Hence the house was never finished. The roof, however, was
on, and the main room floored, so that it had been utilized for church
and Sunday school purposes, for an Orange Lodge, for temperance and
magic lantern itinerant lectures, and for local hops. Now, with the dead
body of Harding laid out upon an improvised table of rough boards on
trestles, it assumed the most solemn aspect it had ever exhibited. Three
oldish men were there, whom people called Johnson, Newberry, and
Pawkins; they were all the summoned jurors who had responded. Soon, from
the other side, the waggon came in sight, and when it came forward, the
remains of Nagle, alias Nash, were lifted reverently out and into the
hall, where they were placed beside those of one of his murderers. The
elder Richards accompanied the doctor, in order to give his testimony.
The mad woman and her son were also there, in charge of Sylvanus and Ben
Toner. Just as the party prepared to constitute the coroner's court, a
stumpy figure on a high stepping horse came riding along. He was well
disguised, but several persons recognized him. "Seize him," cried Squire
Carruthers.
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