Plymouth advertiser. [volume] (Plymouth, Ohio) 1853-1988, 1854-05-13
A Singular Case.


Court Of Huron County. at Norwalk, last
week, which, from its nature, excited a
large share Of interest. We take the fol-
low statement from the Reflector:
The Rev. A. X. Barr. OF Greenfield, in
this county, was arrested sone time since,
charged with larceny. in stealing some
articles Of clo,hing aud other things, be-
longing 10 female teacher, from the
school house, in which she taught. Mr..
Barr. il appears, was one Of the directors
Of the district, and some difficulty had
arisen between him aud the teacher with
reference to the management of the school,
in which portion Of the scholars took an
interest, and S 'ded with the mistress. Mr..
B. obi cted to having exhibitions in the
school,. and thought there was too much
singing and from the little portion Of The
testimony which we heard, we should
Judge that bad state of feeling existed
between tls parties.
1t was charged, as we have already
said, that the defendant took the things
/ from the school house. This was denied
and was not proved, though portion of
the articles were afterwards uaced TO his
possession, aud found several miles away
from the place from whence they were
taken. They have been thrown into a
'ca,tle guard" on the railroad, near Shell
| by, we believe.
| The de(endan admitted, in q confession
which he made to the person or persons
from whom the things were stolen, that
| he had the property, or portion OF 1t, in
his possession, but claimed tha' he found
il in his barn and, III view Of the feeling
which was manifested towards him, and
10 avoid suspicion and trouble, he took
the things away and secreted them. The
defence claimed that the property was
deposited in the barn of the accused, by
evil disposed persons, ana admitted that
to avoid suspicion and difficulty, and
through weakness, he disposed of it as
was shown; but they denied that there
was any crime in il.
We were present hut few minutes
while the first witness for the State was
giving in her testimony, and therefore
cannot report the case as fully as we
should like but from what we have heard,
we believe the abnve are the prominent
features of the case. The trial occupied
three days, and was contested inch by
inch, both the State and the accused being
represented by able counsel. Wessrs.
Hunt, Stafford and Kellogg for the State,
and Messrs. Stone Il Patrick, Worcester
& Pennewell, and Stewart, for The deten'
dant.
Mr.. Barr is clergyman of the Press
hvteran denomination, and from wha,
we know of him personally. and from
what we have heard Of him, he has here.
lofore borne high character as a man
and Christian. 1t is singular transaction,
! indeed, aud is one of nature calculated
| 10 shock the moral sense OF the entire com
muutv; for axe which horn Of the dlem-
ma we will, it causes sadness at the
depravity and weakness of mankind. Ii
we suppose the defendant guilty, we are
at loss for a motive, for the property
stolen did not amount to more than ten
dollars in value, Is stated by the witness.
The alternative then is either revenge
or insanity, and the latter being the most
charitable, we should choose to adopt it,
when every circumstance permitted. ii
on the other hand, we suppose conspir.
acy was formed to bring the delendan
in,o trouble and disgrace by placing the
property stolen upon bis premises, we
are not in the least 'eieved; for a errit lie
crime has been perpetrated, greater per
haps, than that committed by the deien
dant, even if we suppose him guilty o
the theft alleged.