The tragedy enacted in St. Robert’s Cave has been immortalised in poetry and in story:  by Lord Lytton in his story of “Eugene Aram” and by Tom Hood in “The Dream of Eugene Aram.”  Aram was a man of considerable attainments, for he knew Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and other languages, and was also a good mathematician as well as an antiquarian.  He settled in Knaresborough in the year 1734, and among his acquaintances were one Daniel Clark and another, John Houseman, and these three were often together until suddenly Daniel Clark disappeared.  No one knew what had become of him, and no intelligence could be obtained from his two companions.  Aram shortly afterwards left the town, and it was noticed that Houseman never left his home after dark, so they were suspected of being connected in some way with the disappearance of Clark.  It afterwards transpired that Aram had induced Clark to give a great supper, and to invite all the principal people in the town, borrowing all the silver vessels he could from them, on the pretence that he was short.  The plot was to pretend that robbers had got in the house and stolen the silver.  Clark fell in with this plot, and gave the supper, borrowing all the silver he could.  After all was over, they were to meet at Clark’s house, put the silver in a sack, and proceed to St. Robert’s Cave, which at that time was in ruins, where the treasure was to be hidden until matters had quieted down, after which they would sell it and divide the money; Clark was to take a spade and a pick, while the other two carried the bag in turns.  Clark began to dig the trench within the secluded and bush-covered cave which proved to be his own grave, and when he had nearly finished the trench, Aram came behind and with one of the tools gave him a tremendous blow on the head which killed him instantly, and the two men buried him there.

[Illustration:  ST. ROBERT’S AND EUGENE ARAM’S CAVE.]

Clark’s disappearance caused a great sensation, every one thinking he had run away with the borrowed silver.  Years passed away, and the matter was considered as a thing of the past and forgotten, until it was again brought to recollection by some workmen, who had been digging on the opposite side of the river to St. Robert’s Cave, finding a skeleton of some person buried there.  As the intelligence was spread about Knaresborough, the people at once came to the conclusion that the skeleton was that of Daniel Clark, who had disappeared fourteen years before.  Although Aram had left the neighbourhood soon after Clark disappeared, and no one knew where he had gone, Houseman was still in the town, and when the news of the finding of the skeleton reached him, he was drinking in one of the public-houses, and, being partly drunk, his only remark was, “It’s no more Dan Clark’s skeleton than it’s mine.”  Immediately he was accused of being concerned in the disappearance of Clark, and ultimately confessed that Aram had killed Clark, and that together they had buried his dead body in St. Robert’s Cave.  Search was made there, and Clark’s bones were found.  One day a traveller came to the town who said he had seen Aram at Lynn in Norfolk, where he had a school.  Officers were at once sent there to apprehend Aram, and the same night—­