen a marvellous amount OF
service. He settled down at the Star
and Garter. ordered a sitting room.
commanded a fire, spoke in calm but
| very decisive tones. and asked many
| questions about men and women who
had been dead and gone for years and
| years; the Meadowses. for instance;
old Morley, and Mary. the Maid of the
| Inn.
There was nothing odd In his inquir-
ing about Mary. because she had as 1t
were, become everybody's property.
| famous poet had made a ballad about
her. and 1t was common thing for
folk that were gifted that way to recite
| 1t. Other less illustrious ballad mong-
ers had done the story Of Mary's night
In the abbey into verse. and the chap
men at the fairs had long been selling
the last dying speeches and confess
sions of Richard Parker" copies of
verses written upon his last interview
with Mary" and other literary remi-
niscences OF the tragedy.
II was, therefore, as l have said, not
| surprising to have a stranger ask about
Mary; but this particular stranger ask
| ed all kinds Of curious questions, and
| vouchsafed now and then pieces of
curious information about events they
had heard Of at the Star and Garter
| from their fathers and grandfathers,
| matters which seemed to them now to
| be parts Of stories In books, or things
| that belonged to the age of "once upon
time" or incidents that the news
papers reprinted from old chronicles.
The stranger became a particularly
| interesting person when he obtained
permission at his own expense to erect
a special gravestone to Mary Lock-
| woods memory. and people touched
| their hats to him all over the place
when 1t was known that 1t was through
| his influence the two gibbets had sud
| denly been removed, such Of the rags
and tatters of the poor wretches who
had been hung in chains being buried
decently. and few Christian words of
hope said over them.
The old man was fond Of rambling
about the abbey. He set up a distant
branch OF the Meadows family in the
|
smoked a pipe with Jack Meadows and
his wife at the farm-ths young Mead
ows, who had inherited from the son
| of the Mira. Meadows, who was the
| mother of that Jack Meadows who left
| Kirkstall and was drowned at sea or
worse, because Mary, the maid of the
| Inn, would not have him, preferring the
highwayman in disguise, who came to
the gallows.
1t was noted that the old man was
particularly foad OF these people. and
| that he liked 30 walk with Jack and
have him tell the story Of the Maid of
the Inn, and the sermon the parson
preached about the angels driving
away the evil spirits. and making q
golden ladder for Mary up to heaven.
They had no idea who the old man
was; but they grew to love him, he
was 30 generous with his money. had
seen so much. could tell such wonder
full stories: and he brought to them one
morning such grand Recommendation
from the bankers of Leeds. not to
mention solicitor there, that when he
limited at desire to live with the
young people at the farm, and he ac-
companied this with present Of
pair Of the finest cart horses that
Wakefield market could show. and
when he said he had neither chic nor
child. and was tireu VI travelling. they
gave him the bedroom he said he liked;
and he became one OF the household,
living as such, a pleasant companion
and friend to host and hostess.
grandfather in his actions towards the