Harding knocked him down with the iron bar, and he
went to sleep, and she couldn't wake him. Then she went to the corpse
and cried: "Oh, Stevy, Stevy, wake up, do wake up quick, for he'll come
again." The court and jury were deeply affected. Old Mr. Newberry, the
foreman of the jury, brought in the verdict to the effect that the
deceased was murdered by a blow from an iron bar administered by one
Harding, producing fracture of the skull, and by a pistol shot in the
left temple by some unknown person. Thus the first inquest came to an
end. The second inquest would have been a matter of difficulty, on
account of the large number of people supposed to be implicated in
Harding's death, had not Ben Toner, who had been called out of court,
returned with three good men and true, namely Mr. Bigglethorpe, M.
Lajeunesse, and a certain Barney Sullivan. These three parties, moved by
the entreaties of Widow Toner, had set out early in the morning to look
up the missing Ben; and were so delighted with their success, and so
tired with their walk, that they were willing to sit on anything, even a
coroner's jury.
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