The voice of freedom. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1839-1848, 1846-09-24
Taeso!0M Sept. 18Th.
State

rs. Indictment for A,son, BurqEI-
George Halping rH and Larceny
The offence charged, was for breaking and entering
the store Of D. & A. Collins, in Brandon village. on
ID January, 1916, and taking therefIom quantity
OF money, broadcloths &C., and then setting fire to-
the store, by which means it and the remaining goods
were wholly consumed.
On part Of State the said Davis and Amasa Collins
testified to the destruction of the store; that There
WIS no fire i'll the building the evening previous
| tnat quantity OF money was left in their money!
drawer, and that they were unable to find anv fra
ces Of the specie among the ruins, &C., &c. They
also identified certain cloths which were rroIuccJ II,
court as being in the store the day previous to the
hre' the wrappers and marks having their writing
upon them. They also Identified certain worthless
bank bills which they had given A. Soper, oneof the
witnesses, for the purpose of procuring the goods.
| SC.
a S2per testified to Haping's admissions to him
that he had entered the store and after removing
several pieces of broadcloth m'deaines, &C.. and
taking what money there was in drawers, hsl set
| IRE to store by slow match, which worked nearly
two hours before the alarm was given He also tcs-
! titled that he had purchased the cloths which the
Collins identified, of Hapiny, and had paid him
therefor the bank bills of the Eagle Ia broken bank
Which Coihsh had furnished him with for that pur-
pose This purchase was made, he said, between
Il and o'clock on morning of Sd of August last
(thc night before Haping was arrested) Lear hay
stack i'll lot about half mile north west from
Brandon village, and at distance from any habita-
tionat which place Halping by previous concert had
agreed to meet him for this purpose.
Ler Briggs, the officer who made the arrest, Dan
ie Harrington and Davis Collins testified to the find
ing of the bank bills Testified to by Collins and So
PERI in the wallet of Halpng on the morning of his
arrest-also that Haping at time of the arrest denied
having been out of the house or having seen Soper
during previous night.
Patrick O'Rourke, O. Rice, Lcvnas Hyatt and
Ira Benson testified to IIalpngs appearing to have
plenty OF money shortly after the fire. and to his ap-
parent desttution of it before that time.
On the part of the respondent the testimony of,
his mother, brother and sisters introduced tend
ing to show that he was at home during the whole
of the night which the fire occurred also to show
other circumstances which would render it impro-
bable that he had any connexion with that occur
renee. N. T. Spague, Dr. j. W. Hale, G. Winslow
and j. Hyatt testified against the character of A. So
per as to truth aud veraety,
On part of the prosecution the testimony of D.
Harrington, S. J. Fields, f. j. Bliss and others was
introduced tending to sustain A. Soper's charac-
ter.
Nearly two-thirds of the day was occupied in the
examination Of the testimony, after which the case
was argued by the States Attorney, E. L. O,msbee,
Esq, on the part of the prosecution, and by E. ".
Briggs and ChdS. l.. Williams in behalf of the res
pondent. The counsel for the respondent insisted
that the prosecution must rest on the testimony of
A. Soper Alone and that he had been thoroughly i'm
peacbed and entitled to little no credit, and
that the other circumstances tended as fully to i'm
plicae him (Soper) the respondent. After charge
from the court, the jury at O'clock P. NJ. retired,
and in about thirty minutes returned verdict of
guilty.
The sentence of the court was, that George Hall
ping be confined at hard labor in the States Prison at
Windsor, for the term of eight years from the 18th
day Of September, 1916