AN UNLIKELY STORY.

An Old Rumor Dressed up in New Clothes.

What the Feehelys say they Know About The Biddulph Tragedy.

They Are Reported to Proclaim Themselves Perjurors.

DETROIT, May 20.- A despatch from East Saginaw, Mich., says: "Detective Donnelly and a Crown Attorney from London, Ont., arrived here and caused the arrest this morning of William and James Feheeley, who are alleged to be implicated in the celebrated Donnelly family massacre, in Biddulph, Middlesex county, Ont., near London, over a year ago."

The presence of James Feeheley at the Donnelly homestead, and the supposition that he was concerned in the murder, is an old story. Immediately after the conclusion of the late trial, Wm. Donnelly consulted with the Crown Attorney and with some of the detectives, with a view of either having the Feeheleys arrested or else having them approached with a view of getting them to confess what they knew about the matter. But such was the public feeling in and around Biddulph, and, in fact, everywhere the Feeheleys were known, that no person would listen for a moment, or place the slightest credence in anything they would say or any statement or evidence they might produce.

When in Biddulph, over a month ago, and when the rumors were then flying thick, and fast, our reporter mentioned what he heard to some of the leading residents of that township, and also to residents at Granton and Lucan; but they all without exception pooh-poohed it, and invariably said the Feeheley dodge was

AN OLD STORY,

and no one with an ounce of common-sense about them would give the slightest credence to anything the Feeheleys would say.

"Look," said one man, "at their evidence at the trial, and that will convince anyone, unless he is a lunatic." The Feeheleys, in fact, have been nothing better than miserable go-betweens all through the affair, and as such have not only been looked upon with suspicion by the Donnellys, but also by the Vigilants.

The present excitement is just purely sensational; at least so far it has been proceeded with on mere rumor and hearsay, and the insinuation and allegations so ingeniously put together and so sensationally strung out, should be appraoched with the greatest caution. [...]

Source: Unknown, "What the Feeheleys Say They Know About the Biddulph Tragedy," London Advertiser, May 23, 1881.

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