n the minds of many was, that Dalton's version of the
circumstances was got up for the purpose of giving to what was looked
upon as a deliberate assassination, the character of simple homicide or
manslaughter, so as that he might escape the capital felony, and come
off triumphantly by a short imprisonment. The feeling against him too
was strengthened and exasperated by the impetuous resentment with which
he addressed himself to the Prophet and Rody Duncan, while giving their
evidence, for it was not unreasonable to suppose that the man, who at
his years, and in such awful circumstances, could threaten the lives of
the witnesses against him, as he did, would not hesitate to commit, in
a fit of that ungovernable passion that had made him remarkable through
life, the very crime with which he stood charged through a similar act
of blind and ferocious vengeance. Others, on the contrary held different
opinions; and thought that the old man's account of the matter was both
simple and natural, and bore the stamp of sincerity and truth upon the
very face of it. Jerry Sullivan only swore that, to the best of
his opinion, the skeleton found was much about the size of what his
brother's would be; but as the proof of his private interment by Dalton
had been clearly established by the evidence of the Prophet and Rody,
constituting, as it did, an unbroken chain of circumstances which
nothing could resist, the jury had no hesitation in returning the
following verdict:--

"We find a verdict of wilful murder against Cornelius Dalton, Senior,
for that he, on or about the night of the fourteenth of December, in
the year of grace, 1798, did follow and waylay Bartholomew Sullivan, and
deprive him of his life by blows and violence, having threatened him to
the same effect in the early part of the aforesaid day."

During the progress of the investigation, our friend the pedlar and
Charley Hanlon were anxious and deeply attentive spectators. The former
never kept his eyes off the Prophet, but surveyed him with a face in
which it was difficult to say whether the expression was one of calm
conviction or astonishment. When the investigation had come to a close,
he drew Hanlon aside and said--

"That swearin', Charley, was too clear, and if I was on the jury myself
I would find the same verdict. May the Lord support the poor old man in
the mane time! for in spite of all that happened one can't help pity'n'
him, or at any rate his unfortunate fami