Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1845-1854, 1849-09-03
RAVENNA OHIO, M0NDA AYIasEPTEMBER 3, lS49.

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had wroughtsupon him. 1t had done The
work Of years.. Despair-bl black, utter des-
pair-was written in every lineament of
his expressive countenance.
81 have requested to see you," said the
unhappy culprit. ssrather than Dir. Cureis
because he, know, is bitterly preIudiced
against me. But you will not refuse, 4
thinks the solemn request of n dying mar
for dying man feel myself to be-
however long or short the interval which
stands between me and the scaf1oh. n is
not with childish hope that any assertion
bcfo1 II VI tt
law against the evidence adduced this CAV.
that /, with all the solemnily befilting q
man whose days are numbered, declare to
you that | am wholly innocent ofthe crime
laid to my charge. | have no such ex-
pectaton: seek only that you, in pity Of
my youth and untimely fate, should convey
TO her whom | have nadly presumed 10
worship, this message; ''Alfred Bourbon
was mad, but not blood guilty; and OF the
crime laid TO his charge he is innocent rs
an unborn child"
The pure and holy passion, young man,
said ], somewhat startled by the impress
i've manner, "aowever presumpluous, as far
as social considerations are concerned, ii
might be by which you affect to be inspr
ed, is utterly inconsistent with the cruel
tdaslardly crime Of which such damning ev-
idence has an hour since been given. -
ESay no more, sir" interrupted Bourbon,
sinking back into his seat, and bury ing bis
face in his hands: it was bootless errand ::
she could not in the face of that evidence,
believe my unsupported assertion! 1t were
as well perhaps she did not. AID yet, $ r,
it is hard to be trampled into a felon' S
grave, loaded with the maledictons cf those
whom you would coin your heart to serve
and bless! All, sir he continued, whilst
tears of agony streamed through his firmly
closed fingers, you cannot conceive the un-
utterabe bitterness Of the pang which rends
the heart of him who feels that he is not
only despised, loathed, execrated, by her
whom his soul idolizes! Mine was no boy
isb, transient passion: it had grown with
my growth, and Strengthened with my
strength. My life has been but one long
dream of her. All that my soul had drunk
in Of beauty in the visible earth and heavens
the light OF setting suns the radiance Of
the silver STARS the breath of summer
flowers, together with all which we imagine
of celestial purity and grace, seemed to me
| IN her lncarnated, concentrated and COM
bined And dnow-lest-lost-f forever lost =
The violence Of his emotions choked his ut
terance; and deeply and painfully affected,
l FASTENED from his presence. ......
Time sped as ever onwards, surely, 81
lently; and justice, with her feet oflead, but
hands of iron, closed gradually upon her
quarry. Alfred Bourbon was arraigned be-
fore jury Of his countrymen, to answer
finally to the accusation of Wilful murder
preferred against him. ...-.s...
The evidence, as given before the com
mitting magistrate, and the coroner's in
quisition, was repeated with some addition
of passionate expressions used by the pris-
oner, indicative of desire to be avenged
on the deceased. The cross-examination by
the counsel for the defence was able, but
failed to shake the cause for the prosecution.
His own admission, that no one but himself
had access to the recess where the poison
was found, told fatally against him. When
called upon to address the jury, lie deliver
ed himself of speech rather than a de-
fence; of an oratorical efusion, instead of a
vigorous, and, if possible, damaging COM
mentary upon tie evidence arraye ed against
him. It was labored, and in part elo-
quent exposition of the necessary fallibility
of human Judgment, illustrated by numer--
Gus examples of erroneous verdicts. His
peroration jotted down at the time:-
"Thus, my lords and gentlemen of the jury,
is it abundantly manifest, not only by
these examples, but by testimony which
every man bears in his own breast, that
God could not have willed, could not have
commanded, his creatures to perform a
pretended duty, which he vouchsafed them
no power to perform rishteously. Oh, be
sure that il he had intended, if he had COM
manded you to pronounce irreversible de-
crees upon your felow-man, quenching that
life which is his highest gilt, he would have
endowed you with gifts to perform that duty
rightly! Has he done SO? Ask not alone
the pages dripping with, innocent blood
which l quoted, but your own hearts? Are
you, according TO the promise Of the serpent-
tempter, goods, knowing good from evil?"
Of such clear onniscience, that you can
hurl an unprepared soul before the tribunal
of its Maker, in all the full assurance that
you have rightly loosed the silver cord
which he had measured, have justly broken
the golden bowl which he had fashioned! !!
Oh! my Lord" he concluded, his dark
eyes flashing with excitement, ''it is possl-
/ BILE that the first announcement OF my in
nocence of this crime, to which you will
give credenee, may be proclaimed from the
awful tribunal of him who alone cannot err!
How if he, whose eye is even now upon us,
should then proclaim, |, toe, sat in judgg-
ment on the day when you presumed to
doom your fellow-work; and | saw that
the murderer was not in the dock, but on
the bench! Oh, my lord, think well of
what you do-pause ere you incur such
fearful hazard for be assured, that for all
these things God will also bring you to
judgment!''
He ceased, and sank back exhausted
His fervid defamation produced consid-
cradle impression upon the auditory; but it
soon disa ppeared before the calm, impress
i've charge of the judge, who treasured the
startled jury, by reminding them that their
duty was to honestly execute the law, not
to dispute about its justice. For himself: