Year: 1866

executor oi HiS VIII. Ae younS iduy
was then about eighteen; and if she
happened to die unmarried, ,or if married,
without children, her fortune was left
to her guardian or to his heirs. As the
interest of the uncle was now iIcompat-
ible with the life Of the niece, several
other relations limited that it would not
be proper for them to live together.
Whether they were willing to prevent
any occasion of SANDER against the uncle
in case of the young lady's death !;
whether they had any apprehension of
her being in danger, OF whether they
were only discontented with the fathers
disposition of his fortune, and therefore
propagated rumors to the prejudice of
those who possessed it, cannot be known;
the uncle, however, took his niece to his
house near Epping Forest, and soon
afterwards she disappeared.





''Great inquiry was made after her !;
and it appearing that, on the day she
was missing, she went out with her uncle
into the forest, and that he returned
without Der, he was taken into custody.
A few days afterwards, he went through
long examination, in which he acknowl-
edged that he went out with her, and
pretended that she found means to loiter
behind him as they were returning home;
that he sought her in the forest as soon
as he missed her, and that he knew not
where she was, or what was become of
her. This account was thought improb-
able, and his apparent interest in the
death of his ward, and perhaps the
petulant zeal of other relations, occurred
to raise and strengthen suspicious
against him, and he was detained in
custody. Some new circumstances were
every day rising against him. 1t was
found that the young lady had been
addressed by neighboring gentleman,
who had, few days before she was
missing, set out on journey to the
north, and that she had declared she
would marry him when he returned;
that her uncle had frequently expressed
his disapprobation of the match in very
strong terms > that she had often wept
and reproached him with unkindness
and an abuse of his power. A woman
was also produced, who swore that on
the day the young lady was missing,
about eleven o'clock in the forenoon, she
was coming through the forest, and
heard a woman's voice expostulating
with great eagerness, upon which she
drew near the place, and before she saw
any person, heard the voice say, Don't
kill me, uncle-don't kill me' upon
which she was greatly terrified, ard
Immediately hearing the report Of a
frearm very near, she made all the
haste she could from the spot, but could
not rest in her mind till she had told
what had happened.


''Such was the general impatience to
punish man who had murdered his
niece to inherit her fortune, that, upon
this evidence, he was condemned and
executed. About ten days after the
execution, the young lady came home.
1t appeared, however, that what all the
witnesses had sworn was true, and the
fact was found to be thus circumstanced:
The young lady declared that, having
previously agreed to go off with the
gentleman that courted her, he had given
out that he was going journey to the
north, but that he waited concealed in
little house near the skirts of the forest
till the time appointed, which was the
day she disappeared. That he had
horses ready for himself and her, and
was attended by two servants, also on
horseback. That, as she was walking
with her uncle, he reproached her for
persisting in her resolution to marry
man Of whom he disapproved, and, after
much alteration, she said with some
heat, & have set my heart upon it; if |
do not marry him, it will be my death
and don't kill me, uncle-don't kill
me" that, just as she had pronounced
these words, she heard q frearm dis
charged very near her, at which she
started, and Immediately aftcrward saw
man come forward from among the
trees, with wood pigeon in his hand,
which he had just shot. That, coming
near the place appointed for their rem
devious, she formed pretence to let
her uncle 60 on before her, and her
suitor being in waiting for her with a
horse, she mounted and Immediately