The Elbert County tribune., 1909-03-04


he could get to Woodstock from there
man thanked him and walked on to-
ward Eastwood at rapid pace.
At three o'clock Miss Alice Smith
arrived at the Eastwood station to
post letter. As she was going into
the station gate she came face to face
with Lord Somerset. who had been In
Woodstock the year before. and who
had called at the home of her grand
father. John Hayward at Eastwood
Somerset wore an astrakhan cap. He
came up to Miss Smith and shook
hands. saying: How do you do7
Don't you remember me7" and asked
after her family and grandfather He
told Miss Smith he was coming bach
later. and then bought ticket fol
Hamilton. Miss Mary Swazie. another
young lady of Eastwood. also was at
the station for the three o'clock train.
and saw the stranger. His trousers
were turned up and his shoes were
muddy. Miss Ida Cromwell OF East
wood also saw him at the station
James Hayward an Eastwood store
keeper, saw him at the station and
recognized the so-called Lord Somer-
set
At 1898 the train for Niagara Falls
reached Eastwood and the stranger in
the fur cap climbed aboard. George
Hay, a brakeman. saw and remem-
bered him distinctly and Identified
Birchall positively as the man. Other
witnesses also identified him. their
| evidence covering Birchalls trail up
to his return to the Stafford house.
Buffalo, at $3.50 at night Witnesses
also identified the dead body of Ben
well as that of the young man with
Birchall on the train to Eastwood, and
on the road to the swamp, Birchaii.
according TO the detectives deduc-
tons. had four hours and "a minutes
| In which to walk the four miles from
Eastwood to the swamp do the muir
der. and walk back to Eastwood He
arrived at 11:14 in the morning and
| departed at 1888 In the afternoon, II
| he took three hours to walk the eight
miles. he still had one hour and "a
minutes for the crime.
As final proof of BirchaIl's guilt.
Murray was advised by the London.
England police that Col Benwell had
| Just received from Birchall an undat-
ed letter. headed with the address Gr
Niagara Falls. Tie postmark revealed
its date as February 20 three days
after Birchall left Benwell dead in
in the swamp, In this letter Birchali
asked that $500 be sent him at once.
adding: 81 have been talking to your
son to-day about arrangements, and he
Is 80 well satisfied with the prospect
here that he is ready to 20 immediate
| iy into the partnership, and he is
writing to you to-day on the subject
| The $500 asked for was TO be the
first payment on $1,000 which Col.
| Benwell was to send to his son fJS
| Plrchell II the farm and prospects
pleased the youth. Pelly Identified
the body found ON February 1S as Ben
wells body. and therefore Birchall
could not have been talking to him
on February 20. Instead OF writing
to his father on February 90 BenweIr
was lying cold In death. Having
| found witnesses who identified Btr-
chall as the bogus Lord Somerset. who
had made frequent visits to Blenheim
swamp the year before. and had
! learned the path to Pine Pond, the
lake in the swamp that is supposed to
be hottomless, Murray knew that his
| case was complete.
BirchalI had embarked In business
| as a murderer. He had deliberately
| planned the crimes and fitted himself
for the practice of his profession.
| While masquerading as Lord Somer-
set he had selected the bottomloss
lake known as Pine Pond for the grave
that would tell no tales. The Blen-
helm swamp he marked as the place
of slaughter. He was familiar with
the emigration business, through his
father-in-laws knowledge Of 1t, and
conceived the idea Of taking rich
young men instead of poor immt-
grants. He created an imaginative
farm and went back to England seek
ing victims, but made the mistake Of
taking two instead of one. Even
then his plans were well laid He In
tended to kill Benwell In the swamp
and shove Pelly into the whirlpool
rapids. Neither body would be found
for he would bury Benwell In the bot
tomless lake and Pelly would vanish
in the rapids. II one of the Elridges
had not slipped in the swamp he
would not have stepped upon Ben
wells body. revealing the crime. Bir-
chull had not meant to leave the body
where anyone could find 1t. He was
heading for Pine Pond when he slew
Benwell and intended to drag the
body there, but a recent storm had
swept the swamp and choked with de-
l..f.