The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-08-28
LOCAL 1EArT1Ius.

81 CHAnes or ARsos -Exetiel. elave 10
We. Ann Rubinsun charged with setting are 10 he
,pbscs.o tsc.ory OF Meesrs. Hatcher & Geutry on
the night Of the 20h inst wss arrsiEned before the
Mayor last Saturday, 10 answer the charge.
The evidence in this case 10 entirely circumstsn-
tial, but most conclusive We give the outline Of
the statement OF each Witness - made before His
william, slave to Mr. Palmer, illus testified: On
Saturday night preceding the IRE, met Nelson and
had ! Convention wiki him He stated thai be
had come from the fscsory, and that eff,rt had
been made to employ Ezekiel and himself TO fire
the building but that he had refused to do it. re-
marking hst he was q christian man. and that If
he were to be guilty of such . crime God would
nev.r forgive him for L. He further stated that
Ezekiel had consented to perform the job, and that
he was go after the key OF the factory, a. to
get Ia to frei II.
ceased, deposed thus: On Tuesday or Wednesday,
before the factory was burned, Ezekiel and myself
were at work on the third floor together. Ezekiel
said hs no to be in hurry, az he had heard the
Boss say they were not doing much-that they were
losing money on every SIDE and he intended to Get
some one to burn thed-d old place down. re-
piled to him that was christian man; that be
iieved had been converted, and would have mo-
earth believing rs did that God would never for
give me for il On Sunday before the fire ! was
taken sick and did not go out until Wednesday fol-
lowing Tuesday morning Ezekiel came TO see
me, ana a0keO me II e6W tue alhEms lI6pleQ 10
him that did, that went TO the gate, but could not
tell what was burning. He then told me thst the
factory was destroyed.
Samuel G; Burton, one of the managers in the
factory, sworn. When first saw the FIRE 1t seem.
ed to be cor fined to one corner in the third story of
the building then opent the Office door, fronting
on Car street. as soon as could do so, and found
that pile of slaves near the partition on the second
floor had caught. went to work and got out the
books and the engine extinguished the fire at
the efce partition. On going into the street, and
passing to the of the house. found the entire
upper portion was In flames. The front door OF the
factory was carefully barred, and the office door
locked. There were two keys to it. One OF them
/ had and opened the door with it. The other
have not seen for two weeks, when Mr.. John Il.
Gentry one OF the proprietors, took and carried
it fl. The doors and windows were all fastened
when got to the factory. 1t man had been lock
ed up in the factory he could have got out with
out unbarring the front door, breaking the Office
lock-unless he had key to unlock the door from
the inside. The factory was situated on the South
side OF Cary street, between 2lst and 22d streets
That night as was on my way to the office, met
the prisoner at the corner of Main and 2lst Streets
going up Main street. This was not more than ten
minutes before | discovered the fire. The next
morning ssked Ezekiel where he had been that
night He replied " to Bird in the hand" asked
him who he wen. to see He answered " do not
know" Then asked him if he could show me the
house. He said he could not. He afterwards sta
ted, that he had been down the street with girl
and was on his way home when | met him. On
Tuesday morning asked Mr.. Gentry where the Of
flee key was that he carried Off He answered that
he did not know but would look for it. On Thurs
day last again asked Mr. Gentry for the key, when
he replied that he could not fndit
Ralph, in the service of Messrs. Gentry & Hatch.
err, stated that he had some fire in the third story,
on Monday, to prepare liquorice, but that every
spark Of i, was extinguished before 2 o'clock that
day.
Here the case was closed, and the examination
adjourned over until this morning, when it will be
again proceeded with. II the prisoner did burn the
building, he also caused the death OF two innocent
men, and should meet the heaviest punishment the
law can intlict. We have given the facts as elici-
ted the reader can draw his own conclusions as to
the guilt of the prisoner.