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know the deceased, even by name,’ said he. ‘But it is given me to say, that she suffered much and unjustly.
Her neighbors generally suspected her of a crime, which she did not commit; and in a few weeks from this time, it will be made clearly manifest to the world that she was innocent.
A few hours before her death, she talked on this subject with the clergyman who attended upon her, and who is now present; and it is given me to declare the communication she made to him upon that occasion.’
He then proceeded to relate the particulars of the interview; to which the clergyman listened with evident astonishment.
When the communication was finished, he said, ‘I don't know who this man is, or how he has obtained information on this subject; but certain it is, he has repeated, word for word, a conversation which I supposed was known only to myself and the deceased.’
The woman in question had gone out in the fields one day, with her infant in her arms, and she returned without it. She said she had laid it down on a heap of dry leaves, while she went to pick a few flowers; and when she returned, the baby was gone.
The fields and woods were searched in vain, and neighbors began to whisper that she had committed infanticide.
Then rumors arose that she was dissatisfied with her marriage; that her heart remained
Boston, J. P. Jewett and Company; Cleveland, Ohio: Jewett, Proctor and Worthington; London; Low and Company, 1854.
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