Col. Isbell testified that the accepted diagram marked A (exhibit A) which was used upon the trial, was a faithful, representation of the various locations designated, that he was well acquainted with the neighborhood and made the map himself, that the relative positions of the various places and the distances put down were correct, that Wilson Foster, father of the deceased, lived in Caldwell County. The prisoner Dula, and James Melton, husband of Anne, lived in Wilkes County, that Elk Creek was a dividing line between the two counties.
Wilson Foster testified that he was the father of Laura Foster, she lived with him, her mother was dead; that he was well acquainted with the prisoner, commenced visiting at his house two months before the disappearance of Laura. He (Tom Dula) came to see Laura, who was 22 years of age and unmarried, he came sometimes once a week, and sometimes stayed all night, had seen him sitting by her side and once saw him in bed with her.
Laura left my house on Friday morning, May last, the prisoner was at my house on the Sunday previous, and stayed about an hour, he talked with her (Laura) then, he was also at my house on the Wednesday before that Friday; I was absent when he got there, on my return I found them sitting tolerably close together near the fireplace, this was about 12 Noon, he left before dinner (lunch). The night before she disappeared, I went to bed leaving Laura still up. About an hour before day (break), she got up, went out, and stayed a few minutes, when she came back, she went to the chest, and I thought opened it, I then thought she went to bed again, when I woke afterward, I found she was not in her bed, this was about daylight. I looked out and found my mare gone from the tree where she was used to be tied up of nights, there being no stable. The rope with which she was tied was also gone. I looked for the mare's tract, it was a peculiar one, made by one of her hooves which I had commenced to trim, but left unfinished, with a sharp joint to it. I found the track and followed it along the road leading from my house to A. Scott's house, to the Bate's place where I lost it; then went to James Scott's, and got breakfast, then I went to James Melton's (Anne's husband) about 8 o'clock in the morning. Anne Melton was in bed, her clothes off. I stayed a quarter of an hour then went to several places without hearing of my daughter.
Stayed all night at Francis Melton's (brother of James Melton), and on going home the next morning, found my mare there. The rope on her had been broken, about two feet of it left on her, the end frazzled up. About four weeks afterward, I found the other piece of rope tied to a dogwood tree at the Bates' place. The ends fitted, I know the rope, I made it. I found the piece of rope about 70 yards from where I lost the mare's track in the old field. The dogwood to which it was tied was in the bushes.
I saw the corpse of Laura, knew it by the teeth and the shape of the face, which looked natural. I recognized her clothes, she had two dresses, one store clothes, the other, house made. I knew her shoes, had a hole in them which I remember James Melton had made them. I recognized her fine tooth comb. Before leaving home, she had boils about her shoulder. The prisoner (Tom Dula) never came to my house after Laura's disappearance.
Cross Examination (of Wilson Foster)
It had been two months since the prisoner had visited my house, previous to the Sunday before she disappeared, recollections most distant as to the time. When at James Melton's for the 2nd time on Friday, I did not say that I didn't care what became of Laura if I found the mare, nor did I say that I would kill Laura if I found her.
Mrs. Betty Scott testified that I saw Laura on the Friday morning she was missing. She was riding her father's mare bareback, with a bundle of clothes in her lap and was coming from her father's, past A. Scott's house where I was. I met her in the road. (Here testimony was interrupted by an objection which was over ruled and testimony continued). I ask Laura if Mr. Dula had come, she said yes, he came just before day. I asked her where he was, she said, to Frank and Manda Barnes. I said if it was me, I would have been further on the road by this time, she said she had started as soon as she could. I asked her where she had expected to meet him, she said at the Bate's place. The witness further stated that these questions had been asked in consequence of a conversation, made to her by Laura, a day or two before. I saw Dula on the Wednesday before that Friday, some three miles from Wilson Foster's house, he was on foot.
C. Carlton testified I saw the prisoner on the Friday morning of Laura's disappearance. He was on the path which leads through my yard, on towards the Bates' place. It was early, a little after sun-up. He stopped in my yard and after a few words with me, started off, asking as he left if the path leads to Kendall, he came from the direction of Wilson Foster's, he was on foot.
Mr. Kendall testified, I saw the prisoner on that Friday morning, about eight, between Kendall's and Carlton's, going in the direction of the Bate's place. I ask him if he had been after the women, he said, "No, I have quit that." He was walking, his pants seemed wet with dew.
