Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1853-02-26
From the n. Y. Tribune.
An imCrican SapphO in Trouble.


An american SapphO In Trouble.
PnILADELPHiA, Friday, Feb. II, 1853
In the Court of Quarter Sessions thi.
morning, young woman, who strongly re-
minded us of the description wc had read
in our enrlier years OF "the Tenth Muse
tile Greciun Sappho-wns charged will
The lnrccny of gold watch, valued at 800
the property OF Mrs. Elliott, with wi ON she
| lived IN the capacity of seamstrcss. llei
nnnie is Annie Il. Cooper. II was not tie
| shorinesS Oi her stature, the swarthiness o.
her complexion or the want of beauty in
her features alone (inr she possessed all
| these, that reminded us Of Sappho hnt tho
intensity of the fire which glOwed within
| her Ms reflected through the windows OF
| the s0ul-her lct.hlnck piercing eyrs-nnd
| the extraordinary ability she was shown tn
! possess both in poetry aud prose writing ia
the exhibition OF her productions. From
her warm mud passionate temperament, she
too, like the great lyric poetcss of Greece,
lent lIer muse TO the description Of tho hopes
and fears inspired 10y Love, aud many OF
| her pnelicnl ctfiisiony are characterized hy
! much beauty, feeling aud fire. The sluigh,-
| ly aud melllfluous siy H. of her verse would
scarcely have detrnrtcd from the merit OF
| AnncrcOn. The vehcmencc Of her feelings
had impelled her, like Snppho, to mediate
| smlclde--nnt from promOntnry like Leu
| cate, nor for n modern Pheon, hut in la
| dy's chamber, to avoid the stigma which
would attach TO her maine from un exposure
ni the ilIell.
Several Of her productions were handed
10 Judge Allison aud the Distrct Attorney
who read them with evident gralificaiiOu,--
two were of II religious character, written IC
both please and instruct young perSOns.-
They appeared in the PRESBYTERIAN" news
paper of u recent date, and while they dis.
played classic elegance aud simplicity al
| style, they also het0kGn vigorous aud highly
cultivated intellect. We renh them with
lively satisfaction, iutcrminglcd with mrlali-
! chOly neutrality-suspicious. with the produc-
| tlonS themselves, marrel with sadness 10y
the thought that one 80 gifted should Inc
weak enough 10 commit the ignohle crime
of theft. While reading them we involun.
tarily compared them with the hes; stories
Of Peter Farley, and they lost nothing, in
our mind, by the comparison.
The title of the two prose articles that we
rcud, was "Aunt Supplies Bible Slorics."-
They gave brief hisinries Of the lives aud
| characters of Abraham and Isaac, ESau aud
Jacob, inlerspersed with religious reflections
which would do credit 10 the icnh aud heart
of the nhlest divine in our land, and were
! written in n sty le calculated TO inpart the
| greatest amount of Christian and historical
instruction To the youthful mind. A letter
| which she has written to n gentleman in
whose family she had formerly lived, of n
| threatening character was nlsu shown. The
pcnnnInnsliip was admirable, aud It's mntter
ably indicted; but lis morality was at u low
ebb.
Notwithstanding she is Of Indion or Negro
extraction, tho white pre- ponderatng, and
occupying the humble position Of n needle
! woman, so sparkling is her intellect, that
her society was cOurted hy every family with
whom she lived, aud she was upon terms OF
| equality with them. Yet so strong and
overpowcring was her penchdm for stealing
! that nothing could nlay il. The evidence
against her wns of circumsianiial chnrac.
ter Uei
case is hard ore, mud cannot fail to excite
sympathy. The jury found her guilty.
The testimony in the above case being
entirely Of circumsanliul character, the
! Districi-Auorney felt il to he his duty to try
her upon n second hill, to remove all doubt
! OF her guilt. She was again arrnigued for
the larceny of Dignerreotype likeness OF
| Miss Lyons, which she abslracted from the
housu of Mr.. Lyons, aud sent 10 an author
ess OF some celebrity us the portrait of n
Indy in the South with whom she was in
constant correspondence. The defendant
was also in correspondence, of a vOlumin-
Ous character with the authoress above al-
luded 10, upon religious subjects. The de-
fendant wrote under the name of Ammo
Grayson, aud this fact led 10 her own iden.
tiiy aud the knowledge Of her frequent lar
eenies.
Her counsel, Wan. T.. Lehman, declined
defending her in the second case. She ns-
sumed her own defense, aud though the
testimony was direct against her, she made
n most ingenious and able one. Her address
TO The jury was marked by great command
of langnnge, intensity of feeling, aud depth
of thought. The effect Of her eloquence
and chasleness of language was visible IN
the corntenance of her jurors, aud Mr..
Mann found II necessary to make n second
speech against her. She explained her ap.
parent guilt by saying that she took the
Daguerreolype and the other small articles
for the purpose of mystiiying her cores
pondence, by presenting them to her cores
pondents. She conlended that the nrlless
story of the young witness, whose mind
had been impressed with her wittcsms,
should not be permitted 20 weigh heavily