Fire Along the Sky (30 page)

Supplemental Statement of Mrs. Margaret Parker,
Widow & Unemployed Housekeeper

And didn't I say so all along? Didn't I? You put it down there on paper, Ethan Middleton, for everybody to see plain as day. Missy Parker said from the beginning that there was evil doings up at the millhouse, and she was right.

Statement Submitted into Evidence
Signed by Hannah Bonner, Physician
Witnessed by Mrs. Elizabeth Bonner
and Ethan Middleton, Esq.

On the 20 day of November I examined the body of Mrs. Dolly Wilde in the presence of Mrs. Bonner and Mrs. Freeman of this village, as Dr. Todd was too ill to leave his bed. The subject was a woman of thirty years, of medium height, with dark hair gone mostly white, and of pale complexion. In her life she was well nourished and her person cared for. I found no wounds as might have been made by a bullet or knife or any weapon. The few scars on her person are in keeping with the life of a farmer's wife, with the exception of a healed bite mark on her right hand. In addition, her hands and arms were heavily scratched and torn from having pushed through bush for some time.

From the evidence available to me, and without performing an autopsy, it is my opinion that the subject died of a severe infection, most probably of the brain but possibly also of the lungs. I saw no evidence of violence done to her.

This statement dictated to and taken down by Ethan Middleton and signed by my own hand and sworn to be true to the best of my knowledge and ability. Hannah Bonner, also known as Walks-Ahead by the Kahnyen'kehàka of the Wolf Longhouse at Good Pasture and as Walking-Woman by her husband's people, the Seneca, this first day of January, 1813.

Statement Submitted into Evidence
Signed by Hannah Bonner, Physician
Witnessed by Mrs. Elizabeth Bonner
and Ethan Middleton, Esq.

On the 26 day of December I examined the remains of Mrs. Cookie Fiddler in the presence of Mrs. Bonner and Mrs. Freeman of this village, as Dr. Todd is recently deceased and there is no other with the training to perform this last service.

The subject was a Mulatto Negro woman of about sixty years, very small and slight of stature but well nourished and without obvious external signs of illness. Both her ears were pierced. The body bore numerous scars, primarily of whippings to the back and legs. The right fibula was once broken and set crookedly.

First observations indicated that the subject died by drowning when the water was at or very near freezing, for her remains were well preserved. On autopsy it was determined that her lungs were in fact filled with water, which indicates that she was alive when she fell into the lake. All other internal organs appeared unremarkable for a healthy woman of her years.

The only wound on her person was on the back of her head, an indentation about a half-inch deep, three fingers wide, and a half foot long, regular in shape, as might have been made by a blow with a wood stave or by falling and striking the head on a wood structure such as the handrail or edge of a bridge. The blow was severe enough to slice the scalp to the skull, cleave the skull itself, and render the subject insensible. There were no other signs of struggle, that is, no broken fingernails or wounds as might have been received in a struggle for her life. In addition, there were a few grains of sand clutched in her hand and found in the folds of her clothing. Thus is it my opinion that Cookie Fiddler's death may have been an accident or a murder, but it is not in my power to declare which on the basis of the evidence I had before me. I surmise that she received a blow to the head and fell unconscious into the lake, where she drowned.

This statement dictated to and taken down by Ethan Middleton and signed by my own hand and sworn to be true to the best of my knowledge and ability. Hannah Bonner, also known as Walks-Ahead by the Kahnyen'kehàka of the Wolf Longhouse at Good Pasture and as Walking-Woman by her husband's people, the Seneca, this first day of January, 1813.

Interview of Levi Fiddler, Man of All Work,
Freed Negro
By Judge Baldwin O'Brien, Esq.

Q:
         State your name and occupation for the record.

A:
         Levi Fiddler. Mostly I hire out as a farmhand, but now and then folks fetch me to play the fiddle for a party. Since the new year I been working for Mr. Middleton, there, who's writing all the words down.

Q:
         And before that?

A:
         I worked for Mr. Wilde. In his apple orchards, ever since I got my manumission papers. Before that I was a slave at the millhouse, belonged to the Kuicks from the day I was born.

Q:
         You bought your freedom from Mrs. Kuick?

A:
         Not me myself, sir. It was Mr. Gathercole, who was minister when this meetinghouse was still the Paradise church.

Q:
         Yes, I've heard that story. And the deceased was?

A:
         My mother.

Q:
         And she also worked for the accused, Mr. Wilde?

A:
         Yes, sir, we started work there on the same day. She took care of the house and looked after Miz Dolly and the baby, once she come along.

Q:
         What kind of employer was Mr. Wilde?

A:
         Fair. Even handed. A God-fearing man.

Q:
         Your mother was happy in his employ.

A:
         For the first time in her life, yes, sir.

Q:
         Mr. Wilde stands accused of your mother's murder. What is your opinion on that?

