"I know the prisoner well, partly because he is not a common-looking man, but more so from feeling a friendly interest in him. He has often been at my house, and when I was nearly dead with the chills, and had no money, he brought me some quinine that cured me. I tell you this so that you may see how impossible it would be for me to mistake another for him.
"I was feeling quite unwell all day yesterday, and could not sleep any last night from that cause. Many of you know that I have lines constantly set in the river, by night as well as by day. Somehow my mind got to dwelling upon them, and I could not banish a fancy that occurred to me, of there being a great big catfish upon one of the lines.
"I thought it was trying to break the line, and at length I became so convinced that it was so, I dressed, and went out toward the river. Somehow I didn't think of taking any weapon with me; my mind was so full of the big fish.
"Well, I struck into the road at the cornfield, and then, as the easiest way, I followed the road, intending to strike the branch where a plain trail leads to the river. But, just as I got to the old 'Ivy Elm,' I heard loud voices coming directly toward me.
"So I slipped behind the tree to let them pass, for in these rough times you don't know who you might meet, and although I hadn't any thing worth stealing, it wouldn't be the first man who'd been rubbed out just for fun. But they were long in coming by and appeared to stop twice, talking in loud and, as I thought, angry tones, before they paused exactly in front of me.
"By reaching out my arm, I could have touched the largest man, they were that close; and by the voice, I thought I could recognize the prisoner. I was so frightened that I could only distinguish one sentence spoken by the latter: 'And you won't let that Kentucky scrape drop?'
"Those were his exact words, and the other man answered no, that he would tell all.
"Then I saw the larger one draw back his right hand, and could distinguish the gleam of a knife. The same moment, the other man stumbled and fell, muttering with a groan that he was killed. Twice more he was stabbed, and then the murderer appeared to be searching his body.
"I could see him take something white from an inner pocket and put it into his breast, but the shadow was so dense that I could not tell what it was, nor yet see their features plain enough to be sure of their identity. But then, with a curse, the murderer struck a match, and holding it close to the body, bent down his own head.
"He was unfastening something from his victim's shirt-bosom, that gleamed and sparkled in the light like lightning-bugs. The match lasted only a moment, but that was long enough for me to distinguish plainly the features of both men.