Litchfield enquirer., 1858-11-11


 serving out little more than half his time has re- gently received pardon from President Buchanan. More than half of the stolen money is still upre. funded.
 civil suit brought by me against Benjamin Tompkins, Eber s. Tompkins and Lorrin Peet. char. ging them with aiding, abetting and instigatnr the assault has had two trials-the first, tried at the November Term 1857. resulted in the disagreement of the jury on damages only few days before this first tlial one Joseph S. Jones, who it was thought had or would make disclosures relative to the mat ter most brutally assaulted in the night season, in his dwelling-house in Kent A stone weighing more than two pounds was thrown with great force against his head, cutting and bruising his face se- verely, and endangerng his life. One of the defen- dants, Eber s. Tompkns, was of the party of assaiants and it is generally believed that the ob- ect of the assault to disable Jones so as to pre- vent him from appearing as witness in the above named trial The offence has never been prosecuted the authorities refusing to take any action Jones and others who have made disclosures, have been subjected to series of malignant prosecutions, paralleled in this or any other country.
 The last trial of my suit held at the late Sep tember Term of the Superior Court.
 To give the public correct idea of the case, it may be proper to state briefly some of the strong points of the evidence applicable to Benjamin Tompkins, the only responsible defendant in the suit. One witness swore that defendant told him few days prior to the assault that Kellogg would be tarred and feathered and invited him to be present; and said if those who had engaged to do it, failed. he had that in hs house at ,coud make them do t. De- fendant, while in company with William Treat in- vited two highly respectable gentlemen of Warren to be present. and in his own language as sworn to by both these witnesses, said, 7sn all sort @ bOys to com for zoe are going haus good dtal oa tne or, in other words, hell of time One of the last wit nesses swore also to conversation between defend ant and George Taylor where Ia, Tor stated defend- ant had exhibited to him large roll cf money, and sad that was to carry at scrope rih, meaning the tar and feather scrape ] and that defendant then requested Taylor to keep still about tt. That defend ants hired man was in his kitchen on the morning before the a sault with his hands and face blacked and otherwise disguised and that the hired man marched company up from defendants house to the place of trial. himself among them and that said hired man was the chief leader in the assault, was fact proved, and admitted by the defendant himself Nine or ten respectable witnesses swore substantially that defendant urged them or others in their presence to help tar and feather Kellogg telling them he roud foot the bs and aroud stand by them and after the affray commenced telling them to rush up-putting his hand against and pushing them up, saying, Dunn him, put on to him Sever- al witnesses swore that when the assailants were holding back, defendant called out to them, D he young not going dhead and do a, Jay dorn he toots meaning the tar and feathers, and he old men ,r,u Jake hold-he would for MT. Sperry, the Dep uty Sheriff testified that he stepped up to defendant and asked him to assist in stopping the riot. but de- fendant made no reply. Three witnesses swore that defendant requested them to go to his premises after liuuor and one of them went This was the article | that was to make them do it. One witness was set by defendant to uatch, and. when started for homc gtve not,ce and defendant said to witness, they wanted to get men who had no property to tar and feather Kellogg. because of property would have to pay damages ana to others, exhibited q piece of money, saying it all he had with him, but he had $500 n Mt old pockebook at home, and he scould spend au for the boys When efforts were be- ing made to arrest the offenders. the defendant sent word to them to meet at certain place, end be se- creted from the officers while defendant sent for l William Treat and afterward met them in their place of conceament and advised them to leave the State-at the same time saying if they had to go to jail he, defendant would roll barrel c brandy in to then
 It is impossible in the brief space allotted to me, to give all the facts as sworn to by about thirty witnesses.
 Fiji. to prove that he did. at some stage of the affray, tell them it was time to stop it, (houbtess false and fraudulent pretence) and few swore to shal- low perversion of the plaintiffs evidence-to wit, Y" If the young men are not going to take hold and stop it, the old men must ;" the young men being those who actually engaged in the riot.)
 Much was attempted to be made out of pretend ed scuf1e over bag of feathers, where it claim ed the defendant tried to get it away from the riot CTS; but the truth came out in the following man. ner D. Couch, one of the defendants witnesses, swore that he heard Benjamn 7ompkns t Gordon Ped to get the bag of feathers Eber s. Tompkins that Gordon Pet did tahe the teatae,s from him. Griffin, another of defendants witnesses, swore that Gordon Ieet the that aapped the Jeathers to Kecgg.
 In the face of all these facts, and more, twelve jurymen, under oath returned a verdict in favor of Benjamin Tompkins to recover his costs
 A verdict against the other defendant, Eber s. Tompkins, for fifteen dollars damages and fifteen dol lars costs, was returned by the same jury
 This verdict of the jury, and its acceptance by the Court, can regard in other light than justii- cation of the outrago-a wrong in greater degree, and studied insult more venomous, than the ss- saut itself
 Suppose Judge of the Superior Court had been met in the street by band of drunken ruiiiar,s, siezed, choked beaten most cruelty trred and feh cred. and rode on a rail, think you he would have accepted fifteen dollar verdict nhe tn inks so, let