The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1860-01-05
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser,
The Lost Ring.
BY A RETIRED ATTORNEY.

1t was an elderly woman, upon whose brow care
had furrowed many u wrinkle. She was dressed in
homely garments, and the struggle between penury
and neatness which they evinced would have been an
interesting study for a philosopher. Her eyes were
red, as though she had been weeping aud when
she seated herself by my desk, the pent-up current of
her grief burst forth afresli.
What is the matter, my good woman ? You
seem to be in deep distress, | remarked, in the most
encouraging tones L could command.
l am, sir. They say the Lord is near to them
that are in suffering, and l am sure He ought to be
very near TO me-"
dare say He is ma'am. But you know that
Affections are sent to US for our own good, and We
ought never to repine at the discipline of life, how
ever severe it may sometimes seem to US"
L had heard an excellent sermon the day before
for it was Monday-on Tribulation, and 1 was just
In the frame of mind for giving oth+-s most excellent
advice, which, perhaps, l should have been very I'M
willing to follow if the dark waves of trouble had
rolled over me.
try to bear it as we'll as l cam she replied,
wiping away her tears with the corner of ner apron.
81 don't know as 1 am acquainted with you,
ma'am," suggested, for the purpose of changing
the topic, and bringing her TO business.
d" L don't know as yeu are" she replied (; and she
proceeded to give me a very long and very succinct
account Of her previous history, beginning back some
forty years, when she was born among the White
Mountains in New Hampshire.
L tried to check her, but it was no use. l was as
patient as the case would admit, and mindful of the
duty We owe to the weak, the inirm, and the ignor-
ant but my patience was sorely tried. L will not
punish the reader with the long, hne spun story she
told me, for a few lines will suffice to inform him of
the material facts.
She was a widow, and her name was Marche. She
had an only son, Philip, who was employed in an
insurance Office, and received three dollars q week
for his services. He was a good boy and loved his
mother, as n son should. Upon their united earnings
they lived very comfortably in an obscure street,
where they hired two rooms. Mrs. Marches cata-
ogue of her sons virtue was certainly very edifying.
he never spent q cent upon himself, never went out
nights, and attended church forenoon and afternoon.
An evil day had come. On the Saturday three
weeks preceding, Mr.. Carmen, the president of the
Insurance Company, as he declared, hal sent Philip
with a very valuable diamond ring to the jewelers.,
to have the stone reset. On enquiry, the ring was
found not to have reached the destination. The
jeweler had never seen it. To make the case more
complicated still, Philip denied having received the
ring. Mr.. Carmen had never sent him on any such
errand.
The boy had been arrested on the charge of steal
ing the ring. and was now confined in Jail. Mr..
Carmen was ready to swear he had delivered the
valuable article into the hands of the boy, with ex-
plicit directions AS to where he should carry it, and
what should be done with it.
Ii looked like a bad case. The poor woman was
in the deepest distress. She was sure her darling
boy WAS innocent of the crime. She knetU he wouldn't
steal. 1 pitied her, and promised to do what L could
for her son.
When she had gone, 1 called on Mr.. Carmen. 1
found that he was one of those still, dogmatic old
fellows, who are never in the wrong, who find it i'm
possible to err, even by design, or to make a mistake.
Everybody is in the wrong but himself. L tried to
argue the point with him, but he would not say
much. lie told me the story was sure he sent the
ring by the boy, and by nobody else.
L yentured to suggest that he might be mistaken
that he had sent the ring by some other person.
Z" Do you take me for a simpleton, sir? Do you
think l don't know what l am about 20 he exclaim-
ed, bestowing upon me such a look of whitening con-
tempt. " l sent the ring by the boy, sir. The boy
has stolen it. Nothing more need be said, sir - and
he Turned to the newspaper he had been reading.
l was not much pleased with the interview. | was
~ ~ n nurhfu unrha in mn ~ N - 4hn
old fellow and 1 confess that my pique rendered
me tenfold more Jealous in my endeavors to clear my
youthful client.
L visited Philip at the jail. He was very sad on
his mothers account on lis own, he seemed not to
care. A more frank, open hearted boy | never saw.
He told his story, and though / questioned him pref
ty severely, he was consistent to the last.
L made the case my own, and worked increasingly,
as it seemed to me then, for the overthrow of the
naughty president of the Insurance Company, as
much as for the salvation of the widow and her in
teresting son. l visited more than a dozen jewelers.
shops that afternoon and the next morning with
what results the reader shall learn in the details of
the trial, which came on the next day.
Philip was duly arraigned, and his poor mother
sat by my side, weeping and sobbing like a child as
the case proceeded.
Mr.. Carmen, with a majestic dignity stepped on the
stand. He told the story | have | efore detailed, and
was turned over toane for cross-examinatiOn. l could
see that he was nettled, for he certainly could read
no mercy in my face"
Mr.. Carmen, you are willing to swear that you
gave the ring to the boy 2"
Certainly, 1 am" he replied, vexed and angry,
for he had answered the same question q dozen times
in the course of the c-rOss-examination.
u" beg your honor to notice particularly the words
Of this witness, L remarked to the court.
His honor testify replied that he had noticed them,
as a matter of course he had them in his minutes ;
and he rather snubbed me for pressing SO respect
able n witness in so severe a manner.
Now. Mr.. Carmen, may l beg you to examine
this ring 90 and | handed him the one he had lost.
"It is mine,' he replied, with evident astonish-
ment.
You identify the ring, do you, sir ,"
GO do"
Tha, is all, sir, May it please your honor, L
shall bring but one witness for the defence.-Will
Mr.. Graham take the stand ?"
Mr.. Graham took the stand. I showed him the
ring.
Have you ever seen this ring before 80
81 have.'
" State to the court what you know about it."
Mr.. Graham proceeded to say that he was n jewell
er, that the ring was left at his shop three weeks be-
fore by an elderly gentleman, to have the stone reset.
9 Is the gentleman in the court room 30 | asked.
" He is. There he sits - and he pointed to MIR.
Carmen.
ished and Mr.. Carmen was overwhelmed with con-
fusion. He acknowledged his error, when there was
no possibility of concea.ing it. He asked to correct
his testimony, and did so.
Mr.. Carmen was a very absent-Ininded man and
the solution of the whole matter is, that he forgot all
the circumstances connected with the ring. He in
tended to have sent Philip to the jewelers. with it,
aud actually called him for that purpose ; but his
attention was distracted by something else, and he
thought no more about it. On his way home to din
ner, while his mind was completely absorbed by an
important business operation, he had left the ring at
Mr.. Graham's. The impression that he had given
the ring to Philip, and directed him to carry it to
Jones. Low & Balls was fastened upon his mind. He
the fact of calling him, and his inten-
ton became a reality.
When thus cornered, he amused the judge with
several other instances of Observation-Disclosures of which
he had been guilty, in this manner explaining the
gross mistake he had made.
1 must do him the justice to say that he made
Philip ample amends in the shape of a hundred dol
lar bill for the trouble he had caused him but |
believe that Mr.. Carmen hated me to the day of his