Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1858-01-04

The counsel for the prisoner made his speech
which was labored and hard. He was foolish
enough to intimate that if his client ,ra, arou nd
at the back part of the house more than once
he must have been intoxicated. In short hi.
plea had better been left out The evidence
he could not shake, and he did all he could to
suppose evidence, some Of it most absurd and
ridiculous. afterwards learned that Moulton
Warren engaged that lawyer for the youthful
prisoner The government attorney made his
plea: 1t was plain, straight forward, and very
conclusive.
The judge finally gave his charge He was
fair and candid He reviewed the evidence
carefully, and pointed out such as bore heavily
upon the case. He told US if there was a lin
gering doubt in our minds we must give the
prisoner the benefit of it, But l could plainly
see that there was no doubt in his mind
Wc-ths jury-were conducted to our room
by an officer, and there locked up. A silence
of some minutes ensued. Moulton Warren was
the first to speak
well, he said, g s'pose there's no need
of our bein here a great while. OF course we
all know that the prisoner must have set FIRE to
the house,
There was something in the manner of that
man as he said this which excited my curiosity
i won say it was suspicion then-only curl
osity. He spoke with forced effort at calm
ness which at once perceived The more
looked at him the more became strongly ner-
vous and uneasy, wondered why he should be
so anxious to be rid of the case, and have Am
bold convicted. knew that he had frequent.
ed that evil house, and that he had done much
towards tempting Charley to dissipation. L
know he was in that house on the night on
which the prisoner was robbed-for Charley
had told me so when l visited him in his cell
L had then asked the unfortunate youth if he
was sure Warren was his friend. O. he was
sure of it. He should have hunted him up on
the night of his robbery, only they told him
Warren had gone.
By the by, the foreman proposed that we
should each take up piece of paper and write
down our opinion, and then compare notes l
went to my hat, which Ihad placed upon table
with number Of others and took out sheet of
paper 1 had got half way back to the table
when found | had made a mistake. had
got part of letter from another mans hat L
was about to turn back when the name of the
writer Of the letter arrested my attention.
looked more closely, and read" Stephen
Grant" Next L caught this sentence
hnd now dear Charles, if not for your own
yet for your mother sake, let me hope you will
do BETTER
l started as though n shot had struck me.
held in my hand the other half of the sheet
which had been used to fire the burned house
l went to the table and found that had taken
been Observed-and | had not. / put the pa
per back, and then took piece from my own
hat, which was of the same pattern as the other,
and by its side.
l returned to the table and sat down. War
rem was by my side. He had written his opin-
ion, and took knife from his pocket to cut it
from the large sheet.
a." Let me take your knife a moment, if you
please, l said to him.
Without hasitotion ba Ala so xook
'ras Charles Amboid' KNIFE the large blade
1ras gone With all the power possessed 1
restrained my deep emotion, and having cut my
paper L handed back the knife
Why should he have that knife so boldly
about him. af erwards learned. He had not
worn those pantaloOns before since tho night of
the fire; and now he used the knife probably,
without the least remembrance of the loss it
had sustained during very peculiar piece of
work, to the execution of which it was made
su bservient
We talked for some ten minutes, and found
that eleven of the jury were bent on rendering
a verdict of guilty; though most of them were
IN favor Of recommending the prisoner to mercy
MoultOn Warren was decided He had no mer-
~ at all.
Presently l started up and pretended to be
faint- L said L must go out few moments. 1
kicked at the door and the deputy sheriff came
He heard my plea and let me out. As soon as
we had gained safe distance, told him all
lie was astonished. He went away, and when
ne came back he brought the district attorney
and the district judge and the sheriff. l told
again what / had seen--I assured them that
knew what had seen-that it was no mere
And / explained, too, Warren's
manner IN the jury room, and his former con-
nectlon with the prisoner, and his known char
lcter.
The officers went away, and at the end of ten
minutes they returned with a constable added
10 their number, and this constable had fresh
!y written instrument in his hand. The sheriff
bade me to point out the hat to them as soon as
we entered the room.
The door of the room was opened, and /
pointed them to the hat. The sheriff took it,
and asked whose it was. Warren leaped to his
feet and seized it, but he was held back
Word was instantly sent to the judge that
the jury could not agree. They were dis
charged, and then Moulton Warren was
The knife was found upon him, and
his behavior at once exposed his guilt The
presence OF that letter was accounted for by him
in dozen different ways within an hour.
A new jury was impannelled, and Charles
Ambold was acquitted. Shortly afterwards
Warren was tried and it was plainly proved
that he had set fire to the house, and that the
woman who kept it was to have been burned
up in it, as he had contrived to lock her into
her room shortly after setting the fire. She
had incurred his displeasure in various ways,
and this was his revenge. Not only she, but
two of her girls had suspected him from the first,
but they dared not complain, for fear he would
not be convicted, and would then be sure to
murder them.
The hardened villain confessed his guilt after
he had been condemned, and then it was that
he told how he happened to be so careless in
regard to the paper and knife. 1t was be who
had robbed Anbold, and when he took the old
letter from his hat to use for q torch in setting
the fire, he did not notice what it was and even
when that partly burned half had been exhibit
ed in court he had entirely forgotten that he
had torn of the other half and put it back in
his hat, as he must have done. The letter had
been found in AmbOld's pocket book, and he
had kept it because in il the youth was warned
a gainst his influence. He confessed that he
held slight idea of calling the writer to an ac-
count when it should become convenient. With
regard to the knife, it was as l before stated
He took that also from AmbOld's pocket, and
put il in his own; and on the night of the fire
he used it to pry up the sash, and when he had
broken it he put il back in his pocket and for
got it,
Thus was Charley saved-and saved from