Constitutional Whig

NORFOLK, April 1.

Burning of the Records at Winton, (N.C.)—In yesterday's Beacon, we announced the destruction by fire, on Sunday night, of the Court House and Clerk's Offices of the County and Superior Courts of Hertford, (N. C.) located at Winton.

That this diabolical deed, which will be ruinous to some, and extensively injurious to the interests of many worthy individuals, and especially to the hapless orphan, was, as we then strongly suspected, the ruthless act of an incendiary, is entirely confirmed. A gentleman who arrived here yesterday from the neighborhood of Winton, has communicated to us the following additional particulars to what we have already stated, in the correctness of which he concurs:—

A man (we should rather say a monster in human shape) of notoriously infamous character, and whose name we suppress, solely from respect to the forms of justice, having in his possession the note of a gentleman for Ten dollars, which had been given on a settlement of accounts, and which was shortly after paid, but inadvertently not taken up, altered the same to Ten Thousand Dollars, and kept it for a long time. Being severely pressed for a large sum of money, due by him to a person in Southampton county, Va., to whom he had exhibited the forged note as an assurance of his ability to pay, he was required to compel its payment, and accordingly put the altered note in suit. Upon coming to trial at the last Court for Hertford county, the drawer of the note, whose character was unimpeached, solemnly protested that he did not owe the claimant a dollar, and, upon closer investigation, the infamous character of the transaction was made so apparent to the Judge, that he had the claimant arrested, and recognised to appear at the next court of that county. Upon the plea that he could not obtain justice there, he applied through Counsel, for a change of Venue to Gates superior court, (held on Monday last,) which was granted, and having given security he was permitted to go at large. The assurance of his guilt being pretty general, he was advised to fly, but fell upon the following infernal stratagem to escape the vengeance of the law:

He hired a negro, (unluckily for him, extremely ignorant and unacquainted with the place and the roads,) for the promised reward of twenty dollars and a new suit of clothes, to proceed to Winton on Sunday night, and set fire to the Clerk's Office, calculating thereby to destroy the note in question, and with it all evidence of the crime for which he would be arraigned the next day. The negro proceeded on horseback to Winton, and after finding the place in the Court House in which he was instructed to deposit the combustibles, consummated his shocking purpose, and mounting his horse made the best of his way, as he supposed, homeward. Mistaking the road, however, he unexpectedly found himself the next morning at 7 o'clock, in Murfreesborough, where the express had just before arrived with the intelligence of the conflagration to L. M. Cooper, Esq. clerk of the court. His appearance there at this moment of consternation and excitement, attracted particular notice, and being closely interrogated on the subject, he acknowledged his connection with the fiend-like plot, and detailed the particulars as given above. The negro was detained, and an officer with a posse, despatched immediately to apprehend the master spirit of the Drama. He at first seemed disposed to resist, but the resolute manner of the officer taught him a more politic lesson, and he was conducted to Murfreesboro'. Here amid a crowd of persons, the negro designated his employer, and charged him boldly with the deed. The Hero and his agent were committed to Hertford County Jail, and afterwards conveyed to that of Gates County, to be dealt with according to law.

Providence, happily often defeats the machinations of the abandoned. The memorable note and other papers, the destruction of which, was the impellent to this deed at which humanity recoils, still exist, and like the writing on the wall, point to their victim.— Mr. Cooper had taken them to his house in Murfreesborough, for some purpose connected with the process, and they have thus survived the wreck of the conflagration to convict the felon, against whom the evidence of his accomplice in the burning scene, would be inadmissible.—[Beacon.