Cross Examination (of Mr. Kendall)
From Foster's house to Dula's, it was near as any.
Mrs. James Scott testified I saw the prisoner on that Friday morning after breakfast, he was walking. I asked him to come in, he declined, said he wanted to see my brother Washington Anderson, sat on the steps for a few minutes, and left in the direction of James Melton's.
Pauline Foster testified, I saw the prisoner early that Friday morning at James Melton's house. I had started out to the field to plant corn, and seeing the cows coming, I went back to get the milk vessels. When I got back to the house, Dula was in the house, leaning over Mrs. Anne Melton (James Melton's wife) talking to her in a low voice. She was in the bed. I said I was going to drop corn. He replied it was hot to work. I had one cow to milk, and when I came back, he was gone. I saw the prisoner on Thursday morning. The day before, Anne Melton had gone off from the house, and he came from the direction she had gone. He asked me for some alum, said his mouth was sore, that he had met Mrs. Melton up on the ridge and had asked for some, and she told him to get it at the house. He also said he wanted to borrow a canteen. I gave him one. He gave it to Carson McGuire, and told him to get it filled with liquor. I afterwards saw it at the house, filled.
Cross Examination (of Pauline Foster) It was after breakfast on that Friday, some eight or nine O'clock, that Dula came. The cows used in the field where I was dropping corn that day. The ground not being ploughed. It was before breakfast on Thursday when he was there for the alum. I understand the Bates' place and the shop place to be the same. It is in the direction of sunrise (East) from James Melton's where I was then living. It is an uninhabited place. I think I could have seen Dula while I was milking, if he went towards the Bates' place. I had got about a hundred yards from the house when I met the cows. I planted corn that day, along with James Melton. He went to the field that day before I did.
Lotty Foster testified I am the mother of Mrs. Anne Melton. I saw the prisoner at my house on Thursday before Laura Foster disappeared. He came from James Melton's. He asked to borrow a Mattach. He got it and started off in the direction of his mother's house. I didn't see the Mattach again under three or four days. I sent for it twice, and got it the second time. I saw Dula again at my house on that Thursday. Anne Melton was there also. Dula came after dinner (lunch). Anne was there before he got there. Both left about three o'clock P.M.
The next day Friday morning Dula came again from the direction of James Melton's. It was after breakfast. The boys (her sons) had gone to their work. He asked for milk and I gave him a half a gallon. He took it and left towards home. I saw him afterwards that day, late in the evening, going towards the Bates' place. He didn't speak on that occasion. I noticed two places of a little digging on the pathway towards Dula's mother's house. This was two hundred yards from the grave. I raised Ann Melton.
Testimony interrupted I was here proposed by the State to prove acts of criminal intercourse between the prisoner and Ann Melton. Evidence (was) objected by the prisoner, objection overruled, and evidence admitted as follows
Lotty Foster
The witness stated, two years before the war, I saw Anne Melton, after she was married, in bed with Dula. I recognized him - he jumped out (of bed) and got under the bed. He had his clothes off. I have frequently seen him go in the direction of James Melton's, night and day, I didn't know where he was going.
Cross Examination (Of Lotty Foster)
There are other young women living in the direction of James Melton's besides Anne.
Martha Gilbert testified, On the Wednesday or Thursday before the Friday of Laura Foster's disappearance, I saw the prisoner on the road between Mrs. Dula's and Lotty Foster's. He had a Mattach in his hand, and was skelping along side the patch with it. I asked him what he was doing. He said he was fixing the path, and making the road wider to that he could go along of nights. It was about 200 or 300 yards from where I saw him standing, to the grave.
Cross Examination (of Martha Gilbert)
It was about one hundred yards from where he was standing, to Mrs. Dula's, his mother's and it was about the old field towards Lotty Foster's.
Thomas Foster (son of Lotty Foster) testified, On the Thursday before that Friday, the prisoner came to the house of Lotty Foster and wanted to borrow a Mattach. Said he wanted to work some devilment out of himself. I saw him with Mattach going toward his home. It was afer breakfast that he came after the Mattach. I saw him afterwards that day passing along. On the next day, Friday after breakfast awhile, I saw him coming from James Melton's and going towards home. I again saw him going towards James Melton's, he was on the Stoney Fork before the turning place of the Bates' place. This was on Friday also. I saw him again on that day about sundown, going in the same direction, a quarter of an hour after he passed just last. I got a horse and went to James Melton's. Dula was not there, Anne Melton was. I stayed there until midnight.
