Garroting a citizen.
--A daring attempt was made last Monday night by two paroled Yankees, (of course,) giving their names as
Patrick Henry Castillo and
John Howard, to garrote and rob
Mr. Peter D. Bernard, a most worthy citizen of
Henrico county, and formerly an enterprising conductor of the printing business in this city.
Mr. Bernard had been in the city during the day and was on his way to the house of a friend, when, on reaching the corner of Cary and Virginia streets, he was decoyed into a vacant lot in the rear of
Mr. Claiborne Burnett's blacksmith shop by these fellows, who seized him and bore him to the ground.
Two of the city watch,
Messrs. Marcellus Hicks and
Cornelius Gardner, happening to be near at hand heard the alarm, and hastening to the spot found
Mr. Bernard flat of his back, with the prisoners sitting on him, one of whom was rifling his pockets, while the other was holding a blanket over his face, thereby rendering it impossible for him to make any noise.
In fact,
Mr. B. was very near suffocating, and in all probability he is indebted to the quick arrival of the watchmen for the preservation of his life.
Upon searching the robbers there was found about four hundred dollars in Confederate money and some valuable papers which they had succeeded in getting; but
Mr. Bernard does not know whether this was all that they had taken from him, as he had on the morning of the robbery about eleven hundred dollars, and has no recollection of spending anything like half of that amount.
At the conclusion of the testimony the parties were remanded for indictment before the Hustings Court.
