The Evansville daily journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ia. [i.e. Ind.]) 1848-1862, 1856-06-02
GBe 9ailp yonrnal
THE CRIMINAL WITNESS.

y
d had long conference with my client, and he
acknowled to me that on the night when the
mail was robbed he had been with party OF
dissipated companions over to Topham, and
that on returning they met the mail carrier on
horseback coming from Jackson. Some of his
: icompanions were very drunk, and they pro-
: posed to stop the carrier and overhaul his bag.
The roads were very muddy at the time, and
the coach could not run. My client assured
me that he not oaly had no hand in robbing
the mail but that he tried to dssuade his
companions. But they would not listen to
him. One of them slipped up behind the car
Irier and knocked him from his horse. Then
they bound and blindfolded him, and having
tied him to tree they took the mail bag, and
made off to a neighboring field, where they
Ioverhauled it. finding some five hundred dol
lars in money in various letters. He went
with them, but in no way did he have any
hand in the crime. Those who did it fled, and
as the carrier recognized him in the party, he
had been arrested.
Tn mail bag had been found as well as the
letters. Those letters from which money had
been taken, were kept, by order of the officers,
and duplicates sent to the various persons to
whom they were directed. The letters had
been given to me for examination, and had
returned them to the prosecuting attorney
| got through with my private preliminaries
about noon, and as the case would not come
up before the next day, went into court to
see what was going on. The first case which
came up was one of theft and the prisoner
was young girl, not more than seventeen
years of age, Elizabeth Madworth. She was
very pretty, and bore that mild, innocent look,
which we seldom find in a culprit. She was
pale and frightened, and the moment my eyes
rested upon her, pittied her. She had besn
weeping profusely, for her blossom was wet, but
as she found so many eyes upon her, she be-
came too much frightened to weep more.
The complaint against her set forth that she
had stolen one hundred dollars from Mrs.
Naseby, and as the case went on found that
] Mrs. Naseby was her mistress, wealthy
widow, living in town. The poor girl de-
clared her innocence in the most wild terms,
and called on God to witness that she would
rather die than steal. But circumstances were
hard against her. A hundred dollars in bank
notes had been stolen from her mstress's
room and she was the only one who had ac-
cess there.
At this juncture, while the mistress was
upon the witness stand young man came
and caught me by the arm. He was fine
looking fellow, and big tears stood in his eyes.
"They tell me you are good lawyerH' he
whispered.
II am lawyer I answered.
"Then-O!-save her! You can certainly
do it, for she is innocent"
"Is she your sister,"
"No, SIR" he said. "But-but-"
Here he hesitated again.
Has she no counsel?" Iasked.
"None that's good for nything-nobody
that'll do anything for her. 0, save her, and
! I'll pay you all I've got. l can't pay you
much but can raise something
/ reflected for a moment. l cast my eyes
1 towards the prisoner, and she was at that time
looking at me. She caught my eye, and the
volume of humble, prayerful entreaty, read
in those large, fearful orbs, resolved me in
moment In my soul 1 knew that the girl
was innocent; or, at laast, firmly believed so
and perhaps could help her. l arose and
went to the girl, and asked her if she wished
me to defend her. She said yes Then I in
formed the court that was ready to enter the
case, and was admitted at once. The loud
murmur of satisfaction which ran through the |
room, quickly told me where the sympathies
of the people were.
| / asked for a moments cessation, that i
might speak to my client. I went and sat
down by her side, and asked her to state to |
me candidly the whole case. She told me
she had lived with Mrs. Naseby nearly two
years, and that during all that time she had
never had any trouble before. About two
weeks ago, she said, her mistress lost hun
dred dollars.
"She missed it from the draw" the girl
told me- and she asked about it, but knew
nothing of it. The next thing knew, Nancy
Luther told Mrs. Naseby that she saw me
take the money from the draw-that she
watched me through the key-hole. Then |
they went to my trunk, and they found twen-
| ty-6ve dollars of the missing money there
But o, sir, l never took it-somebody else put |
that money there"
| then asked her if she suspected any one. |
L don't know" she said, "who could have |
because she thought was treated better than
she was. She is the cook, and was the cham.
bermaid. :"
She pointed Nancy Luther out to me- She
was stout, bold-faced girl, about two-and- |
twenty, with a low forehead, small grey eyes,
pug nose and thick lips. | caught her glance |
at one, as it rested upon the fair young pris- |
oner, and the moment l detected the look of
hatred which | read there, was convinced
that she was the rogue.
Oh, sir, can you help me ?" my client
asked in fearful whisper.
Nancy Luther, did you say that girls
name was ?"
"Yes, SIR"
"Is there any other girl of that name about
this place q"
No, sir"
"Then rest easy. I'll try hard to save
you"
Il left the court room, and went to the pros
ecuting attorney and asked him for the letters |
l had handed him--the ones that had been