He had been identified by all these men, and so his character as a desperate man had been established.

This in connection with the scar on his face and the tracks, which the boots of Amos fitted, and the broken gun stock convinced the jury of his guilt.
The most interesting bit of testimony which came out at the trial was this passage from a yellow paper-covered tale which had been discovered hidden in the haymow of the Grimshaw barn: "Lightfoot waited in the bushes with his trusty rifle in hand.

When the two unsuspecting travelers reached a point nearly opposite him he raised his rifle and glanced over its shining barrel and saw that the flight of his bullet would cut the throats of both his persecutors.

He pulled the trigger and the bullet sped to its mark.
Both men plunged to the ground as if they had been smitten by a thunderbolt.

Lightfoot leaped from cover and seized the rearing horses, and mounting one of them while he led the other, headed them down the trail, and in no great hurry, for he knew that the lake was between him and Blodgett and that the latter's boat was in no condition to hold water." It was the swift and deadly execution of Lightfoot which Amos had been imitating, as he presently confessed.
I knew then the power of words--even foolish words--over the minds of the young when they are printed and spread abroad.
I remember well the look of the venerable Judge Cady as he pronounced the sentence of death upon Amos Grimshaw.