The Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn. Territory) 1849-1855, 1850-10-24

/ ~ DO" was her answer, as q long-hrawr
sigh escaped that seemed to rend her very
heart-strings.
I "What is your name, as it must he placed
on record!" interrogated the judge.
"Will Denton" said The stranger.
The case Immediately progressed. We
will briefly epitomise the substance of the
evidence. About twelve months previously
the defendant had arrivsd in the town and
opened an establishment of millinery. Re
siding in a small room back Of her shop, and
all alone, she prepared the various articles
OF her trade with unwearied toll and con-
sulnmate taste. Her habits were secluded,
modest, and retiring; and hence she might
have hoped to escape notOreiy, bur for the
perIlous gift Of that extraordinary beauty
which too often, and TO the poor aud friend
less, always proves curse, She was soon
sought after by those gay fire flies of FASH
ion, the business Of whose life, everywhere,
is seduction aud ruin. But the beautiful
stranger rejected them all alike with unuttcr-
abble scOrn and Ioatbipg.
! Among these disappointed admirers was
one of a character from which the fair mil
liner had everything to fear. Hiram Shore
entail, and dssipated. lie was himself IL
! =
ellist of established and terrible fame. 1t
was generally known that he had made ad-
vances to win the favor Ofthe lovely Emma,
and had shared the fate of all other wooers
ia disdaDful repulse.
At nine O'Clock on Christmas night, 1888,
the people of Little Rock were startled 10y
loud screame, as of some one in mortal ter
ror; while following that, with hardly an
interval, came successive reports of firearms
one, two, three-a dozen deafening ex-
plOsions. The few to the shop of the mil
ner, whence the sounds ernanated, and push
ed back the untastened door. A dreadful
scene was presented. There she stood in
the centre of the room, with revolver IN
each hand, every barrel discharged, her
features pale, her eyes flashing wildly, and
her lips parted with an awful smIiei And
there at her feet weItering in his blood, his
bosom literally riddled with shot, lay the
all dreaded duelist, Hiram Shore, gasping
in the last agony. He articulated but
single sentence-"Tell my moiher that
am dead and gone to h--ll !"-and instantly
expired.
sin Gods name, who did this?'' exclain-
ed the appalled, spectators
81 did it,'' said the beautiful miIIiner, in
her sweet. siIvery accents. 81 did to save
my honcr.."
Such is brief abstract of the essential
circumstances, as developed in the examin-
alton Of witnesses. The testimony closed
and the pleadings began.
First of all, Fowler, Pike, and Ashley
spoke in succession for the prosecution
They about equally psrtitioned their elo-
quence betwixt the prisoner and her advo-
cate, covering the latter with sarcastic wit,
raIllery, and ridicule as made i, q matter of
doubt whether he or bis client was the par
ty then on trial. As to Denton, however,
he seemed TO pay not the siigh,ss; attention
to his opponents, but remained motionless,
with his forehead bowed on his hands, like
one buried in:deep thought or in sumber.
When his time came, however. he sud-
denly sprang 10 his feet, crossed the bar,
and took position almost touching the fore
man of the jury. He then commenced in u
whisper. but in whisper so wild, ring
ing, peculiar, and indescribably dis
tinct as to Fill the hall from floor to CALLER
les.
AT the outset he dealt in pure logic, ana
Lying and combining proven facts, ill the
whole mass of confused evidence looked
transparent as r globe of crystal, through
which The Innocence OF his client shone lu-
ininOus a sunbeam, while the jurors nod
ded TO each other signs OF thorough convc-
ton. That thrilling whisper, and concen-
trated argument, and language simple as a
chld's, had satisfied the demands of the in
telect, and this, too, in only twenty min
utes IL was like the work Of n mathemat-
zeal demonstration.
He then changed his posture so as to
sweep the bar with his glance, and, like a
raging lion, rushed upon his adversaries,
tearing and rending their sophistries into
atoms. His saIow face glowed like red hot
iron, the forke1 blue vein sweiled and
writhed on his brow, his eyes resembled
!::"c coais, and bis voice was the clangor of
a trumpet. | have never before, or since,
listened to such appalling denuBciation. 1t
was like Jove's eagle charging flock of
crows. il was like Jove himself hurting
thunderbolts in the shnddering eyes Of in.e-
rlor gods. And yet in the highes, tempest
of his fury he seemed wonderfully caIrn.--
he employed no gesture save onc--the
flash of long, bony forefn-er directly at
me palid faces Of his legal foes He paint
ed their venality and unmanIy basene.s in
coalescing for money to crush friendess
female, till shout Of stihed wrath broke
from the multitude, and some OF the sworn
panel cried "Shame!" And thus the ora
tor bad carried another point---had aroused
a perfect storm Of ndisnation against the
prosecu,ors--and this also, in twenty min
utes
He changed his theme once more. His
voice grew mourn.ul as a funeral dirge and
bis eyes filled with tears, as he traced a piy-
Id picture of mans crueties and won.an's
wrongs. with special applications in the
case Of his client, ill half the audience
wept like children.
But i! was in the peroration that he reach
ed the zenith both OF terEar and sublimity.
His features were livid as those of a corps;
bis very hair appeared to stand on end; his
nerves shook as with a palsy he tossed his
hands wildly towards heaven, each finger
spread apart and quivering like the fame
oi a candle, as he closed with the last words
of the deceased Hiram Shore--sTeil nv
mother that am dead and gone to h--lI."
His emphasis on the word he'll embodied
the elements of all horror. 1t was a wall
Of immeasurable despar--a wild howl of
infinite torture. No language can depict
its effect OIL all who heard it, Men eroan-
ed, women shrieked, and one poor mother
was borne away in convulsions. The en-
tire speech occupied but an hour