It seemed better for him to take it into his own charge till he found some responsible person willing to carry it to Police Headquarters.  So, without stopping to consider what the consequences might be to himself, he tore it away by the chain from the hold it had on the dead man’s coat and put it in his pocket.  He also took some other little things; after which he fled away into town, where the sight of a saloon was too much for him and he went in to have a drink to take the horrors out of him.  Since then, the detectives have followed all his movements and know just how much liquor he drank and to whom, in tipsy bravado, he showed the contents of his pockets.  But he wasn’t so far gone as not to have moments of apprehension when he thought of the dead man lying with his feet in Dark Hollow, and of the hue and cry which would soon be raised, and what folks might think if that accursed watch he had taken so innocently should be found in his pocket.  Finally his fears overcame his scruples, and, starting for home, he stopped at the bluff, meaning to run down over the bridge and drop the watch as near as possible to the spot where he had found it.  But as he turned to descend, he heard a team approaching from the other side and, terrified still more, he dashed into the woods, and, tearing up the ground with his hands, buried his booty in the loose soil, and made for home.  Even then he had no intention of appropriating the watch, only of safe-guarding himself, nor did he have any hand at all in the murder of Mr. Etheridge.  This he would swear to; also, to the leaving of the stick where he said.

“It is understood that in case of his indictment, his lawyer will follow the line of defence thus indicated.”

“To-day, John Scoville was taken to the tree where he insists he left his stick.  It is a big chestnut some hundred and fifty feet beyond the point where the ravine turns west.  It has a big enough trunk for a stick to stand upright against it, as was shown by Inspector Snow who had charge of this affair.  But we are told that after demonstrating this fact with the same bludgeon which had done its bloody work in the Hollow, the prisoner showed a sudden interest in this weapon and begged to see it closer.  This being granted, he pointed out where a splinter or two had been freshly whittled from the handle, and declared that no knife had touched it while it remained in his hands.  But, as he had no evidence to support this statement (a knife having been found amongst the other effects taken from his pocket at the time of his arrest), the impression made by this declaration is not likely to go far towards influencing public opinion in his favour.

“A true bill was found to-day against John Scoville for the murder of Algernon Etheridge.”

A third clipping: