Year: 1869

NJ, but when the boy got here hi
horse was lame and sc he asked permission
TO stay here all night. The horse is in tn,
stable now, sir"


"At what time did the lad run away T.


81 don't know sir, 1t was quite laie."


''How do you know he ran away :"


81 ssw him, sir he made rope of the
bed clothes, and swung down from th,
window, At first did not know wha,
it was as he swung down past my win.
dow, but when he stood on the ground
saw it was the boy, and was about to call
him, when he ran away as fast as he
could


"Did you follow hun -


"Yes but we could not catch him."


The house was searched, but nothing
could be found to criminate its INN ates,
/ The boys horse was found in the stable.
I quite lame. In searching, one of the men
accidenlly struck the wainscoat which
returned hollow sound, and on opening
it a small crucible and some lapidarys
tools, such as are used by goldsmths were
!
men Of The house, who said he had been
at one time apprenticed to a goldsmith,
and on enquiry it was found to be 80.
The bedclothes were on the bed in which
the lad had slept, and showed by their
creases and wrinkles to what use they had
been put


What made this bloody STAIN asked
the magistrate.


''Tis a goats blood, ar, which we
slaughtered last night


"A strange time and place to slaugh-
ter a goat


Yes sir Twas the last we had, and
il came home late TO be fed and when
we tried to catch it, it ran up the stairs,
We wanted to give the boy an early
breakfast, and the goat was all the food
we had


Have any of you lost n goat lately p
asked the magistrate, turning TO the yil>
| layers, and was il marked like this z
showing the skin and head Of II goat
which had been found in searching the
house.


Yes -ir, lot the markings are no. very
rare. could speak more positively if
SAW the head, one Of the horns was bro.
ken off in fight some days since.
The goats head was examined and
both horns weri broken Off lie had
intended to make goats head soup for
their to.day's dinner they had knocked
item off, the man said.


How do you all live You Ion't
seem to cultivate the grounj here ?


We do the best we can sir. Sometimes
we get work in the villages and on the
farms around, but we find il hard to live.
One Of my brothers was in yonr village
yesterday trying to get work from your
nephew


James, saidtl,e magistrate to his ncph.
ew, was this 80 Did this man apply
TO you for work ?


"A man applied for gardening work ycss
icrday, | think it WAS that man, but had
40 work of that kind for him.


At this point murmurs were heard from
the villagers THAI it was useless to wrong
the mon any more because Of a crazy
boys phrenzied tale, aed the magistrate 8
nephew said ii was plain &lie men were
not guilty, and asked the IA magistrate 10 let
them alone.


The magistrate musingly stroised his
beard-a way he had when puzzled he
seemed to regard hs beard familiar spirit,
and stroking the proper form ofinvocaiiou.
He called his nephew aside.


James" said he, these men are too
honest; there is no fear, no bungling, or
mistakes, and no confusion; that spokes
man is the readest and coolest knaye
have ever encountered. Neither their
clothing or appearance accord with their
plea of poverty. There is vilainy some
where"


lie then resumed his questioning.


Have you bloOdhound!'


We had, sir, but we were unable to
feed il properly and it died.


The magistrate turned TO the boy and
sai'l


George, show dm where you went last
night


The boy did 50, and along the track
were frequent footprints of large dog
At the pile of rocks, the dog tracks seemed
TO cease, nor were there Any of the dogs
tracks going back toward the house.


How came these tracks = asked the
magistrate


"A dog joined Us. drawn probably by
our following to the lad, but do rot
know what became Of him. He did not
90 back with us TO the house


There are no tracks beyond the rocks
why did you stop there!'


we saw the blood on the rocks, sir,
and thought the boy had fallen and hurt
himself, and that he must be very much
frightened, as he didn't step. and SO we
thought il WAS best to let hin alone


Last nigh, was very dark, how did
you see the blood


i had piece of candle to help find
the boy.


George, did the man who chased YOU
have light


None that | could see, sir, though
looked back often


i held my hat over the candle, sir, 10
prevent its being blown out as we ran
after the boy


AZ this point the villagers again muir
INJURED that the man was not guilty, and
that he was honest and kind hearted, and
ought not 10 be worried because Of the
iancies OF a crazy boy.