k afterwards to find and destroy the
club, but he said he could not find it. When Joseph made the confession,
he told the place where the club was concealed, and it was there found;
it was heavy, made of hickory, twenty-two and a half inches long, of a
smooth surface and large oval head, loaded with lead, and of a form
adapted to give a mortal blow on the skull without breaking the skin;
the handle was suited for a firm grasp. Crowninshield said he turned it
in a lathe. Joseph admitted he wrote the two anonymous letters.

Crowninshield had hitherto maintained a stoical composure of feeling;
but when he was informed of Knapp's arrest, his knees smote beneath him,
the sweat started out on his stern and pallid face, and he subsided upon
his bunk.

Palmer was brought to Salem in irons on the 3d of June, and committed to
prison. Crowninshield saw him taken from the carriage. He was put in the
cell directly under that in which Crowninshield was kept. Several
members of the Committee entered Palmer's cell to talk with him; while
they were talking, they heard a loud whistle, and, on looking up, saw
that Crowninshield had picked away the mortar from the crevice between
the blocks of the granite floor of his cell. After the loud whistle, he
cried out, "Palmer! Palmer!" and soon let down a string, to which were
tied a pencil and a slip of paper. Two lines of poetry were written on
the paper, in order that, if Palmer was really there, he should make it
known by capping the verses. Palmer shrunk away into a corner, and was
soon transferred to another cell. He seemed to stand in awe of
Crowninshield.

On the 12th of June a quantity of stolen goods was found concealed in
the barn of Crowninshield, in consequence of information from Palmer.

Crowninshield, thus finding the proofs of his guilt and depravity
thicken, on the 15th of June committed suicide by hanging himself to the
bars of his cell with a handkerchief. He left letters to his father and
brother, expressing in general terms the viciousness of his life, and
his hopelessness of escape from punishment. When his associates in guilt
heard his fate, they said it was not unexpected by them, for they had
often heard him say he would never live to submit to an ignominious
punishment.

A special term of the Supreme Court was held at Salem on the 20th of
July, for the trial of the prisoners charged with the murder; it
continued in session till the 20th of August, with a few days'