The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-10-17

: then he would be obliged at leastto ca
t again and get it. He finally consentc
r to do this, and told her he would leav
the hatchet also, as hesdid not wish t
} be carrying it backward and forward
, Aud the last he saw of it, before it
discovery in the yard, according to hi
statement, she had it in her hands, sit
ting down, as he came out of the room
He then went to his boarding house ant
went to bed, and knew nothingof til,
murder until after he had been arrested
for it next day. We have heard tina
the porter in the store confirmed Rob
inson's statement in regard to the con
yersatioa concerning the hatchet-tho
nothing of this natter, if we remember
right, was brought forward on the trial
Tie circumstances of the case were Ger.
talnly strong against Robinson; aud IT,
stead of relying upoa being able to prove
enough of his own statement to throw
doubt upon the testimony against Kim
his able and experienced counsel proba-
bly, thought it safer to attempt to prove
all aIi5i, which was dotc lay the tcsti-
mony Of Mr.. FurIohg, who swore that
Robinson was at his store down town al
ha!f past ten o'clock, that evening. This
evidence, being positive aud explicit,
was held to impeach that of Rosina
Townsend, who fixed upon half past eight
as the hour wheH Robinson came to her
house. The charge of the Judge in
structed the Jury that they must disbo-
lieve either Ros ma Townsend or Mr..
Furloug. AS matter of course they
selected the former as the least credible
# the two aud acq itted Robinson, Oil
the ground of an ali5i \ Mr.. Wilson
has very recently declared, ii publish
ed letter, that he was in Furlong's store
ruth Robinson; and that Furlopg's tes-
timony as 10 the time was entirely pn-
| irue-that it was not later than eight
o'clock. If this testimony had been.
given at the trial itwould have destroy
ed the aiidi, aud would have compelled
the defendants counsel to adopt auoth-
er line OF defense. We are not sure
that his defeuse would have been weak
oucd thereby; iii fact, although it might
have been less calculated to impress a
Jury, there were other circumstances in
the case which would have had much
greater weight if the other course had
been adopted, thaa was actually y given to
them. We will briefly refer to some of
them.
Rosina Townsend testified that Rob
siFs,n eltercd Helen's room befsre nine
o'clock-thal size saw him there at about
eleven O'Clock, when he was lying in
bed reading, aud that she did not know
Of hiy going away thatnight At about
three o'clock next morning she awoke
AID discovered light in her back par
lor-a room thau ran across the whole
width of the house, and through which
was an entrance to the back yard. She
went to it aud found "a lam one OF
pair, (tIie o1ly ones of tue kind in the
house. one of which was in Heleu's
room, and the other in the room of
girl named Maria Stevens, who occu-
pied room over this parlor and adjoin-
ing the room of Helen Jewctt The
back door was also fouad open. Sup
posing that some ore had gone into the
back yard, she waited some time, doz6d
a little in her chair, fastened the door.
and taking the lamp, went up stairs
She went first to the door of Maria Ste
veus and found it locked She then
went to Helen Jewett's, opened it aud
was met by volume of smoke. She
shut the door, woke up Maria, who came
out Immediately, and ran to the door
and called the watch. Thomas Garland
the watchman who was first called, said
that on first accosting him, Rosina told
him there was girl murdered up stairs
"a fact she could not then have known
as she had not entered the room, but had
only opened the door and seen the smoke.
Soon afterward other watchmen came,
ar.d.oue of them named Eldridge testi,
fed that Rosina urged him strongly to
examine the backyard, as something
might be discovered there. She led the
way, and first found the Ratchet; and it
was she who first looked over the fence
INTO the adjoining yard and saw the
cloak. There was no possibility of exit
through this adjoining yard, so that the
cloak must have been thrown there from
the yard of Rosina Towusend's house,
whether by Robinson or somebody else
vas purely matter of conjecture. 4
Maria Stevens, the girl who occupied
he room adjoining Helen's, and whom
Rosina first walked after discovering the
smoke from Helen's room had formerly {
,njoyed Robinson's s attention and friend
'hip herself, until Helen's coming to the {
rouse had led him to form new ac-
luaintance, and eventually to sever his t
with Maria. Under such cir {
there would naturally be
rood deal of i'll feeling on her part to-
ward her successful rival and as jea-
ousy often iueites torevenge, it did not {
escape suspicion that possibly Maria !
night have had stronger motive for
,etting Helen out of the way than any {