The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1859-03-30
om the Washington Core pond ent Of the n. 7
Times. ss
THE WASHiEGT0 TRAGEDY.

The WASHINGTON TRAGEDY.
The Grand Jury were called on Monday, and
are, am informed, of more than average reI
spettability and intelligence. The evidence
before them being entirely parte, they will
of course, have no hesitation in finding bills
against Mr. Sickles Indeed, Mr. Sickles him
self, I am assured, would ask no heavier pun
ishment than to have the bill thrown otif, as
his impatient desire is to stand before panel
of his countrymen, and when the whole case
is unfolded, have their verdict OH his act
1t was at first anticipated that the trial would
come off on Monday next; but deem that
impossible, though the calender is not heavy;
and incline to the belief that it will not take
place until the end of the week On the first
day the court adjourned, after tribute to Mr.:
Key, very skilfully conceived and effectively
delivered by Mr.. Robert Ould, the new district
attorney, who is evidently a man of ability,
vigor, and legal experience; Mr.. Barton Key,
who was indolent and unread to degree almost
beyond belief, in one filing such position,
having committed the conduct of nearly all
his official business to Mr.. Ould. The trial
will naturally awaken, may say, a great ma
tional interest-not from any uncertainty as TO
its result, for there appears to be no second
opinion as to the certainty of Mr.. Sickles' ac<
quittal, but from the general desire to see the
whole case fairly put, and the million scandals
of mystery laid to rest BY the plain facts
Already innumerabie applications have been
made for seats in the courthouse, whichis small
and confined, The case will be tried before
Judge Crawford, lawyer of good local repti-
tation, and said to be an impartial and pains
taking judge. For the prosecution, Mr.. Ould
will, of course, lead, in virtue of his office,
and, probably, (though as yet none has been
retained Mr.. Keys family will engage asso-
ciate counsel. For Mr.. Sickles, there will ap-
pear the Hon. Reverdy johnson, (who is Mr..
Butterworth's counsel, Messrs. Staunton, Rad
cliffe, Chiffon, and Magruder, of this bar, and
of the New York bar, Mr. James Z. Brady and
Mr.. John Graham, who had been selected from
a legion of volunteers, as proper representa-
tives of the Representative from New York.
Mr.. Graham, who has arrived to-day, will
open the case, which will be summed up by Mr..
Staunton and Mr.. James T. Brady, one of Mr..
Sickles' earliest, and, through life, one of his
warmest friends. The prosecution will be eon-
Quoted, according TO present appearances, with
great fairness, and without any spirit of per-
sonal bitterness. For though Mr.. Keys BROTH
er, Mr. Charles Key, of Baltimore, has uttered
some threats of vengeance, and his sister, Mrs.
Pendleton, is known to be serely afflicted by
his untimely death, the voice of his uncle,
Chief Justice Taney, all potential in such
case, is for moderation and an absolute surren-
der of the whole matter to the ordinary course
of law.
The guilty connection of Mr.. Key with Mrs.
Sickles will, I understand, be admitted, to
avoid disclosures injurious to the metnofy of
Mr.. Key, and the argument of the prosecution
will be directed to examine whether the exist
ence of such criminal connection, excuses the
Staying of the seducer by the husbands hand,
and whether Mr.. Sickles committed the act
under the extenuating influences of an exas-
perating conviction of this fact: IF precedents
are of value, it will be difficult for the prosecu-
tion to sustain their side of the case. It is but
a short time since that, in the neighbOring
State of Virginia, certain Mr.. Myers pro-
ceeded to the bed room of man from whom
he had sustained similar injury, and shot him
while in bed: Public opinion justified, and a
jury acquitted him without leaving the box
Again, in this very city, and but within the
last two years, young man, from near the
navy-yard, called on the seducer of his sister,
and demanded the reparation of marriage for
the injured girl, which, being refused, he shot
the seducer. Public opinion justified, and
jury acquitted him without leaving the box
Nor such prccedents confined to this coun.
try. Lord Napier has stated it as his belief
that in England, if the criminal connection be
of the character stated, no jury could be found
to convict the husband. So
In France precedents of recent origin are
not wanting. In 1849, a NJ. Raraby received
anonymous communication informing him
that certain NJ. Cettlegon was in the habit Of
entering his wife's apartment from balcony
common to both houses. NJ: RafaSy lay in
wait, and surprising M. Cdttlegon in the at
tempt, an encounter took place, from which
the seducer managed to escape. M. Raraby
seizing a pistol followed him, and meeting ON
the stairs, not NJ. Cettlegon, but a correspond
ent of the London Netos, who had been visit
ing friend in the same house, fired at him in
his extreme rage, and shot him through the
Jaw The case was tried before one of the
first jurists of France, the father of the Comte
de Treilhard, now secretary of the French le-
cation at Washington, and the jury acquitted
NJ Raraby, condemnihg M: Coettlegon, the
adulterer, to pay 10000 francs of damages to
the innocent person whom the enraged husband
had wounded. And but little more than u year
ago, when lady of rank in one of the proyin-
ces requested an old and attached family SER
want to shoot seoundrel who had boasted of
seducing her daughter, and the deed was actu-
ally done, French jury acquitted both the
injured mother and the gardner, who had /.
adopted her injtfy as his own. ,-....eff
Mr.. Sickles' case was stronger far than these
Not only was his home dishonored but that
dishonor was inflicted with a reckless disregard .
of decency which had made the disgrace tho
common talk of the city. Not in moment ol
hot passion, when the rebelious blood might
override the better feelings, was the deep
wrong oOnej Du6 a mousse was cooIy n1red Tor
the basest uses to which it could be put, and
Mrs. Sickles dragged through the lowest haunts
of ihfamy to crafty the vilest instincts of de-
graded passion. And when this dishonor-
this repeated, reiterated dishonor-was made
clear to him; clear by the most unanswerable
proofs; clear by the confession of his wife; and
amid the grief and agony which the horrid
discovery brought upon his home, the husband
saw opposite to his window the man who had
desolated that home, and who had stained the
future of his child, Haunting, as it were, in his
very face, the signal that called his wife to In
famy-how manJ men, elaimihgno ,Pharisaical
over their fellows, win say that at
such moments cold blooded calculator
in some New York evening paper lays it down
Mr.. Siekles should have taken his seat to {
study the code of the duello, and ascertain how
Mr.. Key was to be got rid of, according to tho
strict letter of its laws; or another puctiI-