A:
         Pardon my language, sir, but that's damn nonsense. He couldn't have had nothing to do with it. He was in Johnstown, him and Miz Callie and me, the three of us. The two of them stayed with Mr. Wilde's cousin, you could ask him, Mr. James Guthrie, a cobbler. When we drove off from here Mama was standing in the door, waving. That's the last we saw her breathing. He couldn't have had nothing to do with it, and it wasn't in him neither.

Q:
         So I'm told by everyone I've interviewed. And what is your opinion of the new Mrs. Wilde?

A:
         I wouldn't take her name in my mouth, no, sir.

Q:
         You think she may have been involved in the death of your mother?

A:
         I don't want to say nothing about that. Best you ask the other white folks.

Q:
         Now Levi, before the first Mrs. Wilde died, did you ever witness any special connection between Mr. Wilde and the younger Widow Kuick?

A:
         No, sir. He never paid her no mind, as far as I could see. She never come to the orchard house, you can be sure of that. Missus Kuick never could abide Miz Dolly, and my ma would have chased her off, anyhow.

Q:
         Yet Mr. Wilde married her, not a month ago. How do you explain that?

A:
         Loneliness, I suppose, and the other thing.

Q:
         Other thing?

A:
         I don't like to talk that way in front of ladies, sir. The thing that men wants from women.

Q:
         I see. Now what of the first Mrs. Wilde, Levi? Other witnesses have testified that she was out of her mind. You saw her every day. Would you agree?

A:
         No, sir, not exactly. Seem to me she was all tangled up in her mind, like she was a prisoner inside herself.

Q:
         Do you think she was capable of violence? Might she have hurt your mother, maybe in a fit of some kind?

A:
         Why, no. It just don't seem possible. I seen Miz Dolly weeping over a dead bird more than one time, sir. Stroking it and talking to it, like maybe a kind word would be enough. No, sir, Mrs. Wilde—the first Mrs. Wilde that was—she couldn't have hurt Mama. I'd swear on it.

Interview with Mr. Nicholas Wilde

Q:
         Mr. Wilde, all charges against you in connection with the death of Cookie Fiddler have been dropped for lack of evidence. But we would like to ask you some questions about this sad business before we discharge you.

A:
         I've got nothing to say except, may God bless Cookie Fiddler and keep her. She was a good woman.

Q:
         Well, then. Let's start with your wife. Your first wife. Dolly Smythe, I believe was her name before you married. Your wife was unwell for the last few years?

A:
         Since the birth of our daughter, yes.

Q:
         And can you describe that illness?

A:
         No.

Q:
         You can't or you won't?

A:
         Both. I didn't understand it then and I don't now. Dr. Todd didn't know what was wrong with her and neither did Curiosity Freeman or any of the others who tried to help her, and nor more do I.

Q:
         Was your wife ever violent?

A:
         No. Never.

Q:
         She never struck you or anyone else, to your knowledge?

A:
         Never.

Q:
         No fits or apoplexies?

A:
         None. I would never have left her alone with Cookie if there had been any danger to either of them. Haven't you had testimony about this from Curiosity Freeman?

Q:
         I'll ask the questions here, Mr. Wilde. But no, Curiosity Freeman has not testified and will not testify before me. If your wife was so docile why didn't you take her to Johnstown with you?

A:
         She was easily upset, most especially by loud noise. And her condition had been worse of late.

Q:
         In what way?

A:
         In every way. She was in a decline.

Q:
         Her mania was worse?

A:
         I— Yes.

Q:
         You hesitate, sir. What is it you meant to say?

A:
         She was worse, I cannot deny it.

Q:
         Well, then, to the subject of your recent marriage to the Widow Kuick.

A:
         Ask her to leave the room, first.

Q:
         This is a public hearing, sir, and the accused has a right to be present. You will answer the questions put to you about Mrs. Wilde, or go back to gaol.

A:
         Then send me back to gaol, for I've nothing to say except this: I'll be filing for divorce with the court in Johnstown as soon as I can get there.

Q:
         Quiet! Quiet! I'll have quiet or see the lot of you out into the weather. Constable McGarrity, can you do nothing with this rabble? Now, Mr. Wilde, you say you intend to divorce your wife of a few weeks. Has the marriage been consummated?

A:
         That's none of your business.

Q:
         Quiet, or I will put you all in gaol if I have to drag you to Johnstown to do it! Now. Mr. Wilde, you must have grounds for divorce.

A:
         She lied to me.

Q:
         Your wife lied to you. Are you referring to the letter written by her first husband and submitted into evidence in this hearing?

A:
         That and other things.

Q:
         I doubt the court will be swayed, if that is all you have to offer when pleading a divorce.

A:
         I won't live with her as her husband, no matter what the courts have to say.

Q:
         Did this change of heart have to do with the death of your wife, or of Cookie Fiddler?