Year: 1875

he adorned with superiorand well-sustain- ed acting. Having provided himself with big bundle, and me with queer, foreign looking portmanteau, he led the way through the woods about two hours, when we emerged into settlement. We ar- ranged that we should hold little or nos communications in pub lie, but should as if by accident stop at the same houses and travel by the same conveyances. In this way we travelled one day by stage and stopped one night at the village of New Moscow, which is,as most of my readers are doubtless aware, about seventy miles north of Locofoco- vile.

 Next morning we paid our fare and took our seats in the stage for Hyperion, q small village near the Canada hne. Mick, in his assumed character of an elderly lady, was of course obliged to travel in- side, where he amused himself by berat- ing widoWer who injudiciously let slip a Esass %as i6l io6kihg for he new xige. fnt nthHs hS character of 8 foreign scholar observing the country and making notes of it's re- sources and the manners and customs of its inhabitants, rode on the outside with the driver. I piled that functionary with questions and made notes of his answers

 

 sheer desperation he handed me half a dozen newspapers which he happened to have with him, hoping thereby to escape my inquiries for at least time. Among the papers which he handed me was the last copy of the Locofocoville Herald. With the instinct of an editor turned at once to the '1ocaP' page, where I met the following article:-

 BROKE JAILl

 ESCAPE OF TWO PRISONERS

 One charged with Murder and one with

 Horse Stealing !- The Modus Operan-

 di of the Escape. - Strange Denounce-

 ment. = The Prisoner charged with

 Murder turns out to be Innocent.-The

 real Murderer of Mrs. Henderson found

 at last. A Dying Confession.

 Our readers are aware that Mir. Thomas WYnans, the editor of the Locofocoville Whig, being suspected of the murder of his aunt, Mrs. Eunice Henderson, gave himself up to the sheriff few days since, and was lodged in our county jail to pro- tect him from the rising fury of the pop ulace. It will be remembered that in our last issue we expressed our entire cOnfi- ence in his innocence. Just after our pa per went to press last week, and on the same day, formal complaint was made against MT. Wynans, and he was regularly committed by Justice Rowland to await the action of the grand jury.

 Yesterday morning the cell that should have been occupied by Wynans and Mul- len was found empty. The occupants to use the simple but expressive phrase of Scripture departed straightway and gone into another place.

 Here followed long and graphic par agraph, descriptive of the appearance of the cell and the means by which 1t seem- ed to have been broken. The article pro- ceeded:]

 Some time during the terrific storm of the night before, some account of which will be found in another column, the jail- birds had flown, leaving no track nor clew by which to trace them. Mir. Wynans left in the cell written explanation of his motives for breaking jail He strongly protested his entire innocence of the hor- rlble crime with which he stood charged. In few brief but eloquent and touching sentences he spoke of his deceased aunts good qualities, her great kindness to him, his gratitude so her, and his affection for her. He then alluded to tho widespread belief in his guilt, and proceeded to ar- ray Ill his strongest and most cogent style the circumstantial evidence that could be brought against him, and concluded by avowing his firm belief that notwithstand- ing his innocence he would be convicted If tried. Self-preservation, he said. was the first law of nature; and he felt fully justified in breaking jail and assisting an avowed criminal to escape, in order to save himself from an undeserved and ia- nominious death.

 We are now at liberty to put our read CTS Tn possession of what was then one of the secrets of the sheriff's office. At the instance of our sheriff, an accute an expe- rlenced detective officer had come on from Philadelphia immediately after the mur- der of Mrs. Henderson. This functionary arrived just as the excitement aga1nst Mir. Wynans broke out. The detective imme- diately repaired to the scene of the mur- der. and made thorough examination of the house and It's surroundings. Forum ately no rain had fallen since the fatal night. The trained eye of the profession al detective immediately took in many things which inexperienced observers had failed to see.

 It will be remembered that Mir. Wynans testified before the coroner's jury that im- mediately after the murder he had seen three men running down the broad, gray eled walk leading from the house to the high road, that he had fired all the bar. rels of his revolver after the retreating fig- ures, and that one of them had partly fal- len but had immediately regained his feet and fled faster than before. The detec- tive made searching examination of this walk, and found without difficulty numer- ous minute bloodstains on the gravel, com mencing about thirty paces from the door and extending all the way to the gate. In search of less than half an hour he pick ed up more than thirty blood-stained peb- bles. He then weighed the bullet found ln the body of the deceased. It was nearly three times as heavy as those cast for Mir. Wynanss revolver. It had doubtless been fired from what is commonly called horse pistol. An examination of the door key showed that it had been turned in the lock with burglars nippers, and that they had slipped probably more than once. At the Whlg printing office was found the manuscript prepared by Mir. Wynans on the night of the murder There was enough of it to keep rapid writer busy from early Tn the evening until after mid- night. Of course the detective and all who were cognizant of the facts brought to light by him were fully satisfied of Mr. Wynans's innocence. After that the off, cers bent all their energies to search for some trace of the three men, one of whom had doubtless committed the murder, the other two being present aiding and abet- ting. Up to forty-eight hours ago this search did not thrive at all It is need- less to say that MT. Wynans was not in- formed of the presence of the detective. to say nothing of the discoveries made by him.

 Just after the arrival of the detective, Mick Mullen, the celebrated Irish horse thief, was arrest d for larcency said to have been committed about two years ago. Mick was lodged ill the same cell with MT. Wynans. and was of course thorough ly searched before his incarceration. As usual. it turns ont that he was we'll SUD- piled with implements for cutting his way out of prison.

 Immediately after the escape of Mullen and Wynans, the sheriff appointed some AI.Sw al A--. Il.