A FEARFUL TALE.

Patea Mail, Volume II, Issue 174, 9 December 1876, Page 4

A FEARFUL TALE.

[daily -telegraph .] There is a horrible completeness, compactness, and thoroughness in the history of the detestable deed of assassination, folio,wed by the suicide of the assassin, which has just been accomplished in Carmarthenshire. The cynical essayist whose' theme was Murder considered as one of the Fine' Arts,” would' have been fain to admit:that, in this dreadful instance, the unities, were as.rigorously observed as in a Greek tragedy., ,A harrowing simplicity from -first tolast pervades this tale of b100d,,-and the motives of the murderer are as palpable as the means - which he adopted to perpetrate his crime,■ and, subsequently, by self-slaughter,' to elude the grasp of justice. Mr John Johnes, of Dolancothy House, was a highly-respected county gentleninan, and a barrister of long standing, who had been judge .of the Carmarthenshire County Court, aud Chairman of the Quarter Sessions, On Saturday last Mr Johnes, his daughter, Mrs Goodman, and Lady Gardner Wilkinson, who was on a visit, wei e, with the exception of the'servants, the sole occupants of Dolancdthy House. They were waited upon at breakfast by a middle-aged Irishman named Henry Trimble, who had previously assisted his'master to dress. After breakfast, at about ten o’clock, Mr Johnes retired to his study, and had not been there many minutes, when Trimble suddenly entered the.room, seemingly in great agitation, arid bearing a paper in his hand.; He left the apartment, however, as suddenly as he had entered it, hastened to his pantry, and speedily returned with'a‘double-barrelled breech-loadmg -gun. Opening the study dorir,' he pointed his weapon and fired it at Mr.. Johnes, who was;-,sitthigdn his chair. Shot through the abdomen, the unfortunate gentleman sank, to the floor mortally wounded. The murderer at once retraced His steps, and passed through the pantry into the kitchen where he found Mrs Cookman giving directions to the domestics. Uttering some half-incoherent words about Mr Johnes’s daughter always having been “ against him,” Trimble fired the second barrel of his gun point blank at Mrs Cookman. : It is stated that a female servant heroically interposed her body to ward off the blow destined for her mistress ; but, at all events, Trimble succeeded in severely wounding the lady. By this time, Lady Wilkinson and another female servant, observing smoke issuing from the study, had rim to see what happened. They found Mr Johnes in'the agonies of dissoluHe was just able to recount in what manner he had been assailed ; and in less than an hour he was dead. r Mrs Cookman, who sas lying insensible on. the kitchen floor, iwas found to) bp badly wounded in .the hip, but hopes-,. herr,Tecovery are entertained. * ;

Now act of the tragedy, The ; events rift which were so strange and so monstrous that, but for a strangely close parallel, to which we shall presently draw attention, they would well nigh pass the bounds of human belief. The murderer left Doloncothy House by - the back, and close to the entrance met a laboring man, whom he threatened to shoot.? The man ran away. Then Trimble repaired to the kennels, liberated three large dogs, which he shot as they ran out. It next appears to hhvd becUri'ed to him to seek hi? 91Yn home in the adjacent village of Cayo, where -dwelt his wife and "six children. !J On his wayjthither he met Mr Johnes’ coachman, to whom he remarked that he was “ going and when the man said -he was sorry to hear Jt, Trimble rejoined he would be sorrier when he went up to the' house and saw what had been done., He now made his way to Iris house at Cayo ; and, incredible as the statement may ‘ appear, this , red-handed assassin roamed up and - down the-village for.two hours, Icarrying. his gun and. threatening to spill- more bipod. 1 tJA indeed,' had /walked..behind; him.; as .he entered Cayo ;'but Trimble, suddenly turning round bn the constable', threatened to blow his brains out. if he continued to dog his footsteps; The officer, not knowing what had just taken place.at Dolancothy, says he treated the menace as a harmless joke. Another policeman, “ having heard a report of the murder,” went up to. Mr Johnes’ house,. “to make inquiries.” It does not appear‘to have occurred to him that his first and most“iraperativ,e duty, was td secure; the furious niisCrearit-who was' Stalking about "Cayo iwith a gun upon his , shoulder.; jßeturningi from Irik'T in- 1 quiring ”trip' ;to Dq lancpthy,, this : constable found that ’Trimble had shut himself up in. Iris house, and was , being . “ watched ” by the - police-cpnstable who had first met him. Meanwhile the curiously unmolested assassin had time to write a letter to the Vicar of .Cayo, which he had sent by _the hands'ofhis.“ favorite ’.’ - daughter, a girl fourteen, years of age ; he had confessed- liiss'crime'to a Scripture teacher, and had even made some testamentary dispositions in his daughter’s favor, announcing Iris intention to commit suicide, but obligingly promised not to kill himself until she came -back with an answer -from the’clergyman; rWliat the sleepy .villagers - cpuldj, have been about -that,they didhot,rise en masse against the; .Irish Malay running amuck, and endeavor !to; disarm and secure him, is beyond'comprehension ; but it seems certain that the murderer was enabled single-handed to keep the whole hamlet at bay. Were there no revolvers at the police station ? Was there not so much as an old blunderbuss, a rusty- horse-pistol; dr flint musket iniCayO;? Was there mb: dogs rn ;the village lhat;cpui.qi)_e.houiJuoCl OH to tear the murderer down,? It : seems . not. The ruffian appears 1 to 1 have*' felt' perfectly secure in his house. He came frequently ; tb the window and threatened to shoot I the .policeman -if 2 ,they did; ;notost;alTd up: ;ther back.* constables were stillpfraid “fb |enfer, T and n they remained 'outride’until -they'/heardathd report-/of ? aegum from r! the * interior!.T,hey. then ;went in-ryety boldly. Indeea/'‘'Thfe‘ u murderer' had "attached" a piece of'.stringrtO’the trigger, and pointing the muzzle 1 "close fo his heart, .had fired the) weapon with his foot,, He was fopnd.writhingcin ‘agony, J ,dnd in'’2Q. minutbs'he; expired.! : :o ” V.“ ! ;1 J. ; L'jAZO 5...