The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-04-01

I Cnaf1ey n4Q poiQ me 50 Wnen i VISITED him IN hi
CELL l had then asked the unfortunate youth If HI
was sure Warren was his friend. O, he was sure o.
It He should have hunted him up on the night o.
his robbery. only they told him Warren had gone.
By and BY, the foreman proposed that We should
each take up q piece Of paper and write down ouI
opinion, and then compare notes. | went to my hat.
which L had placed upon . table with a number Of
others, and took out q sheet OF paper. had got hall
way back to the table when I found I had made a
mistake. I had got q part Of a letter from another
mans hat. l was about to turn back when the
name Of the writer Of the letter arrested my attention.
I looked more closely, and read Stephen Grant ,
Next l caught this sentence-
And now dear Charles, if not for your own, yet
for your mothers sake. let me hope You win do bet
ter"
I started as though a shot had struck me. 1 held
in my hand the other half of the sheet which had
been used to fire the burned house! I went to the
table and found that I had taken it from Warren
hat! I looked to see if l had been observed-and
had not. I put the paper back, and then took a
piece from my own hat. which was of the same pat
tern as the other, and by its side.
l returned to the table and sat down. Warren
was by my side. He had written his opinion, and
took q knife from his pocket to cut it from the large
sheet.
LET me take your knife a moment, If you
please" I said to him.
Without hesitation he did so. took tit was
Charles -Ambold's knife !t-the large blade tcas gone !
With all the power I possessed I restrained my deep
emotion, and having cut my paper / handed back the
knife.
Why should he have that knife so boldly about
him. I Afterwards learned. He had not worn those
pantaloons before since the night of the fire; and now
he used the knife probably, without the least remem-
brance of the loss it had sustained during a very
peculiar piece of work, to the execution Of which it
was made subservient.
We talked for some ten minutes, and l found that
eleven Of the jury were bent on rendering a verdict
of guilty; though most of them were in favor of re-
commencing the prisoner to mercy Moulton War
rem was decided. He had no mercy at all
Presently \ sfarfe1 nm and prefeudpd tn he faint
I said 1 must go out a few moments kicked at the
door and the deputy sheriff came. He heard my plea
and let me out. As soon as we had gained a safe
distance, I told him all. He was astonished. He
went away, and when he came back he brought the
district attorney, and the district judge and the
sheriff. 1 told again what 1 had seen@I assured
them that / knew what I had seen-that it was no
mere suspicion. And l explained, too, Warren's
manner in the jury room, and his former connection
with the prisoner, and his known character.
The officers went away, and at the end Of ten
minutes they returned with a constable added to
their number, and this constable had a freshly writ
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 il 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 discharged, and then
Moulton Warren was searched. The knife was found
uUO uliur anu Ills DtUdN " n OutC " HE Ealil-
The presence of that letter was accounted for by him
in a 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 dspleasure 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 he who had robbed Ambold,
and when he took the old letter from his hat to use
for a torch in setting the fire, he did not notice what
it was, and even when that partly burned half had
been exhibited in court he had entirely forgotten that
he had torn off 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 it the youth was warned against his in
fiuence. He confessed that he held a slight idea Of
calling the writer to an account when it should be-
come convenient. With regard to the knife, it was
as 1 before stated He took that also from Ambold's
pocket, and put it 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 it back in his pocket and forgot
it.
Thus was Charley sayed-and saved from more
than an ignominious death, too. He was saved to be
a noble, virtuous man; and his mother once more
took ample delight and joy in the love and tender
care of her only child.
When Charles Ambold knew that Moulton Warren
hadexpiated his crime upon the gallows he sat down
and pondered upon his past life. The thought of his
old companion being hanged, sent a strange thrill
through his frame. But he was able to trace out,
clearly and logically, this terrible result from the
course of life the Inflated man had pursued. He
shuddered as he remembered how far he had gone in
the same course himself; and he was able to see the
only safe path for any youth.
Not only must he shun temptation-not only keep
clear of even the appearance of vice-but, above all,
must he shun evil companionship. A youth may
make all the good resolutions thought can afford, bat
If he continues one evil companionship he is not safe