ed to be there, and when they
saw poor William's corpse, and Mary standing by, they both fainted. Poor
Mary, frightened to death, turned into the house and informed her young
mistress, Susannah, of what had happened. Miss Susannah spread the alarm,
and called some of the slaves to her assistance. She went to the barn and
found her mother and sister-in-law lying in a state of insensibility, and
her brother William dead. With the assistance of old Aunt Hannah and
several of the female servants, the two ladies were somewhat restored to
consciousness; and William was carried into the house by the servants. The
Doctor himself was away from home attending one of his patients, who was
very sick. When Mrs. Tillotson had somewhat recovered, she sent for Mary
and enquired as to how William came by his death in the barn. Mary told
the whole story as previously related in the presence of about sixty or
seventy of the neighbours, who had collected together on hearing of the
murder. Of course Mary's story met with no credit from her mistress, and
poor Mary stood in the eyes of all as an accomplice in the conspiracy to
murder young Tillotson. When the doctor arrived it was dark, and after
seeing the corpse and hearing from his wife the story that she had made up
for him, he called for Mary, but she was nowhere to be found. The house
and plantation were searched in all directions, but no Mary was
discovered. At last, when they had all given over looking for her, towards
midnight, a cart drove up to the door. Doctor, said the driver, I have a
dead negro here, and I'm told she belongs to you. The Doctor came out with
a lantern, and as I stood by my master's carriage, waiting for him to come
out and go home, the Doctor ordered me to mount the cart and look at the
corpse; I did so, and looked full in that face by the light of the
lantern, and saw and knew, notwithstanding the horrible change that had
been effected by the work of death, upon those once beautiful features, it
was Mary. Poor Mary, driven to distraction by what had happened, she had
sought salvation in the depths of the Chesapeake Bay that night. Next day
the neighbourhood was searched throughout, and the country was placarded
for Dan; and Doctor Tillotson and Mr. Burmey, young William's
father-in-law, offered one thousand dollars for him alive, and five
hundred for him dead; and although every blackleg in the neighbourhood was
on the alert, it was full two months before he was c