Cross Examination (of Thomas Foster)
A person passing our house to go to either James Melton's or the Bates' place.
Dr. Carter testified, About the last of March, or the first of April last, the prisoner applied to me for medical treatment. He had syphilis. He told me he caught it from Laura Foster, the latter part of August, or the first of September, upon a ridge in one-half, or three-quaraters of a mile of Lotty Foster's house in Wilkes County.
I saw and examined the dead body of a female, at the spot where it was found. There was a cut through her clothing, and taking off her clothes, in a corresponding position, on the left breast, there was a cut through into the body, between the third and fourth ribs. If the knife had gone straight in, it would have missed the heart, if the handle had been slightly elevaed, the blade would have cut the heart. The body was lying on the right side, face up. The hole in which it lay was two and one-half feet deep, very narrow, not long enough for her body. The legs were drawn up. Such a wound, supposing it not to have penetrated the heart, not necessarily fatal, though of a dangerous character if it had penetrated the heart, not necessarily mortal. The body was in such a decomposed condition, I did not ascertain whether it had cut the heart or not. The clothing around the breast was in a rotten condition. A bundle of clothes was in the grave.
R. D. Hall testified, The prisoner one day, about the middle of May last, at my house, as he was coming from preaching, said to me that he was diseased, and he was going to put them through, who diseased him. I replied, Tom, I would not do that.
J. W. Winkler testified, There was a general search made for weeks after her disappearance, the neighbors were all out, formed a search line, like a line of battle. We searched in sight of the Dula house, never saw him engaged in the search. We searched in sight of Bates' or old shop place. I saw a rope near there, tied around a dogwood, didn't find it myself, but saw it soon after. The branches of the trees near, appeared to be nipped off. The end of the rope appeared to be chewed. It was of flax, and corresponded to the other end at Wilson Foster's. I think the rope we found was Foster's, I had seen his mare tied with such a rope before. Some two hundred yards from the dogwood tree, on the same side, that is the laft hand side of the Stoney Fork Road, I saw another place, there were signs of a horse having been hitched there. Near this place was a discolored spot of ground, over which some twigs had been piled up. The bushes near had been broken off, and appeared to be hanging down; the discoloration of the ground at this spot appeared to be width of my hand. The small of the earth was offensive, and different from that of the surrounding earth. I know Laura Foster. I saw the dead body; I thought, from her cheekbones, and from her teeth and her dress that it was her body. It had on a homespun dress, which I thought I knew.
Cross Examination (of J. W. Winkler)
Laura's teeth were large, I don't think there was any space between them, I saw no horse tracks around the dogwood tree. I think that part of the time, and most of the time we were searching, that Dula was in jail. The so-called blood spot, was out of reach of the white oak, to which the horse was tied the second time, as we thought. It was some fifteen or twenty feet off from the white oak. I thought the discolored spot was blood, supposed so from what I concluded was an attempt at concealment. I think it a mile or three quarters from the blood spot to the grave. Never at the grave, but know the ridge where it was found.
Pauline Foster [recalled by the State] testified, I was staying at James Melton's as a hireling [witness is a young woman] I went there for the first time in March last. Dula was at the house. He was there most everyday, while he was in the settlement; he stayed there sometimes at night. I have seen him in bed with Anne Melton, wife of James Melton, frequently. There were three beds in the room. James Melton did not sleep with his wife. He (Tom Dula) would slip into bed with her after she had gone to bed. He would first lay down with James Melton. Anne Melton became sick, the remedies she used were, blue mass, blue stone, and caustic. (Objection made by the prisoner, but overruled by the court.) The witness then state that Anne Melton told her, not in the presence of Dula however, that Dula had given her the Pock, and that this was said about a month after the witness went to live at Melton's and previous to Laura Foster's disappeance. [the prisoner excepted.)
