The Rev. A. J. Plow, the clergyman of Todmorden who
was cut down by Miles Weatherhill, has since died, as has the child, which was but three weeks old when its mother was attacked, and died of the necessary separation. Mr. Plow, before his death, was sufficiently well to give evidence before the Coroner, and gave it with extraordinary fairness, stating that he was sure Weatherhill's intentions to his sweetheart had been honourable, and that his own reason for interfering was her youth. A number of letters
from Weatherhill to Sarah Bell were produced in Court, letters full of affection for her, of fierce vindictiveness against "the traitor," Jane Smith, whom he shot, and against "the parson." In his last letter, written just as he started for the parsonage, he says he "is driven to despair, all through a parson,"--as if that in some way aggravated his despair. At the conclusion of the evidence, when Weatherhill was committed for trial, Sarah Bell went up to him and embraced him, apparently moved by the belief that he had, after all, sacrificed his life out of love for her.
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