A REMARKABLE PROPHECY FULFILLED.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1678, 5 July 1875, Page 3

A REMARKABLE PROPHECY FULFILLED.

In recording the execution ot a murderer named Beighley, at Greensburg) Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, on the 20th Jan., the flew York Herald says :—" Singular, yet it is true, that though thereihave been at least a quarter of a hundraj murders committed in Westmoreland ce^nty since the year 1830, yet not one of the perpetrators has suffered the extreme penalty; In this connection it may not prove remiss to mention a prophecy, singular^ tin its character and remarkable in iti fulfilment, made on the scaffold on the occasion of the last execution in the county. This was Joseph Evans, who was tridd, convicted, and executed for the murder <f John Cissler, by striking him over the heid with a shovel. This occurred on the last day of December, in the year 1829. Evaiß was tried at the February term, 1830, |>f the court of«Oyer and Terminer, and th^ jury, after being out one hour, returned a verdict of murder in the first degree. It appears Evans, Chissler, and two other men Darned Lansibiger and Ball, were all fellow labourers on the canal, and occupied the same shinty. A quarrel arose, and on i the trial) the witnesses Ball and Linsibiger swore jthat Evans Btruck Cissler with a shovel, froni the effect of which blow he died. An extraordinary part of the trial was the charge of the judge. He explained the law, and tommented upon the testimony in such a mainer that it was impossible for the jury t|do otherwise than render a verdict of guity, unless they had disobeyed the virtual instructions of the coiart. The governor designated Tuesday, the 10th of April, as the day ujpn which Evans should be executed. V Upon the margin of another world, aid with all the horrors of death before him he asseverated that the testimony of Ball a^d Lansibiger was false, and that the killing of Cissler was accidental. He admitted that tip had lived a wicked life, and advised all preji sent to refrain from gambling, profanity, and| intemperance, and ascribed his premature and| ignominious death to his addiction to these! vices. He then, in the most solemn manner, stated that, as he was to be hung for a crime which he had never committed, no other persons would be executed iWWestmoreland county for a period of 40 years; and furthermore, that several witnesses - naming them —that had aworn falsely against him could not die a natural death, as the Almighty knew of their siD, and would not let them die naturally. Singular as it may appear, there has not been an execution in the county since that of Evans, over 44 years ago ; and, what is still the more singular, of the witnesses be mentioned, one was drowned, 'one was kicked by a horse, and, from the injuries received, died ; one waß hung in Ohio, for horse stealing, by a mob ; one was struck by lightning and killed ; and the last one was killed on the old postage road, standing on or near a water tank, when a train of cars rolled him over ar.l lef:, the lifeless remains of the witness a round mass of human[£Leah.

Those arrested and tried f< r murder have either been sentenced to various periods m the penitentiary or have escaped the horrors of the gibbet by swallowing poison on the near approach of the fatal day. ■ Many of the good people of Westmoreland, honest, industrious farmers, remember the last words of Evans on the scaffold, and wonder at'the reason of the verification of the wicked man's prophecy.