Anne Melton left her husband's house on the Thursday before that Friday in May, after dinner (lunch) with the canteen of liquor which had been filled for the prisoner and went in direction of the Ridge Road. She was absent from that time until an hour before day (break) on that Friday. She came and got in bed with me; I left her in bed when I went to work; her dress was wet and so were her shoes. She laid in bed until after breakfast. This the morning that I mentioned that Dula stood over her and talked to her while she was in bed. When I came to get dinner (lunch) Anne Melton was on the bed and remained so until I left for the field. I stayed in the field at work with Jonathan Gilbert and James Melton until about three o'clock. Wilson Foster came to James Melton's about dark Friday night and left about two or three hourse in the night. Thomas Foster (Anne's brother) was also there. I stayed all night. I stayed up with him until midnight. On Saturday morning Dula came early. He and Anne conversed together in a low tone for half an hour. He said he came for his fiddle and to get his shoes mended. I remarked to him I thought you had run away with Laura Foster. He left for home. Dula came there again that night and stayed all night; he went to bed with James Melton. Dula was there every day or night after that as long as he remained in the settlement. He remained in the settlement some four weeks after the disappearance of Laura Foster, then left for Tennessee. [Ojection made but overruled.]
The witness stated the afternoon the prisoner left the neighborhood Anne Melton went to the head of the bed and tore a clapboard off from the side of the house, separated the dirt off and made a hole through the chinking; she then drove a nail and put the other end in bed. She also put a knife under the bed. Thomas Dula came back a little after dark, he looked disturbed. James Melton came in afterwards. We sat up until bed time. I offered to fix a bed for Dula, he declined. He threw himself across one of the beds with his clothes on. Mrs. Anne Melton laid down on my bed, I got in behind her; I found she was crying; after a while he (Tom Dula) came from his bed, which was at the foot of ours, into ours, getting in on the outer side from me. I heard them both sobbing. Anne Melton arose and went out, he followed her. I asked him what was the matter. He said come out and I will tell you. I went out and he said they were telling lies on him. They embraced and parted in tears. This was four weeks after Laur's disappearance.
Two or three days before their parting, I heard James Melton say in the presence of the prisoner, that it was reported by Hendricks that Dula had killed Laura Foster. Dula laughed and said, they would have to prove it, and perhaps take a beating besides. (Objection made, overruled.) The witness stated, On one occasion after Dula was in jail on this charge at the insistence of Anne Melton, I started with her from the house of James Melton. We went by Lottie Foster's across the Reedy Branch, went through an old field on to a ridge, up to a log. Here Anne Melton picked up an apron full of leaves and placed them on a place by the log that appeared to have been rooted about. The place where we stopped was a hundred yards or a little more from the grave as it was afterwards discovered. We were going in that direction when I became frightened and refused to proceed. [The prisoner excepted.] I saw the dead body, I thought it was Laura Foster, I recognized her teeth an dress. The teeth were large and there was a large open space between them. I had seen the dress before, it was made up, it was woven with a single stay.
Cross Examination (of Pauline Foster)
I hadn't seen Laura Foster since the first of March; it was nearly three months between that time and the discovery of the body. The heels of the shoes on the corpse were worn and pieced. There was a hole in one of the shoes side of the toe. The tooth was not out but there was a natural space right in the center of the mouth.
Dula came to James Melton's on Thursday, before the Friday of Laura's disappearance, before breakfast, and left without breakfast. This was the time he got the alum and canteen. Ann Melton remakred when she went off on that Thursday with the canteen that she was going to her mother's. She did not come back until Friday morning early. She was home all day Friday. Dula came there but one time that day. It didn't go off the place that day.
Wilson Foster, Thomas Foster, William Holder, and Washington Anderson were there at James Melton's on that Friday night. We were all joking that night. Thomas Foster burned the ol man's (Wilson Foster) whiskers. Thomas Foster did not sleep with me that night. I got in bed with Anne Melton.
I admit I have venereal disease. I got it in Watangoo (Watauga) County and came to James Melton's to get cured and worked for him for money to buy medicine. Anne Melton is a distant relative of mine. I did go to meet a Negro boy near the road, who sent for me by Mrs. James Scott. The boy gave me a message from Laura Foster. I was arrested and sent to jail for what I said in jest to Jack Attkins and Ben Ferguson. I had been over into Tennessee and after my return, one evening Ben Ferguson said to me tat he had killed Laura Foster and I replied, "Yes, and Dula killed her and ran away to Tennessee." I told James Melton that I had this conversation and Ferguson and Attkins in joke, and he told me not to joke about such a thing. I was arrested two or three weeks after I had made this remark.
