Monmouth weekly herald. [volume] (Freehold, N.J.) 1854-1860, 1858-10-30
yntufstlSp Storg.
UNEXPECTED EVIDENCE.
II sYLvANga eeBs, II.


T ONCE had an adventure said INV
Ifriend, !" which | think is worth print
ing and if you viii write it out iii tell
it to you"
go ahead" said ], and if it suits,
the printer shall have it."
Well-Ill give it to you,' he resum-
ed, as he threw his cigar away, and tip
ped his chair back against the wall. 1T
may not have been SO startling an adven.
ture as some, but TIE train of circumstan-
ces connected with il were very curious,
and in my opinion remarkable. Ny broth.
er James, who is two years older than
myself, had gone out West, intending to
settle either in Missouri or Kentucky
He had been gone about three months
when | received a letter from him, post
marked at Columbia, Kentucky. He was
in Jail, and about to be tried for the crime
Of murder. He had been arrested for
numbering a traveller, and the evidence
was SO strong. and SO direct against him
that no lawyer could be found who could
give him any hope. He had stopped
overnight at a small inn some twenty
miles west of Columbia, and in the morn
ing he set out alone on his journey. AS
he was passing through a wood he saw
a dead body lying BY the roadside. and
he stopped his horse, and d~ismounted.-
He found it to be the body OF a middle
aged man, who had been killed with a
knife, there being several deep wounds
upon the breast. The corpse was still
warm, and while he was in the act of
turning it over, in order to get a better
view of the face, he heard some one as
preaching, and upon looking up he saw
two men, who seemed to have come from
a little woodpath near at hand. He told
them how he has EaYs the body. and
asked them ii they ka%w who it vas
But they only shook them heads, and told
him that he was doing it very we'll. In
short, they accused him Of having done
the deed, and, without further ado, ap-
pretended him, and carried hin. to the
next village. where they entered a com
plant and gave in their evidence.
AT first my brother looked Upon it as
rather a light affair, aud only considered
the>delay It would occasion. him but
when the examination came he found
things looking rather dark. 1t was
proved that the murdered MAI had stop.
ped at the inn where he stopped, having
arrived late in the evening, and started
off at daylight in the morning. The two
men who had caused his arrest swore
point blank, that they saw him strike the
fatal blow, and that he was pulling the
murdered mans purse from his pocket as
they came up! They told the story with
such assurance and regularity that they
were readily believed. And her James
could not deny enough to help him. The
people had become convinced that he was
guilty, and the whole tide was against
him.
AS soon as | got this letter | hurried
off for Kentucky, hoping that | might be
Of some of assistance to my unfortunate
brother and | wished to get there, if
possible, before his trial came on. On
the evening of the fourteenth day | reach.
ed an inn to which | had been directed,
and had my weary horse put up. knew
that | was very near my journeys end,
but | could go no further that night
After supper | vent into the bar room,
where a few of the neighbors had assem-
bled, and from their conversation | soon
learned that this was the very house at
which my brother had stopped the right
before his arrest, and of course [ could
not be far from the scene of the murder.
Fhad made up my mind that | would not
reveal my relationship to the prisoner
until | had e him, and conferred with
his lawyer, if he had 0hs-and, if he had
none, with one whom | might engage for
him.. So | pretended to be entirely unin-
formed upon the subject, and asked what
the circumstances were. The facts we're
related to me just as my brother had sta.
ted them, though somewhat heightened
in color.
/ felt the public pulse through these
men. The prisoner was Yankee, and
a stranger, aud the people believed him
guilty. The tive witnesses who had
sworn to the fact of his committing the
murder, l learned were respected men,
though not very valuable citizens. They
were hunters and trappers, when hunting
and trapping would pay and sometimes
they helped run ~aat-boats down the Mis-,
sissippi. Their names were Matthew
Harm and Isaac Croft, and they lived not
far from the village and | furthermore
learned that they had both been at the
inn on that very evening. ! was told
that the trial would come off in four days,
and that the prisoner would surely be
hanged.
When | went to bed that night | felt
uneasy. My brothers case seemed doubt
ful. OF course | knew that he was inno-
cent. And if that was so, how should l
account for the evidence Of Harm and
Croft? They must be mistaken, or they
must have swora falsely. II they had