They bound and gagged the jailer, his wife, and
two female servants, and, seizing the keys, entered the jail, and
carried Mulock off by force. The keeper heard a desperate struggle, and
it was supposed Mulock was foully dealt by. The footprints of four men
were the next morning detected leading to a spot on the bank of the
river, where a boat appeared to have been moored; but there all traces
were lost, and the overseer's fate is still shrouded in mystery.
Mrs. Dawsey, whose cell adjoined Mulock's, was not disturbed, but public
suspicion connected her husband with the affair. There was, however, no
evidence against him, and he went 'unwhipped of justice.'
The lady was arraigned for trial on the following day, but, no witnesses
appearing against her, she was--after a tedious confinement of ten
months--set at liberty. Thus, at last, she achieved 'a plantation and a
rich planter;' but her darling object in life--to lead and shine in
society, for which her education and character peculiarly fitted
her--she missed. With the exception of her brutal husband, an ignorant
overseer, and a superannuated 'schulemarm,' imported from the North, she
has no associates. Society has built up a wall about her, and, with the
brand of Cain on her forehead, she is going through the world.
Larkin, after breaking off his connection with his 'respectable
associates,' descended from trading in human cattle, to trafficking in
fourfooted beasts, and all manner of horned animals.
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