I had a fight one day with Anne Melton at Mrs. James Scott's. Anne Melton on that occasion said to me, "You are a drunken fool, you have said enough to Ferguson and Attkins to hang you and Dula." I admitted that I had said it, but had said it in a joke. I admit that I said on one occasion to George, "I would swear a lie any time for Tom Dula, wouldn't you, George?" I said that also in jest. I have been twice sworn as a witness about this matter, one at Wilkesboror and again after the body was found. I deny that I ever told James Melton that it was true I had killed Laura Foster. What I told him I have stated. It is true that I sat in Dula's lap for a blind. One day when a woman came to James Melton's, Dula caught me and pulled me into his lap. I also slept with Dula for a blind at Anne Melton's insistence. I stayed out at the barn one night with him at her request. There were three bed in Melton's house. The house but a single room. Sometimes when I was sleeping with Anne Melton, Dula would get in bed with us also. James Melton did not sleep with his wife. I did hear old man Wilson Foster say if he could get his mare he did not care what had become of his daughter. I might have told him I could find his mare for a quart of liquor, if I said so it was in jest. I did suggest to Wilson Foster that maybe a colored man had run away with Laura, and he said he thought it might be so too. I also said I would sooner have supposed that someone in her neighborhood would have run away with her than Tom Dula.
Direct Examination resumed (of Pauline Foster)
The reason I said that I suppose perhaps a colored man had run away with Laura, was in consequence of information from others said so as to the others supposition. (Objections made and overruled.) The witness stated, after I had made the remark to Ben Ferguson and Jack Attkins, I and Anne Melton had a quarrel. I went over to the house of Mrs. James Scott. Anne Melton came there with a club and said to me, "You've got to go home." She pushed me out the door and got me down and choked me. After the fight, she said, "You have said enough to Jack Attkins and Ben Ferguson to hang you and Tom Dula, if it were ever looked into." I replied, "You know you are as far into that as I am." I also said that it was the truth that I had made the remark to Attkins and Ferguson, but not that I had done the crime, I went off with her to the top of the hill, she then proceded to go back and make Mrs. Scott promise not to tell it. We went back and Anne Melton enjoined on Mrs. Scott not to tell anything which had been said during the quarrell. (The prisoner excepted.) The prisoner remarked to me one day that Anne Melton was jealous of me. I replied I did not know how that could be as I never went into his company unless she put me in it for a blind.
Cross Examination Resumed (of Pauline Foster)
After we went off from Mrs. James Scott's, Anne Melton said to me she wanted to kill me ever since I had said that to Jack Attkins and Ben Ferguson. We quarrelled that morning because she wanted me to make the cows and get breakfast both. We had got off about a hundred yards where we trned back to Mrs. Scott's. Anne Melton went back a second time, but I could not distinquish the words she used; she said she was going back again to make Mrs. Scott promise not to tell anything that had taken place there. During the difficulty she had charged me with having a bad disease and also having improper intimacies with my brother; the later charge was untrue.
Mrs. James Scott [Recalled by the State]
testified Paul Foster came to my house a few minutes after Ann Melton came. (Objections made and overruled.) Anne Melton came and ordered Pauline Foster to go to house, pushed out of the chair, threw a stick over her, threw her down and choked her. Kept ordering her to go and used very abusive language to her. She also said Pauline had told Ben Ferguson to hang her own self and that she had said she had said she and Tom Dula had killed and put away Laura Foster, and had also said, "Come out Tom Dula, and let us kill some more." Pauline remarked, "I do say now come out Tom Dula, and let us kill Ben Ferguson."
They went off together and both came back and Ann Melton enjoined on me to let it be a dying secret with me not to tell. She said she had started out that morning to take revenge and had coincided with her best friend. Ann afterward came back by herself, appealed to me still more. She said she would follow me to hell if I told it and if it was told she would know where it came from as but four had heard it. (The prisoner excepted.)
Washington Anderson
I was at James Melton's on Thursday night before the Friday that Laura Foster disappeared. James Melton, Jonathan Gilbert, and Pauline Foster were there. Mrs. Ann Melton was not there. I stayed about two hours. I went by there next morning. Ann Melton was then on the bed sick. Her shoes were wet; dress not observed, her folks were eating breakfast.
Cross Examination (of Washington Anderson)
The shoes were women's shoes, were by the bed, couldn't swear whose they were. James Melton was a shoemaker. I knew the general character of prisoner, which in the army I was in the same company and regiment. His character was good as a solider, and as a truthful man, also as a peaceable man, while at home and it was good for honesty.
