The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1856-11-06
THE CRIMINAL WITNESS.
A LkwrER's sToaY.

son, Alabama, 10 attend court, having Oeen
engage 10 Cvlead a Young man who had
been accused Of robbing the mail arrived
early in the morning, and Immediately had
long conference with nv client. Tie stolen
ba. had been recovered. as well As the letters
from which the money had been ridei- These
letters were gwen TO me tor examination. aud
| returned them 10 the prosecuting attorney.
Having got through my private pvelminaTles
about noon, and as the case would not come
of before the next day, | went into the court
in The afternoon 10 see what was going on.
Tie first case that came up was one OF theft,
and the prisoner was young sIrl, not more
than seventeen years Of age, named Elizabeth
Maiworth. She was very pretty, and bore
ths. mild innocent look. witch We seldom
find in a culprit. She pale and frightened,
and the moment my eye rested upon her.
pitied her She had been weeping profuSely,
but as she found 50 many eyes upon her, she
became too much frightened 10 weep more,
The complaint against her Sc. forth tha;
she had stolen 5 100 from a Mr. Na>eby, and
as the case Went on, | foand that this Mrs.
Naseby, wealthy widow. living in the town.
was the girl's mistress. The poor girl declared
her Innocence in the most wild terms, but
circumstances were hard against her. \
hundred dollars in bank notes bal been stolen
from her mjs.rcss's room. and She was the
oaly person wao had access there. At this
juncture, when the mistress was upon tha
witness stauI. young man came auI caught
me by the am. H was tiae boxing man,
and bts tears stood in his eyes.
.'raey ielI me you are good lawyer" he
whispered.
Il am a LAWYER" | answered.
Then do save her! you can certainly do it,
fer she is innocent
Is she your sister?'
No. sir. he said. Bat, ba-' Here he
hestated again.
Has She no COUNSEL" I asked
s.Nsne that's good for anything. Nobody
that'n do anything for her. Save her, and
Ill pay YOU all I've got. | cant give much,
but L 6an raise YOU >oruetiiiHS.'
Ircflccted for moment. | east my eyes
towards the prisoner, and she was al that mo
ment looking at me. She caught my eye, and
the volume OF humble entreaty | read in her
glance, resolved me in moment | arose
and went to the girl and asked her if she
wished me to defend her She said yes
Then | informed the court that | was ready to
enter the case. aud | was admitted at once
The loud murmur of satisfaction which ran
quickly through the room, told me, where
the sympa.hies of the people were. | asked
for a moments cessation. that might speak
with nv client | went and sat down BY her
side, and asked her to state canGIdIy the whole
case She told me that she lived with Mrs.
Naseby nearly two years, and had never had
any trouble before. About two weeks ago,
she said. her mistress had lost a hundred
dollars. .'She missed it from the drawer"
the girl said to me. "and she asked me about
il, but | knew nothing about Il The next
thing knew, Nancy Luther told Mrs.. Naseby
that she watched through the keyhoIe. Then
they went TO my trunk aud found twenty f ee
dollars of the missing money there. But, sir,
never took il, and somebody else must have
put il there
| then asked her If she suspected any one.
Il don't know" she said "wh2 could have
done it bu' Nancy She has nsyer liked me.
because she thought l was trea,e! better than
she was. She is the cook l was the cham
bermail."
She pointed Nancy Luther out to me. She
was a stout. bold faced girl, somewhere about
five and twenty years old, with a low fore
head. small gray eyes. a pug nose and thick
lips. | caught her glance once. as it rested
on the fair young prisoner; and the moment
| detected the look Of hatred which | read
there was convinced that She was the rogue
Nancy Luther did you say that girl' name
was?" | asked for ne" light had brohen
Yes. SIR
az rh{.r.aar other ,,frI Of tl,1tDatDa abou,
tara,,, "
"N,. SIR
Tan rez- easy tn try hard 10 save
w,
In tba courtroom. and wen, to the orose-
cn.in., attorney, and asked him for the letters
Ihal handed b;m-,he ones tha. had been
et,I.n fr,ro The mail Lag He rave them "a
Tna.a,j haxie, selected one. | returned tbe
rest an1tail linn would see that he had the
o,.. ra.sined h..fo~a ni,bt tlca -etnrn.
a3 = ~. eoprt .aop, an4 the case wen
an Ms Na.ebr resnn,al her testimony