Mrs. Meriam retained her presence of mind, and placing her infant upon the ground, carefully collected the papers and other articles which the robbers had scattered about, and then sat down to watch the lifeless remains of her husband. The Turkish authorities of the next village sent a conveyance to take her and her precious treasure to a khan. When the moodir saw her in her little room, with her babe and the corpse of her husband, he was much moved, and did what he could for her comfort. He sent a telegram to the governor of Philippopolis, designed for Mr. Clarke, but Mr. Clarke received no notice, and consequently no friend came to meet her. She conveyed the body in her own carriage; and spent the whole of the next night, with her babe, watching the talacca in the open air, vainly listening for the coming of the messenger whom she had so much reason to expect. On the next and last day, she prevailed on a Bulgarian boy to hasten on with a message, which brought Mr. Clarke to her relief, but only just before she entered the city. An immediate burial was necessary. The Austrian, Greek, and French Consuls were very kind, and the Bulgarian church was offered for the funeral. Mrs. Meriam possessed an excellent constitution, but the strain had been too much for her. A premature confinement followed, and fever, which assumed a typhoid form, closed her earthly career, July 25, about three weeks after her husband's murder.[1] [1] A statement, made at the time, that Mr. Meriam fired on the assassins was afterwards found to be untrue. Nor did Mrs. Meriam receive any injury at the time of the murder. Nothing was taken from her personally, and no violence was offered her. _Missionary Herald_, 1863, p. 143. It was necessary that an example should be made of the murderers. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State at Washington, took Mr. Webster's view as to the rights of missionaries, and removed the doubts of Mr. Morris, the American Minister at the Porte, which had occasioned an unfortunate delay; so that he, with Mr. Goddard the Consul General, put matters in train at Adrianople, which led the Pasha of that province to offer four hundred dollars, and soon after as much more, for information that would insure the detection of the assassins, and to distribute bands of soldiers over the country. Mr. Blunt, the English Consul at Adrianople, offered a reward of ninety dollars on his own responsibility; and with him the Austrian Consul, Mr. Camerlobe, actively cooeperated. These efforts resulted in the arrest, conviction, and execution of three of the five engaged in the murder. The remaining two met with an ignominious and violent death; one having been assassinated, and the other shot down while committing highway robbery in an adjacent province. A very effectual check was thus put to the brigandage so prevalent before, and the attention of all classes was drawn to the character, position, and aims of the missionaries.