The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1847-06-25
tered the word "murder," but not as if cal
ling for assistance.

Atl0Hetu all was SlleHt. L ne witness,
woman ofgreat strength of nerve, knocked
at the door, but received no answer. Jus
: as she had made up her mind to call her near
est neighbor, a farmer who lived two hund
red PAGES off, to her assistance, her master
came out, "pale as ghost" Without spea
king word, he beckoned her in, closed the
door, and said in low, boarse tone, 81 have
had visitor since you went TO bed" With
this his features became frightfully distorted
his eyes rolled wildly, and he gnasled bis
teeth.
q "Ths visitor,"he continued, "has been
1.-THE is dead-he has poisoned himself"
Here the witness declared that her master
began to talk with great wldness and rapid
ty-of murdered people who would not stay
in their graves; of brothers killed by their
brothers, etc. Convinced that Mr.. Morton
was out of bis senses, and that what he said
was but the fantasy of his excited brain, she
entreated him TO retire to bed.
"No, no." he cried, "not /! Go you and
close the eyes of the dead yonder"
He grasped nervously the hand. ofthe wit
ness. Anxious TO see fauythng had real
ly occurred to disturb his intsllects, she
entered the sleeping apartment. The body
Of a man was stretched out on Mr.. Morton's
bed. 1t seemed just dead; the Jaw was
hanging down, the eyes were half closed, the
limbs were stiffened, and the body was quite
naked. This horrible sight so terrified the
witness, that with scream she rushed from
the chamber. Mr.. Morton sought to detain
her; but his grasp was too feeble. She hast
ened from the house; told the neighbors her
dreadful story; and al break Of day Mr.. Nor
ton was in prison on suspicion of the murder.
To the question if the deceased might not
be her fellow servant James, the witness an
swered-tbat the face of the corpse was so
dreadfully bloated and dsfgured, she could
not have recognised il, even had it been her
own father. But she inclined TO believe that
it was not James; he had worn beard
whereas the deceased had none. James had
always lived in kindness with his master, on
whom he had been in attendance for many
years. Several articles of his clothing were
missing from his rosm, and the witness be-
lieved he had taken them with him. In her
masters chamber, on the other hand, there
were no clothes found which could have be.
longed to the deceased.
Such was The deposition Of the first wit
ness. The attention Of the spectators was
breathless; that of old Mr.. Parr was painful.
ly intense. With his chin resting on his
hands, that grasped the golden head of his
cane, hs kept his eyes fixed upon the wom-
an, till she had done speaking. Then he
fetched deep sigh, shook his head, leaned
back in his seat, and murmured something
to himself
Mr.. Green remarked contemptuously to
a younger juryman near him-t,'at il was a
pity people could not tell when they were
superannuaed; and then called for The farm
er whom Sarah had first applied to for help.
He could say nothing more than that he
had found the body lying on the bed; and
after diligent search through tke chamber,
had been unable to discover any clothing that
might have belonged to the victim.
The constable who had arrested Mr. Nor
ton deposed that his prisoner, from the FIRST
moment of his arrest, Tad refused to answer
any questions. According to beth the last
witnesses, the accused had been cold, proud,
and collected in his demeanor-either from
the consciousness Of innocence, or as pre-
pared for the worst. The housekeeper, Sar-
ah, alone had seen him moved.
Ii was now time 10 bring forward Mr.. Nor
ton. 1t had been nearly ten hours since his
arrest; and he was in the next room, waiting
for examination. Every eye was turned to
the opened deor; and SO intense was the ex-
pectation, that several of the jurymen rose,
notwithstand Mr.. Green's authoritative "Sit
down, gentlemen-no disturbance! Consta-
BILE, let US have quiet, or | must clear the
roomm Mr.. Parr remained seated, with his
chin resting, as before, on his stick, that
trembled under the pressure Of his hands,
The prisoner entered. He was dressed in
deep mourning, with scrupuous attention to
neatness. His Greciar features might have
been called handsome, but for their excess
sive emaciation. His whole appearance
would have commanded attention, even under
ordinary circumstances.
The coroner asked wha, he had to declare
relative to the recent occurrence. But the
eyes of the accused met not the piercing
glance of the quesioner; they were fixed in
tently upon the linen cloth thrown over the
corpse. Presently he drew a deep breath,
relief from mental anguish, in not
seeing the full horrors Of the sight disclose!.
Again he looked around the coroner spoke
the prisoner heard him not. Mr.. Pan had
risen from his seat; he trembled in every
limb; his look was fixed on the supposed
murderer. Their eyes met-Mr. Green fol-
lowed the direction of Morton's wild gaze;
he saw Mr.. Parr fall backward in swoon,
and supposed the old mans sudden illness
had attracted the attention Of the prisoner.