Groves, the man charged with the murder of the bandsman
1PDonnell, has not yet been committed for trial, and it seems still doubtful whether evidence at all adequate to convince the magis- trate can be produced. A woman's evidence—Hannah Maria Janman's—has been tendered, which would be decisive if it could be absolutely trusted. She maintains that she saw him put on the beard and moustache which the man who shot M'Donnell cer- tainly wore, and which were believed to be false, and that she met the man again after the shot had been fired, and heard him say to his companion " that he had shot one, but that he had not shot the right one." This woman, however, wrote to offer her evidence under a false name, that of Harriet Williams. She says Williams was her maiden name, and that she did not dare to write in her true name, because her husband had forbidden her to meddle in the matter, for fear of consequences. Also, she wrote to Farber (the bandsman who was probably aimed at, and who escaped), to inform him she could swear to Graves, as " dear friend," Furber swearing he had never seen her before in his life. There were other suspicious circumstances about her evidence, which was, in- deed, rather too complete. She denied having heard of the reward offered for the information likely to lead to the detection of the murderer.
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