I remember Pauline Foster meeting Dula one night near the road. I also remember her spending the night with him in the woods, I was with them.
John Atkins testified, I went after Thomas Dula into Tennessee about a month after the disappearance of Laura Foster. He said he changed his name to Hall while in Watauga County, that he did it in fun.
Col. Isbell [Recalled by the State] testified, I was at the grave at the time of the discover; my father-in-law was with me; it (the discovery of the body) was made as follows: Pauline Foster was arrested and while in jail gave substantially the same statement which she had made here today. In consequence of the disclosure made by her she was taken out of jail. We went with her to the ridge, came to the log, saw where dirt had been removed. This is the spot where she stated she stopped following Ann Melton. After half an hour's search, we found the grave, 75 yards from this place. The earth had been carried away and sod replaced it escaped our observation until my companion's horse snorted and gave signs of smelling something. We then searched narrowly about the spot, and by probing the ground discovered the grave. After taking out the earth, I saw the prints of what had appeared to have been a Mattach on the hard side of the grave. The flesh was off the face. The body had on a checked cotton dress, a dark colored cloak or bodice. There was a bundle of clothes laid on her head; there was also a small breast pin I noticed. In a former search we made about Bate's place we found a rope around a dogwood tree, 75 yeards from the road, in the bushes. We also saw another place where there were signs of a horse having benn hitched; this was some two hundred yards from the dogwood. The horse had dunged twice. About 15 steps off from this latter place we found a discolored spot on the ground. The earth smelled offensive. Some broken bushes were lying on the ground near. The had been disturbed when I saw them, the grave was not far from the path leading from Lotty Foster's to Dula's house, but it was in a secluded thickety ridge. During the search we discovered a large mud hole near James Melton's which we intended to drag but it being lat in the evening, put it off until next day. The next day we discovered signs of mud leading off from that direction towards the Yadkin River near Witherspoon's. We had not noticed these signs the day before we dragged the hole but found nothing. No other female had disappeared from the neighbor hood at that time except Laura Foster. No other person had gone off from the neighborhood except Thomas Dula.
Cross Examination (of Col. Isbell)
I think it was about five or six weeks after the disappearance of Laura Foster, before Pauline Foster left for Watauga. She was arrested twice. It was genearally reported that Anne Melton indulged in illicit intercourse with others besides the prisoner. I have assisted in employing counsel for the prosecution. I have no feeling of sympathy for the accused. I am influenced solely by consideration of the public good.
Doctor Carter [Recalled by the State]
I have heard Pauline Foster examined heretofore also her evidence in this trial, her evidence substantially the same with some exceptions as to matter on which she was not questioned. I observe no conflict in hter evidence upon the two occasions.
Here the State rested it's case. The foregoing witnesses were separated, with the exception of Col. Isbell and Dr. Carter. Mrs. Anne Melton was allowed to be in court during the examination.
J. W. Winkler testified I was present when Pauline Foster was examined at a store in Elkville before a magistrate about this matter, after her examination she remarked to a person there present, "I would lie at any time for Tom Dula, wouldn't you George?"
Mrs. Mary Dula (Tom Dula's mother) testified, He was 22 years of age on the 20th of June last, his home was with me. Thomas was not at my house, early in the morning on that Friday. I left the house after early breakfast that day, I got back just before dinner hour, found him lying on the bed. He ate no dinner, was thre until sundown or thereabouts. While I was getting supper he started away and stayed off for about an hour, he came back to supper and went to bed as usual, I heard him during the night making a little moan, I went to his bed, he had been complaining of chills, he was my sole remaining boy, I had lost two in the war, I leaned my face down and kissed him. I didn't hear him go out that night. I have no knowledge of his doings though, he was there in the morning until after breakfast.
Cross Examination (of Mrs. Mary Dula)
I did not say in the presence of Carson Gilbert or others on that Friday that I did not know where my son Thomas was. I met them on the afternoon of that day, near Lotty Foster' on the path between her house and mine. I had walked out to look after my cows in reply to an inquiry made of me. I told them, "I do not know where Tom was, unless he had gone to Muster." I did this at his request, as he had said he was too unwell to go to the Muster. I did not want to be bothered by people making inquires. The prisoner went out at dark that evening and stayed about an hour. He went to bed that night before I did and took off his clothes as usual.
Rufus Horton testified that he was acquainted with the general character of Mrs. Mary Dula, the last witness, and that it was good for truth and honesty.
