A CHAMPION ASSASSIN.

Bruce Herald, Volume XI, Issue 1079, 17 January 1879, Page 7

A CHAMPION ASSASSIN.

the clergyman, and made a short speech, which may be interpreted as expressing regret for his awful deeds. He acknowledged that he deserved his fate, and asked all to forgive him.

Under this sensational heading the! ' .New York Herald' gives a short ac-1 count of the career and execution of afl miscreant named "Bill Longley," whoß l'eceived the richly-earned reward of hisfl crimes at Gidding, Texas, on the 11th ofl October. Texas has been a sort of happw hunting ground for desperadoes for well! nigb half a century, but this fellow seetniM to h>ive been the worst of all seoundrelS who have haunted it. He was only 2fl years of age ; yet from the time he waH 14 years of age he was a murderer, anfl then not always from provocation, bu« from sheer love of wickedness. Hfl seemed to lead a charmed life. When onlfl 15 he was pursued by a detachment ofl United States Cavalry, who discharge™ in vain, forty shots after him. A soldieß closed with him, but his pistol went otiH killing the soldier, and he escaped. Hfl was hanged by a body of regulars, but ai he did nob seem to die quickly enougl for their taste, they tired two revolver shots at him. One struct a belt lined with gold pieces, th( other shot cub two strands of th< rope, and a lad coming up soon aftei cut him down and rescued him. Mori than once he made sham surrenders t( enable confederates to obtain l'ewai'ds o i 1,000 dollars and 1,500 dollars offered fo his capture. When the reward wa secured he contrived, with their conni vance, to get off. Of course, he coulc never settle anywhere, as much because of his own restless disposition as on ao count of the pursuits of justice. He wan dered all over Texas and the aajoinin States, travelling into the wild regions of the West, robbing, plundering, an< murdering as he went along. One while keeping a bar-room for miner in the }3ig Hall Mountains, he an eight companions went out on hunting excursion and were caught in I snowstorm. Three of them were frozefl to death, and he had to keep his bed fdfl five months, but finally recovei-ed. &fl last performance was the shooting of I man named Anderson, who, he heard haH killed his cousin. He walked up to ttfl man as he was working in a field and shfl him dead. This was the thirty-seconM well authenticated murder. It was comH mitted on the 31st March, 1875, biH various delays and legal artifices have prfl vented his execution till the other dafl more than three years and a half aftei' tlfl crime. On the scaffold he conducted hiifl self with some bravado ; but he accept^