Ed, according to his own story, went to push her aside so he could go downstairs, when his wife lost her balance and fell half way down the stairs.
She fainted, I reckon, and Ed, in a great fright, thought she had broken her neck.

So he ran down the stairs past her, got out of the house with a pair of blankets, a little food and a hatchet, and started up this miserable road in the night time.
He says he knew he'd have to go to the electric chair some day for his deed, but he wanted to come up here and prepare his soul before he gave up his life.

He says he got along all right until you boys came up here on purpose to find him and run him down for the law.

He tells me that the first time some of you crossed the lake in a canoe he rigged up some bushes to a wooden frame, and swam, with his head inside the frame, hoping to get close to you and hear what you had to say about him.

Then, he tells me, you moved your camp across the lake, and he knew you were here on the law's business.