Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1861-10-22

nau oeeu pTOhen Oh IN trying TO raise the
sash. The blade was recognized as belong.
ing to the prisoners knife. a maker Of
cutlery bad made the knife to order for
Almond only month previous and he
knew the blade at once and swore 20 il.
But this was not all. The fire had been
evidently set first 30 the shavings which
lay upon the stone floor, but piled up
against wooden partition. The floor was
damp, and some ofthe outer shaviDgs, even
were, net wholly burned up. But just at
the edge, where the ire commenced, lay a
piece of paper rolled up, and about half
burned, and from the manner in which it
| lay, was very evident that the fire had been
set with it. This piece oe rolled paper had
been iguited by match, number of
which were scattered around, and as soon
as it was on fire it had been laid upon the
| floor, with the burning end just in the
shasings. of course, these ashavings were
10 q blaze Instantly; but the paper torch
being upon the damp stones, bad not burn
ed wholly up.
And thi7 paper was found to be part Of
letter belonging to the prisoner "a let
ter which be had received from friend of
his land friend of mine) only week be-
| fore. That friend had to come forward and
/ swear that that piece of charej paper was a
/ part of a letter he had written to the pris-
oner, This friends name was Stephen
Grant. He was a young merchant and the
| letter had been written for the purpose of
inducing Ambold to reform. Stephen tried
hard to avoid testifying, for he know, as
did others, that the fire must have been set
with that identical paper; but he was sum,
moned, and be could not deny his own chi.
rography.
| ~
were willing to testify to the prisoners
| good qualities; but no one could swear that
he was not dissipated and degraded That
house had been to him indeed region in
! fernal. Its destruction cried out for his
bodily life; and its existence had long been
eating away his soul. Poor Charley had
before been sure OF his innocence but
Cow could only shake my head and pity
him.
Finally he was allowed to speak for him
self. lie said he was innocent of the crime
imputed to him. He said that he had
threatened to burn that house duwn-that
he had said about all that had been sworn
| to. And, furthermore, he was round the
house on the night of the fire. He was not
ten rods off when the flames burst forth,
and he was one 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 sus
pected of having set the fire. so he ran a.
way. lie also said that three hours before
the fire, he had been robbed in that house
His pockets had been robbed of everything
in them, and his pocket-bcok, 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
pursuude them to give him back his money
and papers-or at least to get what he
could. When he got there, he saw man
go in whom he did not wish to see, so he
hung around, waiting for him to depart -
lie was around by the back of the building
once-and that was an hour before the fire
broke out. He knew nothing nothing. =
He claSped his hands, and with his fearless
eyes raised toward Heaven, he called on
God to witness that be was innocent!
L have told you that knew him WE'LL
knew him so we'll that from that moment
| know him to be innocent | knew his
very SOUL knew how free and open it
was-ah, how sinfully so! | knew there
was no falsehsod in the story he told US.
"My boy is innocent! My boy is inno-
cent?
| heard the cry-and | saw an old wo-
man sink back into the arms of male
companion. 1t was his poor mother. Her
heart was we'll nigh broken. Yet l saw
that all this bad but little effect upon the
mass of spectators. The prisoners course
of dissipation; his many threats against the
} house and the very fact of his having been
robbed and abused there were heavy against
him.
The counsel for the prisoner made his
, speech, which was labored and hard. He
was foolish enough to intimate that if his
, client sDas around at the back of the house
more than once, he must have been intoxi-
) Gated. In short, his plea had b tier been
: left out. The evidence he could not shake
J some of il most absurd and ridiculous.
afterwards learned that MOulton Warren
engaged that lawyer for the youthful pris-
: oner! The government attorney made his
plea. 1t was plain, straightforward, and
I very conclusive.
: was fair and candid. He reviewed the ev.
idence carefully, and pointed out such a.
e bore heavily upon the case. He told us i
S there was lingering doubt in our mind,
! we must give the prisoner the benefit of it
!. But could plainly see that there was nj
d doubt in his mind.
It We-the jury-were conducted to on
!. room by an officer, and there locked up. a
;. silence of some minutes ensued. Moultor
: Warren was the first to speak.
i We'll" he said, II s'pose theirs no uee(
s of our bein' here great while. OF cours
d we all know that the prisoner must hav'
n set fire to the house ?"
There was something il the manner o
g that man as be said this which excited m,
u curiosity-I won't say it was suspicion ther
II only curiosity. He spoke with forcet
L effort at calmness which | at once preeeiv
o ed. The more look edat him the more
: became strongly nervous and uneasy, won.
d dered why he should be so anxious to ge
It rid of the case, and have Ambold convict
!. ed. / knew that he frequented that evi
It house, and that he had done much towar,
: tempting Charley to dissipation. / knew
is that he was in that house on the night OIL
which the prisoner was robbed for Char
It lev hak told me so when / visited him il
b his cell. had theG asked the youth if b
If was sure Warren was his friend. o, he wa
a sure eff it. lie should have hunted him u
= on the night of tho robbery only they toll
+! him Warren had gone.
# By-and-by, the foreman proposed tba
: we shoud each take up piece of pape
e and write down our opinion, and then com
is pare notes. / went to my hat which ha'
placed upon table with number of 9th
e ers, and took out sheet of paper. ha
IT GO. half way back to the table when
y found had made mistake. bad GO
l part of letter from another mans hat.
e was about to turn back, when the name Q
II the writer of the letter arrested my atten
d ton. l locked more closely. and read
'e Stephen Grant," Next caught this sen
J. tence
d "And now, dear Charles. if not for you
= own, yet for your mothers sake, let m
" hope you will do better"
e started as though a shot had strucl
me I held in nv hand the other half O