Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1855-01-18
PlYRqqEVILLE, TENN: THURSDAY, JANU1RE Is, 1856.

u Yes @
). abel Adams, stand up and lool
the foreman in the face. Now, SIR, j
Abel Adams, the prisoner at the bar
guilty Of murder or not2'
Hark! The first syllable of th'
word guilty is upon the foreman
lips, but he speaks not. Those whit
yet crowd about the windows shou
with all their might, and in mo
ment more man crowds his way int
the courtroom. He hurries up and
whispers to the Shorthand then h
goes to the bench, and whispers t.
the judge. Henry Bilger starts u
and moves towards the door, but ir
an instant the hand Of the sheriff j!
upon him. All is excitement the
most intense. Directly the mass al
the door begins to give way, and four
men are seen bearing on their shoul-
ders chair-a large stuffed chair
and in the chair sits Mathew Hamp-
1tou--not dead, but. alive. True, be
is pale and CHASTITY, but bis eyes are
open, and his lips move. At length,
the chair is set down before the
bench, and the old physician Of
MayfeIa asks permission to speak.
AS soon as this fact becomes known,
all is quiet once more.
The physician says that neither of
the wounds which Mr.. Hampton had
received are mortal, though he had
first thought they we're. The blow
upon the head and the stab in the
breast combined to produce state
of catalepsy, which resembled death
so nearly that many an inexperienced
person might have been deceived
When he gave out that Mr.. Hamp-
ton was dead, he thought that it was
so. But when he found that Hamp-
ton vas living, he kept the secret to
himself, for fear that certain man.,
whose presence he much needed,
might be missing.
At this juncture Henry Bilger
made a savage attempt to break away
from the sheriff, but it did not avail
him. The jury we're directed to re-
turn to their box, and then Matthew
Hampton was requested to speak.
He was too weak to rise, but be spoke
plainly, and in a manner that showed
his mind to be clear. - sy.4
He stated that when he reached
the bluff on the night Of the disaster,
he discovered that his pocket book
vas gone. He stopped his horse,
and was trying to think where be
could have lost it, when some one
came up from the roadside. He
had just time to see that it was Hen
ry Bilger, when he received a blow
upon the head from a club that
knocked him from his horse. Then
he felt sharp; singing, burning
pain in the bosom, and wi.hia mo-
mentary starting Of the muscles be |
opened his eyes. He could just re-
member Of hearing the distant gallop|
Of a horse--tbat he thought his body
was being dragged to the roadside
and after that he could remember
nothing till he awoke in his own
house, and found the doctor BY his
bedside.
For. a little while longer the multi
tude had to restrain themselves.
that the judge said some.
thing to the jury, and that the jury
whispered rogether for a moment
Then the prisoner stood up once
more, and the foreman Of the jury
said
'Not guilty
Then burst forth the hearty shouts
Of the people. Abel Adams sank
back upon his seat, and in moment
more was seized bya score of stout
men, and with wild re1ding shouts,
they bore him into the free, pure air,
where the bright stars looked down
and smiled upon them. Alittle way
had they gone, when they met a
young woman, whose hair was flowing
10 the night wind, and who wrung
her hands in agony. They stopped
and set their burden down; Abel Ad-
ANS saw the woman, and be sprang
forward and caught her to bis bosom
sMary-Mary-I'minnoc
q nocentL from
The wife did not speak; she only
clung wildly to her noble husband
and wept upon his bosom.
A wagon body was torn from its
axletrees blacksmith and his
wife we're placed. thereon, and then
they were borne away towards theiTl