A Cruel Murder

It was while all the people who could be spared for the labor were at work on the chapel, that we of St. Mary's were horrified by word, passed from one to another in whispers, that William Smith, one of the ablest of the serving men, who had gathered for himself no little property before leaving England, was lying dead upon the sand near that point which we called Lookout, having been shot, and afterward cruelly hacked and cut with knives.

That it was a murder there could be no question, and that it had been done in our Province of Maryland, where it would seem white men should dwell together in brotherly love, because of being surrounded by the brown-skinned people who might rise against us at any time, caused more of horror and of fear than had the news that the lives of four men were sacrificed to William Claiborne's efforts to hold Kent Island against the rights of my Lord Baltimore.

The body of poor William Smith was left lying where it had been found, until the governor and the gentlemen could view it according to the English laws, which forbid the touching of a body that has been violently dealt with, until the officers have had opportunity to view all the surroundings with the idea of gaining therefrom some knowledge of who has committed the dreadful deed.

During the remainder of this day, and while the mangled corpse lay so near the water that spray from the harbor was blown upon it by the wind, we of St. Mary's spoke to each other only in whispers, for this thing which had come into our midst was so fearsome that one hardly dared break the silence.