As old Peter was too much frightened to reveal the truth concerning
the tragedy, he resolved at once to keep the secret forever within
his own breast, and as he was guilty of no crime, he had no fears of
the mystery being revealed. So he went on in the advancing morning,
on his long, tedious round of duty, and no single reader that day
missed the "Courier" or suspected the secret that lay hidden in the
carrier's breast. A few hours after the columns of the "Courier" had
been carefully scanned, on this January morning, an "Extra" flashed
from the press, and flooded the Queen City with consternation and
many hearts with woe and lamentation. It ran thus:

"Fearful tragedy! Mysterious assassination! Bridal day turned into a
day of mourning and bitter disappointment!

"This morning at an early hour the body of young Mark Abrams was
discovered, dead, and lying in a pool of blood near the centre of
the Citadel Square. How he came to his death is still a mystery, but
it was undoubtedly by the hand of an assassin. The most terrible
fact connected with this sad calamity, is, that the day of the
unfortunate man's death was to have been his wedding day. He was to
have married the second daughter of Benjamin Mordecai, Esq., banker.
His body has been removed to the house of his father, the worthy
rabbi of Maple Street Synagogue. The burial will take place this
afternoon, at the hour appointed for the wedding ceremony. Seldom
has the Queen City been so shocked; and many heavy hearts will
to-day join in the wail of woe that goes up from the stricken
family."

Thus the bulletin ran, and surmise, consternation, and sorrow, were
upon the lips of many men, women, and children in the Queen City.