Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1846-04-11

ing MN with renectlonS, ana DeWalhng
their fate in being associated with so
hardened a wretch but he remained
quite inflexible, constantly declaring he
would suffer death rather than change
his opinion.
AS soon as his lordship came into
court the next morning, he sent again
to the jury, on which all the eleven
members joined in requesting their
foreman to 60 again into the court, as
suring him they would adhere to their
former verdict, whatever the conse-
quence and on being reproached for
their former inconsistency, they prom
Used never to desert or recriminate their
foreman any more. Upon this they
proceeded into court, and again brought
in the prisoner not guilty. The judge,
unable to conceal his rage at u verdict
which appeared to him in the most in
iquitous light, reproached them with
the severest censures, and dismissed
them with this cutting reflection, "tbat
the blood Of the deceased Law at their
door"
The Judge inquired both of the
sheriff and the minister Of. the parish
into the character Of the foreman, who
each gave him an excellent character.
These accounts rather increased his
lordship's perplexity /; he therefore
desired conference with the juryman.
The juryman and his lordship having
met and having retired to closet, the
Judge asked his reasons for acquitting
the prisoner. The juryman 81 =. as
he was under no compulsion 10 Vow
his reasons, he expected his lordship
would engage upon his honor to keep
what he was about to unfold as secret
as himself had done, which his lordship
having promised to 90, the juryman
then proceeded to give him the follow
ing account The deceased being
titheman of the parish where he (the
juryman) lived, he had, on the morning
of his decease, been in his (the jury
man's) grounds amongst his corn, and
had done him much injustice, by taking
more than his due, and acting other
wise IN most arbitrary manner;
when he complained Of this arbitrary
treatment, he was not only abused with
scurrilous language, but the deceased
likewise struck at him several times
with his fork, and actually wounded
him in two places, the scars of which
wounds he then showed his lordship.-
The deceased seemed bent on mischief,
and he (the juryman) having no weap-
on to defend himself, had no other way
to preserve his own life but by closing
in with the deceased, and wrenching
the fork out of his hands, which hav-
ing effected, the deceased attempted to
recover. the fork, and in the scuffle re-
ceived the two wounds which had &C.
casioned his death. He said he was
inexpressibly concerned at the acct
dent, and especially when the prisoner
wac taken up on suspicion OF the muir
der; that the former assizes being just
over, he was unwilling to surrender
himself, because his farm and affairs
would have been ruined by living in a
Jail so long that he was sure to have
been acquitted On his trial, for he had
consulted the ablest lawyers on the
case, who all agreed, that, as the de-
ceased had been the aggressor, he
would be only found guilty Of man
slaughter. 1t was true he had suffered
greatly in his own mind on the prison
er's account, but being well assured
that Imprisonment would be of less
consequence to the prisoner than to
himself, he had suffered the law to take
its course. And in order to render the
prisoners confinement as easy as pos
. sible, he had given him every kind of
assistance, and had wholly supported
his family ever since but to get him
cleared Of the charge against him, he
could think of no other expedient than
procuring himself to be summoned on
the Jury, and sit at the head of them,
which with great labor and expense he
had accomplished, having all along
f determined in his own breast rather to
die himself than to suffer any harm to
be done to the prisoner.
His Iordship expressed great salts
faction at this account, and after thank
ing him for it, and making this further
stipulation, that, in case his lordshiP
should happen to survive him, he might
then be at liberty to relate this story,
that it might be delivered down to
posterity, the conference broke up
The iuryman lived fifteen years after
wards the Judge inquired after him
every year {; and happening TO survive