The Fulton County news. [volume] (McConnellsburg, Pa.) 1899-current, 1902-12-04
THE CONFESSION
OF
DAVID LEWIS
THE NOTED
HTGHWAYMAN AND C0UNTERFElTER.
Continued from arst paee.l


life in which | had been so long
engaged, make provision for my
self and family, and follow some
Industrious mode of livelihood
But my scheme was frustrated
by my own folly. Having taken
with me black bottle filed with
whiskey to refresh me in my
fight, as soon as it was emptied,
l put in it nearly all my notes,
which filed it up to the neck, and
about twenty miles from the cave
I dug a hole in the most retired
part of the mountain aud buried
my bottle; bottle or notes l was
never able to find again, though l
made frequent unsuccessful
searches for it. In my hurry |
was not careful to mark the spot
with sufficient precision to enable
me to discover it again; and thus
my ill-acquired wealth was lost to
me, to my family and to society,
unless some person may have the
luck to come across it-an object
worthy of search, and the con-
tents sufficiently large and valu-
able to reward the fortunate find
er.
I pursued my journey, or rath-
er flight, through Fayette, and
chance or destiny throwing me
again into the society of the
young woman whom l had met
before, and with whom I was so
much pleased, Iresolved upon re.
naming a few days with her, and
if l found her possessed Of a good
disposition, l determined upon
uniting my fate with hers in the
connubial state her countenance
was an index of her heart; she
was as amiable as she was lovely,
and perceiying that she received
my visit with an encouraging a.
miliarity, soon declared my IN
tention Of matrimony, and we
were Joined in wedlock. After
staying with her three days, l
concluded upon returning to my
mothers in Centre county, to
procure a home for her there un-
til | could 60 to Philadelphia for
my little children, whose uncer-
tain fate and desolate condition
wI'ung my heart with all the an
gudsh and anxiety which a tender
parent cannot but feel on such an
occasion. TO prevent apprehen.
sion and avoid suspicion l crossed
over into Virginia, and proceeded
to Emmittsburg in the state of
Maryland. Being fatigued With
walking so far, | stole a small
mare out of a field in the neigh
borhood of this town and rode to
Shippensburg with the eXpecta-
tion of meeting an old acquaint-
ance and accomplice whom l had
known in Berlin, and who, | un-
derstood, had gone to reside
there. Being misinformed, | con
tinuod my journey through Cum.
berland, and on my way happen
ed to call at a little store kept by
a man of the name of Martin, on
the Walnut Bottom road.
Drunkenness was by no means
my destroying sin, or prevailing
vice, but though | was seldom in
toxicated to excess, | would occa.
sionally indulge in drink more
than l wished to do, when | hap
pened to mix in company with
persons Of jovial disposition, and
would sometimes find myself un,
der the necessity of drowning
the clamours of remOrse and the
stings of conscience in the flow
ing bowl and sparkling glass. The
morning on which / left Ship.
pensburg | fell in with company
at a tavern on the road and drank
freely by the time | arrived a;
Martins my ideas were IN state
of confusion, and my usual eau
tion and cunning being stupefied
with liquor, | offered him in pay
ment for some articles / propos
ed buying, some of my counter.
felt notes, and acted with such