Fort Worth Daily Gazette

A SCAFFOLD STORY.
A Sensational Tale Told Before an Execution.
BOSTON, MASS., March 12.-When Besse, the murderer of Thomas Lawton, was hanged at Plymouth Thursday, it was said he made a startling confession to one of the prison officers implicating an unsuspected party. He also told a similar story to another person with whom he was intimate and who, now that Besse is dead, is relieved of his promise of secrecy. He has made known the remarkable explanation. The story is that Besse did not really kill Lawton, but was merely a disinterested accessory. He was a particular friend of Edward Gurney, a farmer living near New Bedford, and who was a mortal enemy of Thomas Lawton, the murdered peddler. On the morning of the murder Besse and Gurney were out gunning, when they were overtaken by Lawton on the road. As soon as Gurney saw the latter he began to abuse him for telling lies about him. Lawton said Gurney was a liar, and he was called sneak in return. Lawton jumped from the wagon, and he was shot by Gurney, who fired two shots. The last one killed him. Gurney asked Besse to help him to get rid of the body and he did so, hiding it in a neighboring ditch, while the horse was taken some distance away and tied to a tree near a swamp. The two men made a solemn promise whatever might come never to reveal each other's secret. Gurney afterwards robbed the body and divided the money with Besse. Why Besse did not come out with it to save his life is a mystery. Gurney is a well-to-do farmer and these assertions have created a big sensation. The suspected man will be arrested.