The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1858-04-01
xH1 RAoxrro
Commercial Advertiser.


A mx1Exzsa sroRY.
4 once had the extreme felicity Of leaving INV busi
nes to serve upon e he JurS-o I plead in All man.
ner OF vsy, fr release, bat p no eject. could no,
bat did tell them that I had already 6rmed An on;n'
,0n- They asksd me- II my opinion would prevent
Ne nom reessving the testimony in god faith, and
renoer,ng 9 ysFiiet secording 70 il replied that Of
eoverned By It I vas then informed that / swould
The case to be tried was one OF srson-then a can.
itai onence-and the prisoner at the bar was a young
nan. named Charles Ambold, whom I had known
nom boyh0od, and who vas naturally one Of the
hnest youths Of the town where he resided. He had
= widowed mother who depended upon him for sup
port, ana hs circle OF friends was large and choice.
Vas morally certain that he did not commit the
crime and hence, l am sure. those who were friendly
to him got me on the panel, and had me retained.
The trial commenced and we twelve men took our
seats IN the jury box | had a very respectable set
with me-only there was one man whom I didn't like
10 zee there. This man was Moulton Warren. He
Wss . dsrk-face6 sinister-looking feIlow-at least to
me: know that young Ambold had one fault. He
known to visit disreputsbie houses. It was one of
those houses that had been burned, for setting fire to
which he bad been apprehended- snHozn
NOV l had often tried to persuade Charles Ambold
edly promised me that he would reform, and ms re-
peatedly had he broken away. I had often talked to
him Of his poor mother, until he had wept like q
child; but the effect was not lasting There was a
power Of temptation more effective than any influence
1 could WELD He would fall away into this evil COM
panionship. and for . while his manhood was gone.
One or two abandoned women had gained great
power over him, and upon them he wasted much Of
And I knew that this very man who was now upon
the ury-this Moulton Warren-was the one who
had done more than all others to lead the poor youth
away. 1t was Warren who had drank with him, and
Who had led him away to those more abominablc
haunfs Of sin and pollution. why vas he upon the
jusy2 I could ouly account for it upon the ground
that Charley still supposed him to be his friend. The
poor scorcbed insect was still ignorant Of the fame
that scorched him. He really believed that Moulton
Warren was his friend.
The trial commenced The Indictment set forth
that Charles Ambold had, sswith malice afore-
thought . and with all sorts Of wicked and felonious
intents, set Ore to a certain dwelling house, thereby
endangering human life. This dwelling, as 1 have
already intimated, was q low sink Of ~iniquity, where
and where the youthful prisoner had spent much Of
his time.
The evidence for the prosecution came on, and I
was startled One after another gave in their testi-
mony, some Of them very reluctantly, and l was
frightened when I saw how plainly it all pointed to
the prisoner as the guilty party. Several credible
witnesses swore that they had heard him threaten to
burn the house down; and others heard him say re-
peatedly that he wished il was burned down Then
came several witnesses-three Of the prominent citi-
sens-who saw him lurking about the premises on the
night Of the FIRE.
With regard to the provocation on the prisoners
part for such . deed, IL was proved upon his own adj
mission. that he had been ill-treated there and that
he had sworn to have revenge. And furthermore, it
was proved that he had been heard to say that his
salvation of soul and body depended upon the destruc-
ton Of that house. Next came more testimony
stronger still.
The FIRE had been set in q back basement room,
where shavings and other stuff for kindling were
kept Entrance had been gained through a back
Efudo~ -h1~I h4d Ioon -narflv rv-o1 oron nth n
stout knife. This basement wall was of brick, and
beneath the sash was found the blade of a knife which
had been broken in trying to raise 1t (the SASH. The
blade was recognized as belonging to the prisoners
knife /, A maker Of cutlery had made a knife to or
der for Ambold only a month previous, and he knew
the blade at once, and swore to n.
But this wss not all The FIRE had been evidently
set first to the shavings which lay upon the stone
floor, but piled MP against a wooden partition This
floor was damp. and some of the outer shavings, even,
were not wholly burned mp. But just At the edge.
where the ere commenced, lay q piece OF paper, rolled
up, and about half burned, and from the manner IN
which it lay, it was very evident that the fire had
been set with il. This piece of rolled paper had been
ignited by q match, q number OF which were scat
tered around, and rs soon as it was on hre 1t had
been laid upon the floor. with the burning END Just IN
the shaviugs OF course, these shavings were in a
blaze instantly; but the paper torch being upon the
damp stones, had not burned wholly up
And this paper was found to be part of a letter be-
longing to the prisoner A letter which ne had re-
ceived from q friend of his (and q friend Of mIne)
only a week before I. That friend had to come for
ward and swear that piece Of charred paper was q
part Of n letter he had written to the prisoner This
friends name was Stephen Grant. He was q young
merchant. and the letter had been written for the
purpose Of inducing Ambold to reform Stephen
tried hard to avoid t~estifying, for he knew, as did
others. that the fire must have been set with that
identical paper; but he was summoned, and he could
not deny his own chirogrsphy.
The case looked dark Many witnesses were will
ing to testify to the prisoners good qualities, but no
one could swear that he was not d~issipated and de-
graded. That house had been to him indeed, q re-
gion Internal Its destruction cried out for his bod
I1y life: and its existence had long been eating away
his soul Poor Charlie. I had before been sure of
his innocence; but now I could only shake my head
and pity him.
Finally he was allowed to speak for himself He
said he was innocent OF the crime imputed to him.
He said that he had threatened TO burn that house
dovn-tbat he said about all that had been sworn to.
And, furthermore, he was around the house on the
night OF the FIRE. he was not ten rods of when the
flames burst forth, and he was on of the first to give
the alarm He had uttered one cry Of fire when he
noticed where the flames must have originated, and
the thought came to him If he was found there, he
might be suspected Of having set the FIRE; so he ran
away. He also said that three nights before the con-
Migration, he had been robbed in that house His
pockets had been emptied Of everything in them, and
his pocket book containing forty dollars in money,
and some valuable papers, had been taken. He had
gone there on the night Of the fire to try and persuade
them to give him back his money and papers-or at
least to get back what he could When he got there,
he saw a man 70 in whom he did not wish to see, SO
he had hung around, whiting for him to depart He
was around by the back Of the building once-and
that was an hour before the are broke out He knew
n~othing-nothing. He clasped his hands, and with
his fearless eyes raised toward heaven, he called on
God to witness that he was innocent
have told you that I knew him we'll KNEW him
50 well, that from that moment l knew him to be in
nocent ! 1 knew his very SOUL knew how free and
open il wash, how sinfdlly SO! I knew there was
no flsehood in the story he told us
/" My boy il innocents My boy is innocent
I heard the cry-and I saw an old woman sink
ba4sk into the arms Of . male companion 1t was his
poor mother. Her heart was well nigh broken. Yet
saw that all this Rad but little effect upon the mass
Of spectatora The prisoners course of dissipation
hjs many threats against the house-and the very
Aet Of his having been robbed and abused there were
heavy against him.
The council for the prisoner made his speech,
-h;.h ~~s 1.hored and hard. He Vas foolish enough