THE BIDDULPH TRAGEDY.

Callousness of the Community over the Great Crime.

"HUNDREDS OF THE PEOPLE ARE GLAD"

The Detectives on the Lookout for Evidence

QUEER AND SUSPICIOUS CONDUCT

Making Preparations for the Coroner's Inquest.

COMPOSITION OF THE JURY.

Special Meeting of the Vigilance Committee.

NOTES AND INCIDENTS.

(By Our Own Reporter.)

Lucan. Feb, 9.- Quietnenss reigned supreme in this village to-day. No new features have been developed in reference to the tragedy, and no further arrests have been made. There is a belief that the police have got all the parties they want and are now working up the case against them. The London authorities are supported in their efforts to bring the guilty parties to justice by the county and the Ontario Governement, and no expense or labour will be spared in this direction. There is no doubt in the minds of the city officers and the surviving Donnellys that

THE CHIEF ACTORS IN THIS BLOODY DEED

are among those under arrest, and they are equally confident that they will convict them. But while this feeling is held by the prosecution , there is an opinion the very reverse held by the neutral parties. Men who have lived in Lucan and Biddulph for years, and who are well acquainted with the state of things that has led to the butchery, express themselves openly to the effect that no jury in Middlesex will find the suspected murderers guilty. "Without a doubt," said a prominent gentleman to your reporter to-day, "the Donnellys were

THE TERRORS OF THE DISTRICT,

and their removal from the scene of their many deprediations and acts of lawlessness is looked upon as a public gain." This is not the opinion of one man, but of many. Things must certainly have come to a pretty pass, and the feeling against the illfated family must have been desperate, when respectable and law-abiding citizens are heard to express themselves thus. The horrible nature of the crime committed does not seem to be realized by the people here-abouts. Although in other parts of the Province and Dominion it is denounced in the strongest possible language, there does not appear to be the proper realization of the awful fact that five human lives have been destroyed in as cold-blooded, inhuman, and brutal a manner as has characterised massacres by savages in the Far West. "The murders are looked upon by many as the natural result of the Donnellys' lawless career," was what a man was overheard to say to-day in conversation with a friend, who seemed to agree with the remark. "I'll tell you what it is," the speaker continued,

"HUNDREDS OF THE PEOPLE ARE GLAD

in their own minds that the family has been reduced by five members." Such an admission as this is horrible to contemplate, even although the murdered persons were the most desperate and wicked in the wide world.

[...] There was a report round the village today that

A MEETING OF THE VIGILANCE COMMITTEE

was held at the Cedar Swamp school house last night. On enquiry the report turned out to be correct. Twenty or thirty men assembled in the building and discussed the question of deciding upon a scheme to defend their members under arrest. A man who came in from that neighbourhood this afternoon reported that the meeting decided to start a defence fund, and collectors were appointed. It is thought that they will meet with considerable success, as the prisoners have many friends throughout the township.

[...] Bill Donnelly received an anonymous letter to-day stating that if he made a tramp among the Orangemen and Protestants of Biddulph and McGillivy, he could collect all the money he wanted to meet his legal expenses. The writer said he would divulge his name hereafter.

The friends of the Ryders commenced to rebuild their barns and other outbuildings which were destroyed by fire on the night of 15th last. It will be rememberd that old man Donnelly and his wife were arrested on suspicion of incendiarism in connection with this fire. [...]