Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1860-08-30
Misrellnaeoas.
Presence of Mind.


Pennsylvania is a great State. l contains
Independence Hall. Ii is the Keystone State.
The reople of Pennsylvan are a peculiar
people. Their phlegm is invinciblc. Catch a
Pennsylvania betraying himself into express
sion OF an emotionl The fundamental PROPOSE
tions with which this article sets cut, are well
illustrated in the history Of recent murder
trial in the city of Reading. The case in ques-
tions is fully reported III TIE Reading Daily
Times, (H. A. Lautz, editor and proprietor, y
head lined as follows:
Trial of John Warren for Murder.
1t appears that this John Warren killed a
woman. We quote from the report:
The Commonwealth then called their wit
nesses, as follows:
Jeremiah Focht sworn: live in Windsor
Township, Berks county, about half mile the
other side of Hamburg. | know John Warren
since last March, before that l did not know
him. The prisoner lived Oh my land; arc hred
apart about % or "a perches. l think on the
23d of June, as we were eating dinner, Jacob
Stitzel's wife, and John Ryan's wife, came to
nv house and told me that L should come down,
Warren was killing woman When they said
| should come down, l said l would not come
down Immediately. Some of my people went
down, 6at 1 did not 90 doarn until had cdten my
dinner. ,ce,at dotm part of the audy. and saw
that Warren came out OF his shanty.
1t will be observed that Mr.. Foeht behaved
with the true dignity and presence OF mind
becoming a solid man of the rural districts
of Pennsylvania. He was told that a man was
killing woman a few rods distant, but calmly,
like deliberate citizen whose good digestion
waited on appetite. finished his dinner By
that time, of course, he knew exactly what TO
do and how do it. His blood was not put in
h. tla fhata
killing woman. and having filled his stomach,
the danger of doing anything rash was entirely
removed. We continue the testimony:
"Cannot correctly say how often he struck
the woman with the crutch, but he struck her
more than five or six times. l heard every
stroke sound as ifone strikes beast on the head
with an axe. l only stood about eighteen
perches distant | saw Warren. Warren had
the crutch in both his hands when he struck.
Herein We see the justification for the delib-
Grafton of Mr.. Focht's movements. The man
was still killing the woman when he ventured
as near as eighteen perches.
Being cross-examined, the witness still fur
ther developed his conservative policy:
After saw that beating L went up to my
house. did not go down to look at the woman
until at the time he was arrested. The beating
happened between u and l o'clock at noOn.-
Between that time was at my house. It's no
7dys business ,ntdt rdS doing there Daughter
When l was told that he was killing woman
was at my dinner. The women said that
should go down, that Irishman was killing awo-
man. finished my dinner. They said she scaS
laying outside Of the sltanty all bloody, but ate
No one left the table. AS soon as l bad eaten
nv dinner / went down, and my people had
gone already. We were not done yet with our
dinner when they came up and told us. Can
not say correctly, but it may be 10 or Is min
utes that ] stayed at dinner, after the women
told u.s. My acite acas adndingr,ear me at the
time Warren acas giving the poman a bloar No
one else uas close by me.
Several things appear herein to give the rea-
der an exalted idea of the good citizenship of
Mr.. Focht. He boldly asserts that it was not
business what he was doing at his
own house. OF course he finished his dinner.
His personal bravery appears in the fact that he
yentured within eighteen rods of the scene of
murder, with no one nigh but his wife. We
continue the testimony: .
Warren could see the people who were look
ing on when be was beating the woman recht
shdu.' He could see them as well as you can
see Barto's tavern from the Court House, but
he could not see me; l was standing higher
than Warren; there sras fence in the soay 6et,cecn
us, so that he could not see me so pcli.
Now will any one be so unkind as to intimate
in this connection, that the witness hid behind
the fencef We hope not.
About half dozen other Witnesses testified
to looking on in the same way.
Fayetta Focht testified:
sWhen Warren struck the first blow, heard
the woman say, 'Oh, murderl' don't know
who the woman was who was killed there. /
stood off when 1 saw this, at distance of be-
tween fifteen and sixteen percbes. My brother
Joel pas standing there at the same time, that ras
left my brother. stood by the side OF my
brother. l saw the woman after she was dead.
She lay at the spring at the time saw her.
She was bruised very much in the face. Look
ed blueish and bloody"
Amelia Focht swore: .....
al did not look all the time, and after he was
done kicking went away and then came back
and found him sitting in the shanty. My bro
ther was larger than 1. W. was walking about
there Sometimes he went into the shanty and
then came out again. After he quit kicking the
woman, he was walking about there. We were
flve OF US standing and looking there-myself
my brother, my sister, Henry Stitzel, and Sa-