White Cloud Kansas chief. [volume] (White Cloud, Kan.) 1857-1872, 1859-04-28

ming of his declaration correspondent ex'
sctly with the deposition of the carpenter
The latter had worked for him 7; he was
sixty guldens in his debt. Hewas asked
if be had paid the account; he said he had
not been in . condition to do so. He was
shown the silver plate, and was told what
had been stated by the carpenter. He
stammOred, became pale, and protested he
knew nothing of the plate; and in this
statement he persisted in the presence oil
witnesses. He was then showed the gold
which had been found in his house. II
belonged, he said, not to himself, but to
his father-in-laW.
This part Of the statement, indeed, was
confirmed by the other inmates of his
family; but, in other respects, their state
ments were calculated to increase the sus-
picions against him. Nicholas, for in
stance, had stated that no part of his
debt to Isaac had been paid-that in fact
he had not been in q condition to do So
while the other three members of the
household, on the contrary maintained
that few months before he had made a
payment of twenty guldens to Isaac, ex-
pressly to account of this claim. Nicho-
las became vastly embarrassed when this
contradiction between his own statement
and the evidence of the witnesses was
pointed out to him. For the first time
his composure forsook him-he begged
pardon for the falsehood he had uttered.
1t was true, he said, that he had counted
out twenty guldens, in presence Of the
members of his family, and told them it
was intended as payment to account of
Isaac's claim but the money had not
been paid to his creditor. He had been
obliged to appropriate it to the payment
Of some old gambling debts, of which he
could not venture to inform his wife.
This departure from the truth on the
part of the accused had apparently but
slender bearing on the question Of the
robbery; but it excited general doubt as
to his statements, which further inquiry
tended to confirm. The carpenter, anx-
ious to remove any suspicion as to the
truth of his own story, produced sort Of
account-book kept by himself, in which,
under the sale of the 23d June, there was
the following entry: 1.-THE inn-keeper,
Nicholas D., has this day paid me
the value of thirty guldens in old silver"
The house-keeper and apprentice of the
carpenter also deponed that they had been
present on one occasion when the dragoon
had proposed that their master should
take the silver in payment.
If, on the one hand, the inn keeper had
handed over to the carpenter the silver
plate, it was plain he was either the thief
or the receiver if he had not done SO,
the carpenter had not only been guilty of
a calumnious accusation, but the suspi-
cion of a guilty connection with the rob-
berry became turned against himself. All
Prescriptions, however, were against the
inn-keeper. He had admittedly been
guilty of a decided falsehood as to the
payment-he could not, or would not
give the names of any of those to whom
his gambling debts had been paid as he
alleged-and the fact that he had brought
the plate to the carpenters, was attested
by three creditable witnesses.
The general opinion in the town was
decidedly against him. The almost length
that any one ventured to go. was. to sug-
gest that his relations, who had been ap-
pretended along with him, might be in
nocent Of any participation in his guilt
though being naturally anxious to save
him, they might somewhat have compro-
missed the truth by their silence, or their
statements.
The dragon was removed from his
provisional custody to the prison of the
town the others were subjected to close
that all communication be-
tween them might be prevented. As all
of them, however. persisted in the story,
exactly as it had at first been told. stron-
ger measures were at length resorted to.
On the motion Of the burgomaster, as
public prosecutor, "that the principal
party accused, Nicholas D., should |
be delivered over to undergo the usual
process for compelling con-
fession," namely, the torture, the court,
after the consideration of the state of the
evidence, unanimously issued the usual
warrant against him to that effect. Some
pitied him, though none doubted his guilt. |
The general impression in the town was,
that the inn-keeper would soon give way,
and that, in fact, he would probably con-
fess the whole upon the FIRST application
of the torture.
The preparations were complete-the
torture was to take place the next day.
when the following letter, bearing the
post-mark of Rotterdam, was received
by the court =:
Before I leave the country and betake
myself where I shall be beyond either
the court Of M, or the military TIL
bunal of the garrison, would save the
poor unfortunate persons who are now
prisoners at M. Beware of punish
ing the inn-keeper, his wife, his father
and brother, for a crime Of which they
are not guilty. How the story Of the
carpenter is connected with theirs, ! can
not conjecture. / have heard Of Il with
the greatest surprise. The latter may not
himself be entirely innocent. Let the
Judge pay attention to this remark. You
NAV spare yourselves the trouble of in
curing after me. II the wind is fsyora-
bic, by the time you read this letter, i
shall be on my passage TO England.
"JosEPH CHRISTIAN RUHLER,
"Former Corporal in the Company of
LIE Lsry."