AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY.

Grey River Argus, Volume IX, Issue 621, 11 January 1870, Page 4

AN EXTRAORDINARY STORY.

- < v ' I The (Jhicago Post of 12th October says : — " The grand jury of Kane County found' an indictment for murder against the Key Isiuic P. Smith, of Turner jf unction,; a little town 30 miles west of Chicago, for! tlie drowning of his wife last June. The facts are as follow : — Some time in the early part of June last, Mr Smith, with hi 3 wife, drove in his buggy to the house of a brother clergyman, when ; he came to Mr Benlpn's house in considerable excitement, asking if his wife was there, and saying that his buggy had been overturned iii grossing a stream about a quarter of a nii'e from Mr Bcnton's, and as he had not been able to find his wife, he thought slat, might have gone on to the house and -left him. His account of the accident seems to have been very contradictpiy. To one person he said he didn't know why he had ' driven into the stream, for he had just left a stable where there was plenty of water. To another he said that he drove across the bridge, but that the hoi'Be, in yt.nte of his tll'orts to drive on, turned

after crossing and went into tlie stream to drink. Tliese discrepancies, together wi'tihi thp fact that the ljiorsp was found standing still in jbhe water, with the buggy resting on the side on tiyo whee)p, just where the. accident or murder took place, the, body-pf thp woman only 10ft or 12ft from the buggy, led to. investigation, It leaked out tliaj; there wa^ an insuiance to the amount pf 3QOO oi}. her life. He denie4 that there was, anymore in r surance, whereas closer investigation showed a further .accident insurance of which, when discovered, he said he concealed hy ftdvice of h js father, lest it s.hould" make 'talk. Then one person discovered that Mr Sniith had b ut 40 ° dollar? Salary at AJg° n <l lu ' n ? and yet . he kept a hbrsp and' buggy, apd paid ingurance on J9,00Q dpll^rs fop h,ini^elf and h^s wife, and had commpnged to build # house shortly after his arrival, which cost him little short' of 6000 dollars ; while he had bftt a salary of 800 dollars— all of which would %vp to be borrowed at 10 per cent. This would leave 200 dollars a year to live on ; pay insurance, and ta^es, and s,ave to pay the principal of the borrowed capital. When asked abp.nt the acgident policy, he s<aid hp had taken it at her request, together with JO.OOO, dollars on hia own life, somp time.- lagt fall, when he liad cpntemplated a yjsit to Brescott, Wis., which had' been givpn up when he oanje to Turner Junction. Mrs, S,mith was a.bout 2$ years old, the daughter of a farmer who liyes near Algpnquin, Illinois, where Mr preached a year ago; she waaavery fair-lpoking >ypman of an amiable, retiring disposition ? much beloved by the people generally. My Smith has bepn in the ministry about ten years, five of wh,icft were in IJew Ilngjand, where tiie firj^t Mrs Smith died, and is said to be an eloquent and earnest preacher, He came to last Novpmber,"