Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1856-05-08
THE CRIMINAL WITNESS.
BY AUSTIN BURDIcK.

\ In the Spring of '4S, Twas calle
to Jackson to attend court, havin
a been engaged to defend a youn
= man who had been accused of rol
: bing the mail. I had a long COZ
E ference with my client, and he al
, knowledged to me that on the nigh
when the mail vas robbed, he ha
been with party of dissipated com
panions over to Topham, and tina
on returning, they met the mail car
rier on horseback coming from Jack
son. Some of his companions wer
very drunk, and they proposed I,
stop the carrier and overhaul his bag
The roads were very muddy at thl
time, and the coach could not run
My client told me that he not only
had no hand in robbing the mail, but
he tried to dissuade his, companions
from doing so. But they would moi
listen to him. One of them slipped
up behind the carrier and knocked
him from his horse. They then
bound and blindfolded him, and hay
ing tied him to a tree, they took his
mail bag, and made of'to neighbor-
ing field where they overhauled it,
finding some five hundred dollars in
money in the various letters. He
went with them, but in no way did
he have any hand in the crime
Those who did do it had fled, and
as the carrier had recognised him in
the party, he had been arrested.
The mailbag 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 per-
sons, to whom they were directed,
announcing the particulars. These
letters had been given me for exam
nation. and l had thenreturned them
to the prosecuting attorney.
I got through with my private
preliminaries about noon, and as the
case would not come up before the
next day, went irto the court in the
afternoon to see what was going on,
The first case which came up was one
of theft, and the prisoner was a young
girl, not more than seventeen years
Of age, named Elizabeth Madworth.
She was very pretty, and bore that
mild, innocent look, which we seldom
find in culprit. She was pale and
frightened, and the moment my eyes
rested upon her, I pitied her. She
had been weeping profusely, for her
bosom was wet, but as she found SO
many eyes upon her,she became too
much frightened to weep more.
The complaint against her set
forth that she had stolen one hum
dred dollars from Mrs. Naseby; and
as the case went on, l found that
this Mrs. Naseby was her mistress,
she (Mrs. NJ being wealthy wild
ow, living in the town. The poor
girl declared her innocence in the
most wild terms, and called on God
to witness that she would rather die
thau steal. But circumstances were
hard against her. A hu ndred dol
lars in bank notes, had been stolen
from her mistress's room; and she
was the only one who had access
there.
At this juncture, while the mis-
tress was upon the witness stand, a
young man came and caught me by
the arm. He was fine looking fel-
low, and big tears stood in his eyes.
@They tell me You are agood law
yer? he whispered.
! II am lawyer" | answered.
"Then-Ol-save heIl You can
certainly do it, for she is innocent y
@Is she your sister,"
The youth hesitated and colored.
"No sir" he SAID. "But-"
Here he Lesitated again.
"Has she no counsel?" | asked.
.None that's good for anything
nobody that'll do anything for her
O, save her, and I'll pay you all I've
got. I can't pay you much but l
can raise something"
/ reflected for a moment, | cast
my eyes towards the prisoner, and
she was at that moment looking at
me. She caught my eye, and the
volume of humble, prayerfnl 'entreaty
| read inthose large, fearful orbs,
resolved me in moment. In my
soul / knew that the girl was inno-