On the whole, the Rosemont Bayonet Murder was, from a journalistic
standpoint, an almost complete bust. There had been no arrest, no
hearing, no protracted trial, no sensational revelations. Only one
monolithic fact, officially attested and indisputable, loomed out of
the murk: "... and the said Frederick Parker Dunmore, deceased, did
receive the aforesaid gunshot-wounds, hereinbefore enumerated, at the
hands of the said Jefferson Davis Rand and at the hands of the said
David Abercrombie Ritter ..." and "... the said Jefferson Davis Rand
and the said David Abercrombie Ritter, being in mortal fear for their
several lives, did so act in defense of their several persons..." and,
finally, "... the said Frederick Parker Dunmore did die."
The _Evening Mercury_, which sheet the said Jefferson Davis Rand had
once cost the loss of an expensive libel-suit and exposed in certain
journalistic malpractices verging upon blackmail, promptly burst into
print with an indignant editorial entitled _Trial by Pistol_. The
terms: "legalized slaughter," and "flagrant whitewash," were used, and
mention was made of "the well known preference of a certain notorious
private detective for the procedure of _habeas_ cadaver." The principal
result of this outcry was to persuade an important New Belfast
manufacturer, who had hitherto resisted Rand's sales pressure, to
contract with the Tri-State Agency for the protection of his payroll
deliveries.
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