Mr. Errol and Coristine,
backed by the Captain and Ben, told how the body was found. Wilkinson
and Perrowne related their share in conveying the corpse to Richards'
house, and Richards confirmed their story. The coroner himself, having
examined the body, affirmed that the deceased came to his death by a
fracture of the skull, inflicted by a heavy blow from some blunt
instrument from behind, followed by a pistol shot in front through the
temple. Two persons, evidently, were concerned in the murder. Who were
they? Matilda Nagle was sworn. She repudiated the name of Rawdon. She
testified that a man called Harding brought her a note from her long
lost brother Steven, asking her to meet him at the barred gate in the
narrows at a certain hour late on Monday morning. She went, but Rawdon
would not let her go beyond the barred gate, so she called Stevy over.
He came to the foot of a tree, where Rawdon told her she must stay; and
then she saw Harding run up behind him and hit him over the head with an
iron bar, and he fell down and went to sleep. Did Rawdon shoot him? She
shivered, and didn't know, nor could any cross examination extract this
evidence from her.
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