MURDERED MAN REAPPEARS.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 208, 2 September 1899, Page 5 (Supplement)

MURDERED MAN REAPPEARS.

AN EXTRAORDINARY CASE.

A singular sensation is at present agitating Hie public mind iv a section of the United States. It was on the night of April 29, 1898, that Louis Peters rowed out on a large and lonely mountain lake, near the Ripley, in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, and from that moment was not seen again. The next morning,' however, revealed facts which only too well indicated what had been his fate. Far under a cliff on the lake two skiffs were found. One of them was the one Peters had used. It was limiting bottom side up. The other one had not been upset, but bore dents and scars which clearly showed that Hs occupant or occupants had been in a terrific struggle. Part of an oar freshly broken off, as though by a violent blow, was lying across one of the seats. There were splashes of blood in the skiff's gunwale. A short distance away Pet.ers's black soft liat was found floating on the surface of the water. The crown hud been partly cut through, as though by the edge of an oar blade, and there was a deep slain of blood, which Hie water had not obliterated. To the searchers who had gone out to look for Peters and who found the relics the whole story of the tragedy was clear. Peters was the manager of the Fish and Oyster Company, and it: was part of Louis I'elers's duties to see that the poachers were kept off, and to pay tlie men employed at, tlie lake to catch, pack, and ship the lislt. lie had received a cheque for a large sum to make the monthly payment of wages on May 1. This he got; cashed in Ripley, whore lie hail displayed the large roll of money lie got for it. lie had tills money with lilm when lie rowed out on the lake at midnight to look after tlie nets and keep an eye out for poachers. It was clear he had been followed by some one in the second skiff, attacked, murdered, and nibbed, after making a desperate light for Ids life. The authorities were notified and an investigation was started. Tracks were found leading down to Un; water where the second skiff Avas known lo have been moots cd. They were traced back to Ihe houso where lived Charles Force and Will Saul. They were both arrested. Al their trial it was found that, strong as was Hie moral certainty of their guilt, there was only tho slenderest of threads of circumstantial evidence against them. A mill the angry niurminings of the people they were acquitted. The excitement died away, and the murder of Peters drifted into a mere local legend. Peters left a widow and three children. The wife always had a hope that her husband might yet be heard from and would return. At last, with tlie widow's consent, tlie heirs consulted a lawyer, ami instructed liini to draw up a bill of sale anil partition of the estate. lie got on a train on ills way to Washington lo gel Hie necessary signatures of Hie heirs, and on the train fell Into conversation with a soldier In the uniform of a private of volunteers. One of the heirs, Peters' oldest son, was at the station at. Washington to meet Hie lawyer, at whose heels followed Hie soldier, who also w.-ts bound for Washington. As the legal gentleman advanced towards young Peters on the station platform with outstretched hands, Peters, instead of meeting Ids advance, stood looking with pale, lixod face and starling eyes over Hie lawyer's shoulder at tlie bronzed and weather-stained soldier who was closely following. "Orent God! Great Hod!" said Hie young fellow in a choked voice. "Look behind you Fop God's sake, who Is dial behind you?" The lawyer turned hastily, and the soldier darted past him and seized the young fellow by both liamls, dragging him to his breast.

"You knew me, Jim; you knew me, didn't you? It's your father, Jim. For heaven's sake don't be afraid of me. It's your father, and I am nllve and well. Don't you see I am alive nnd well." And here Lewis Peters quite broke down, and father and son sobbed in each other's arms. "On that awful night," said Peters, telling his story later In the day when the news of his return had been broken to his wife and the other children.and some outward semblance of calm restored to I lie family, "on that night I rowed out on the lake alone In the boat, I thought I saw a skiff sneaking close to the shore. Then a cloud came and I lost sight of it. When there was another burst of moonlight I saw the boat distinct-

ly. There was one man in it, and he was paddling swiftly aud silently—evidently on the sneak. The man saw me plainly, but kept right on to where I was. Then I thought of the big sum of money in my pocket. I believed he was coming to attack me. I stood up in the boat: and raised my oar to strike. The next moment the boats crashed together. I brought, down my our with all my strength, and at the same time be struck at me with his. His oar hit the boat and broke short off. Mine came down on his shoulders. AYe had an a.vful fight. I managed to lilt him one heavy blow on tlie'l'.eaij. He pitched Into the water, and my boat upset, throwing me in also. Then I swam ashore. I knew I was a murderer, and that I might not be able to prove how it happened. I ran away that night. I enlisted under an assumed name in a Tennessee regiment, served through the war, and here I am. Do you think they will prosecute me?" Whoever it was Peters killed, the body was never found, and no report came of anyone missing.