Page:The Monthly chronicle of North-country lore and legend - volume 1.djvu/231

July. 1887. potatoes for his supper. About seven o'clock, a female pedlar from Stamfordham called to inquire the road to Fourstones, having missed it in the darkness of the night. Old Joe came to the door and gave the necessary directions, gallantly observing that he would, if he had been younger man, have been glad to have acted as her guide. She was so far within the threshold of the house as to be able to observe that he was then alone, and she is supposed to have been the last person who saw him alive, except those who deprived him of life. This was, as we have said, about seven o'clock. An hour later, when Mr. Smith, of Haughton Castle, rode by, all was silence and darkness in the cottage. The horrid deed had, in all human probability, been committed between the hours of seven and eight. Next morning Herdman, on proceeding to his day's work, found the cottage shut up, and a pair of old clogs lying on the other side of the lane opposite to a way leading over a hedge in the direction of Wall Mill. He mentioned the circumstances to some one during the day, but only to receive for answer the remark that Joe had likely got a pair of new clogs, and had consequently thrown the old ones away. On Thursday, Herdman was not at work, and it does not appear that any other person had passed the cottage that day. On Friday, he found the cottage still shut up, and also observed for the first time marks of blood on the door. But till Saturday no further inquiry was made, and no fears were entertained.

The neighbours at length became alarmed, and the cottage door was burst open on Saturday afternoon. The body of the unfortunate man was found in a small inner room, which was perfectly dark, the window having been built up. The apartment had been used as a place for lumber, and contained no furniture. Here the last act of the tragedy had been performed, as a sort of hollow or indentation of the floor close to the body contained quite a pool of blood. There were no fewer than forty-four wounds inflicted on the head, face, and neck. The hands of the deceased were dreadfully cut, probably in endeavouring to ward off the knife from his throat, and several wounds had been received in his breast and neck, which seemed likewise to have been inflicted with a knife, apparently at the same period of the struggle. His head and face were frightfully mangled. A garden hoe with many appalling marks of its having been used as an instrument of death was lying across the breast It bore evidences, near the middle of the handle, of having been wielded by two bloody hands, and the mingled blood and grey hairs of the sufferer "still stuck to the heft." The coal rake was found near the clock, and in a position which seemed to indicate that it had been the purpose of the murderer to conceal it. Its shank was much bent, and it bore other unmistakeable marks of having been offensively used. From the circumstance of two weapons having been wielded, it was considered at the time that there must have been two persons concerned in the murder.

A theory such as we are about to state was formed at the time the murder was committed. The old man's garden tools, with the exception of the hoe we have mentioned, were found, after the discovery of the murder, in one of his three slips of garden against the south gable of the cottage, where they were usually placed. On the supposition that there were two murderers, one of them was probably stationed at the corner of the house as a scout, and, finding a braver and more protracted resistance than had been expected, he perhaps snatched up this implement, which he would find ready by his side, and went in to hasten the work of death. The clogs found in the lane, and the muddy state of the murdered man's clothes, are proofs that the deceased had at one time succeeded in making his escape from the house, and had been endeavouring to flee for refuge to Wall Mill, about a quarter of a mile distant, and the nearest residence, although on the east or opposite side of the Tyne. On being dragged back, poor Joe must have made a considerable stand in the doorway, as one of the lintels bore marks of blood and grey hairs just where his head would have touched it when standing with his back to the door. In the cottage itself traces of the brave struggle which its aged tenant had made for his life were everywhere visible. The bed-tester had been violently torn down. The clock face was broken. Prints of three bloody fingers were distinctly visible on the chimney-jamb, next the coal-hole, to which Joe must have clung for support. To this corner he had probably retreated after his unsuccessful escape across the road, as there were traces of blood as well as mud on the walls. Here, too, he probably received some desperate wounds, as the plates on the table were streaked with blood.

All efforts to discover the murderer or murderers were fruitless. Several arrests were made immediately after the deed took place, and even poor Herdman was taken into custody on the charge. The parish offered a hundred guineas reward to whosoever would bring the guilty persons to justice, and the Secretary of State, then Sir Robert Peel, offered a free pardon to any but the actual murderer who would give information which should lead to conviction. But these means were unavailing, and for once murder did not come out. The only possible motive for the crime was considered to have been a hope of securing money, as it was foolishly believed that old Joe was rich, although he was receiving parish relief. From time to time there have been published reputed confessions of the murder. One was made in 1836 by a man in Carlisle, then on his death-bed. Another was said to have been made by a prisoner in Gloucester Gaol an Irish navvy who was employed at the time of the tragedy in cutting a new road in the neighbourhood. Still another story is to the effect that the murder was committed by a couple of