Year: 1875

Immediately hurried up the stairs and
arrived at the door OF his unole's apart
ment. AS this was not locked, he open-
ed 1t and stepped In. Here q horrible
sight met his gaze. His uncle was ly-
ing on the bed dead, u large knife bur
led In his breast. Almost paralyzed
with horror, the young man mechani-
cally stepped up to the corpse, and
drew the fatal knife from the murder
ed mans bosom. AS he did so, he
noticed that 1t considerably resembled
one which he himself sometimes carried,
but which he had lost day or two be-
fore. but he was not allowed time for
reelection, for at that moment Mr.. New
combs valet entered the chamber for
the purpose of awakening his employ
er, and, seeing Fairweather standing
by the dead body of his master with a
bloody knife In his hand, he rushed
from the room, crying that James Fair
weather was numbering his master.
The chamber was soon filled with serv-
ants and others, and in very few mo-
ments James Fairweather was securely
locked In room in the upper story of
the building to await the arrival of the
coroner, who was instantly sent for.
The individual upon his arrival imme-
diately summoned jury, and by their
verdict the young man was remanded
for trial at the next session OF the court,
which was to be held in about week.


have always considered myself
pretty good physiognOmist, and had
no doubt OF the truth of tho story re.
lated by the young man. / conversed
with him few moments more, and then
left, assuring him that / would do my
best to clear him Of the charge brought
against him. l Immediately repaired to
the residence of the murdered man, and
was admitted to the room where the
crime was committed. After carefully
searching, l could find nothing that
would tend to shift the guilt from the
shoulders Of my client.


The days flew past, though worked
tlrelsssly and preseveringly, when the
day appointed for the trial came had
absolutely nothing on which to base my
defense. On the contrary. the prosecu-
tion had very complete chain of evil
dence to fasten the guilt on young Fair
weather. The knife found in the MUIR.
dered mans breast proved not only to
resemble the knife which the client had
carried, but to be the very one with his
name engraved on the handle. This
fact, with many other seemingly impor-
tant occurrences was produced. The
district.attorney was a young man OF
much more than ordinary ability, and
he also had spared no effort to win the
case. And when / saw what mass of
evidence he produced, which l could
not answer by any rebutting testimony,
| lnearly despaircd Of doing anything
for my client. need not tire you with
the details OF the trial. Suffice 1t to
say, that young Fairweather was pro-
nounced guilty Of the murder OF his
uncle, and was sentenced To be hanged
In two months from that time. | Still
had faint hope that something might
occur that would warrant me In de-
manding new trial but as the weeks
passed nothing occurred, even this
slight hope was dispelled, and Iexpect-
ed nothing but that my client would be
hanged on the appointed day.


One evening, about week before the
date fixed for the execution, ! had been
attending a suit at ClaremOnt, a village
situated about four miles from Freeman.
The suit was rather late, owing to the
tardiness Of one Of the counsel. And
consequently, 1t was about 10 o'clock
when the court was adjourned. The
stage had lett about two hours before
and as there was no livery stable in the
place, would have TO stay at Clare
mont all night, unless walked home.
/ could not conveniently stay there un-
til morning, as had suit that was to
be called ON the following morning
and there were some papers pertaining
to 1t which it was absolutely necessary
should be prepared. And | feared
that If waited at ClaremOnt until
morning l would not be able to reach
Freeman in time to prepare them.
Therefore, after dellberating the ques-
ton In my mind, decided to start for
Freeman Immediately. The walk / did
not mind, as had often traversed that
distance without any discomfort. The
night was pleasant, though rather dark.
A nd about half the distance was tray-
eled before anything occurred out OF
the ordinary routine of such a jour
ney.


After had accompli 'hed about half
the distance between the two villages,
as came around curve 10 the road,
/ saw light few rods ahead Of me.
Evidently it was the light from lam
tern held by a man. There was moth.
ing extraordinary in this, and l was
about to shout and request the pro-
prietor of the lantern TO let me also en-
Joy its light, as had found 1t so dark
as to slightly impede my travelling.
But as was about to speak, l heard a
sound as though some one was digging;
and then the man with the lantern ad-
dressed q companion as yet unseen by
me. The place was a very lonely one
over half mile To the nearest house,
and 1t struck me AS rather peculiar that
two men should be digging there at
that time OF the night, And resolved
TO approach nearer to then, and en-
dea V0r to ascertain what they were
doing.


Accordingly, silently approached
them until | reached q place where, l
could discover what was their business