ommittee of Vigilance, and it was so carried. On the Sunday following,
Joseph began to think there might be something in it. Perhaps, in the
mean time, he had seen one of the Crowninshields. He was apprehensive
that they might be suspected; he was anxious to turn attention from
their family. What course did he adopt to effect this? He addressed one
letter, with a false name, to Mr. White, and another to the Committee;
and to complete the climax of his folly, he signed the letter addressed
to the Committee, "Grant," the same name as that which was signed to the
letter received from Belfast. It was in the knowledge of the Committee,
that no person but the Knapps had seen this letter from Belfast; and
that no other person knew its signature. It therefore must have been
irresistibly plain to them that one of the Knapps was the writer of the
letter received by the Committee, charging the murder on Mr. White. Add
to this the fact of its having been dated at Lynn, and mailed at Salem
four days after it was dated, and who could doubt respecting it? Have
you ever read or known of folly equal to this? Can you conceive of crime
more odious and abominable? Merely to explain the apparent mysteries of
the letter from Palmer, they excite the basest suspicions against a man,
whom, if they were innocent, they had no reason to believe guilty; and
whom, if they were guilty, they most certainly knew to be innocent.
Could they have adopted a more direct method of exposing their own
infamy? The letter to the Committee has intrinsic marks of a knowledge
of this transaction. It tells the _time_ and the _manner_ in which the
murder was committed. Every line speaks the writer's condemnation. In
attempting to divert attention from his family, and to charge the guilt
upon another, he indelibly fixes it upon himself.

Joseph Knapp requested Allen to put these letters into the post-office,
because, said he, "I wish to nip this silly affair in the bud." If this
were not the order of an overruling Providence, I should say that it was
the silliest piece of folly that was ever practised. Mark the destiny of
crime. It is ever obliged to resort to such subterfuges; it trembles in
the broad light; it betrays itself in seeking concealment. He alone
walks safely who walks uprightly. Who for a moment can read these
letters and doubt of Joseph Knapp's guilt? The constitution of nature is
made to inform against him. There is no corner dark enough to conceal
him.