Year: 1859




Awake, child Up, Ida There i
fearful news 7


What is it, mother ? she cried, startin,
from her vivid dream.


William


William is dead ? she shrieked, catch
ing the words from the pallid lips of he
mother. i saw him shotl Is it not so
Oh do not be silent 7


News has just come that he was founC


In the river, with bullet wound in hi,
forehead T


How wonderful and true 7 cried two
or three neighbors, who were at her bed
room door; while third said, 'how could
she know this :?


4 saw it all in dream o, tell me, is
William dead?'


Yes, answered the minister, who lived
near, and having heard the news, had has
tened to the honse of mourning, as be-
came his Office He was found dead an
hour ago by the shore, half in the water
He had been shot in the forehead. His
body is taken to his mothers where an
inquest will be held ,osao


ooh, William William who could
have done this Dead William dead
she shreked and fell insensible into the
arms of her mother. H8QffaEa


The death of William Appleton, by
violence, in so mysterious a manner, ere
ated the most profound excitement
throughout the peaceful village. He was
beloved and popular, and was not known
to have an enemy. He had been found
by the bank, his body half in the water /;
but as his clothingan hair was thorough
ly wetted, it was believed he had been
thrown in, and tloated ashore. The place
where he was found was about halfway
between the village and the residence of
Ida Boyd, by the road that led along the
winding and shady banks.


lie must have been going to see her, or
else coming from there, said woman
who was present as they were holding the
inquest. He was gagged to her, and went
to see her every night


This opinion prevailed The question
now came up, who could have done this,
and what could have been the metive?


There was no suspicion of person or
motive, and the jury gave in the verdict,
Shot dead, with pistol or gun, by some
person or persons unknown, and then
thrown into the river.


What more could cOroners Jury, not
omniscient nor omnipresent, decide p
The funeral took place on the third day.
and was attended by vast concourse of
people; for a murder invests death with
fearful mystery, which arouses the deepest
of the human heart, as well
as awakens the livlicst curiosity of our
nature.


But there were agencies of Providence
at work for the discovery of the murderer
The surgeon who had been called to ex-
anime and pronounce upon the nature of
the wound, had drawn from the orifce
made by the bullet piece of paper satu-
rated with the river water. He saw that
it was newspaper wadding, which had
been driven into the wound behind the
ball He stated to the coroner, from this
circumstance, that the assassin must have
stood close to his victim, for the waddng
to have also entered the wound. This
assertion threw no light upon the author
of the crime, and. had little weight with
the coroner and his rustic jury. The sur
geon, who was a shrewd man of the world
and who let nothing escape him, took the
wadding home, and, having removed the
stains OF blood and dried it, closely ex-
amined it; and he discovered that it was
a part of a newspaper called the Euening
Star.


DR.. Thomas, upon looking carefully at
this fragment, compressed his lips, and
was for a few moments silent, fixing his
keen gray eyes upon the floor.


The Ereaing Sarl' he at length ex-
or rather muttered Il wonder
who takes that paper in this village This
| must quietly ascertain. | said, before
the coroner, that this piece of paper might
be probably a clue to the murderer, and
| did not wish to make any noise about
it, lest the murderer himself might be
present at the inquest and take the alarm.
I think | have shown my usual sagacity.
Now, with the aid of providence, l may
find out who murdered William Appleton
Poor Ida Boyd They say it has
broken her heart, as they were soon to be
married The Erening Starl Stay there,
bit of paper, he added, until 1 look
further


AS he spake he locked the wadding in
the drawer, and putting the key in his
pocket, walked out. He took the dircc-
ton of the ost-office, which he entered
with lettering step, as if he had no pur-
pose. The postmaster was seated in his
great armchair, (being a bent up, rheu-
matism man, with iron spectacles,) actual
ly reading copy of the EUening Star.


DIR. Thomas was a friend and his ply
sician. After a question or two as to the
present state of bis rheumatism, the medi-
cal man said,


"A New York paper, ,'eh =


'Yos; the Star, Noah's paper They
say he is jew; but he is great w.t.
and a capital writer


so I've heard Do You take it?'


No IIo 10 an Tho otboy e;Jo % N, =,