The Sun. — 1862-07-10 (London, England)

HANGED IN ERROR.  A man of considerable property, in or near London, died, leaving an only child, a daughter, aged about eighteen, and by his will appointed his brother his guardian and sole executor. The will directed that if the daughter should die without having married, or if married without children, her fortune should go to the uncle, whose interest was therefore supposed to be incompatible with that of the niece. Several of the relatives, discontented with the father's ultimate disposion, threw out dark hints that they ought not to live together ; notwithstanding which, the uncle removed the niece to his own residence, near Epping Forest. They were both seen one, day walking together in the forest, but the young lady suddenly disappeared, and the uncle declared that he had sought her as soon as he had missed her, and knew not whithsr she had gone, or what had become of her. This account was considerable improbable, and appearances being clearly suspicious, he was arrested and brought before a magistrate, where other circumstances, which were hourly coming to light, rendered his position serious. A young gentleman from the neighbourhood had been paying his addresses to her, and it was stated, and generally believed, that he had gone a few days before she had been missed on a journey to the north, she having declared that she would marry him on his return. The uncle had repeatedly expressed his disapprobation of the match, and she had loudly reproached him with unkindness and abuse of his authority over her as his ward. A woman was produced, who swore that about eleven o'clock in the forenoon of the day the niece was missed as she was passing through the forest, and heard a young lady's voice earnestly expostulating with a gentleman, and, upon drawing nearer to the spot, distinctly heard the following expressions : " Don't kill me, uncle—don't kill me I " Being greatly terrified she hurried away from the scene, and immediately afterwards heard the report of fire-arms. On this combination of circumstantial and positive evidence, coupled with the suspicion of interest, the uncle was tried, convicted of murder, and immediately after, according to the Draconic code then in force, executed. About ten days after the execution the young lady reappeared, and, stranger still, all the evidence given on the trial proved to be strictly true. The niece then declared that, having resolved to elope with her lover, they had given out that he had gone on a journey to the north, while he had merely waited near th• skirts of the forest until the time appointed for the elopement, which was the very day she disappeared. He had horses ready saddled for them both, and two servants in attendance on horseback. While walking with her uncle he had reproached her with her resolution to marry a man of whom he disapproved, and after some remonstrances she passionately exclaimed, " I have set my heart upon it. If Ido not marry him it will be death to me; and don't kill me, uncle, don't kill me I" Just as she had pronounced those words she heard a gun fired, at which she started, and she afterwards saw a man come from amongst the trees with a woodpigeon in his hand, which he had then shot. On approaching the spot appointed for the meeting with her lover, she formed a pretence to induce her uncle to go on before her, and having fled to the arms of her suitor, who had been waiting for her, they both mounted their horses, and immediately rode off. Instead, however, of going to the north they retired to the neighbourhood of Windsor, where they were married the same day, and in about a week after they went on a tour of pleasure to France. There they passed some months so happily, that in those days, when newspapers were scarce, when there was no very regular postal communication, and no telegraphs, they never heard of the uncle's sad fate until. they returned to England.—Dickens's "411 the Year Round."