The sun., 1862-06-25
TIE NEW YORK SUN.
wKDNEYDAY MORNN6. JUNE ss. 1864.
The Phantom witness.


A. Anslish ssssv.
=. lwss On ny fret clrcuit-bcth the Gauss
liM and the criminal paper Of the Northampton
Assisas vsrs crowded with cases. I hsd two
OF thres breds OF no Rcat Import ance, for was
young at tle bar and yet ut this same North.
ampton Msizss was daily getting shadowy,
nervous, pale, and weak ! could not sleep
S ~ umss ! 0.sild not think. A I" case" sat
BY constant nightmare I had : criminal
cas- On hand. had bssn put on from day 70
day, On account Of tho length of time il vM SUP
pced u would occupy, but Il was coming on.
A fearful sense Of responsibility WA CONSTANT
y present 70 my imagination. had not YET
fown Gallon: 70 human suffering. could nos
then contemplate cflme, suffering, and retribu.
tion, with the merely critical eye of an srtiss In
law, and suffered accordingly.
young girl, almost . child-hss ags was
but III ftseD--Was to ts put upon her trial for
murder. Anna Deruicr Heritage vas oorn-
initted fos tral by the Northsm ptonshirs ma
gistrate, for the murder of John Adolphc Ssston,
~ Inians and hr own ssters con. l Wa re-
Day and night, at r,tal times, In the hour
uAt should have been those Il recreation. At
times when my Other dulss should have occu
pied me, pondercd over this case and road
and rc-resd tbs dispositions, and toiled mentally
till ] hogan % look like some wretch with an
undiscovered crime resting heavily upon his
heart, and who walked anti Lived In bodily fear
Of detection.
Could she be guiltyp had sccn hes. moro
than once, mild, gentle, loveable, fair yyfnu
girl. VINO did NOT appear TO have nerve enough
TO have crushed an offensive fly. But the
evidence
The evidence was swfu'iy conclu.i,. against
her. / condenss Il for tho reai-r. Before we
a m all Of
markable trial, We will glance over the record
exhibited by the youthful and engaging pri-
sOhcr.
There resided. on his property, Which compris-
I'd beautiful mansion and n manor ip the
county o Northamj<onshire, Sir Ralph Iferit-
age This gentleman had only one son, whose
irregularities had estrangti him from friends,
relations, and finally from his father But the
iathn had long fought agsinst the tact of son s
bad conduct he had been the last and most
10th to shut his heart against him and II was
not until a highway robbery, in which Richard
Heritage most unquestionably had u share, that
Sir Ralph WAS compelled 10 Danish from Lis
home the son to whom his heart clung.
Pity this poor ia,her-pty the man who has
earnered up his best affections in thankless
child.
And so Richard Heritage disappeared, and
only now and then came vague ruinors that be
was wandering about those South American
streets Nhl.h teem win nlventurcrs vi every
cline and of every hue.
And Sir Ralph felt that lie was gettin,, ol and
feeble his wife had been long since in the farni-
~ tomb oi the ileritaRes. lie was lonely man;
and il was with gush uf grateful tears tha, one
au,umnal evening, he read n letter that had
reached him from Cey Ion. 10 say that bis Young
est brother Alfred, who had many Ion, wears
ago sought that Island ms home, with sickly
wife, was no more aud the ch.llrcn-orphans.
IA "a LOW l.it
nearly ~, and were only waiting In the hope
that their uncle, Sir X ilph, would rive tb.r,
encouragement TO come "home." They called
England home" although they had been very
little children indeed when they had gone to
Ceylon with their sick mother and anxious
father.
iwelve years had elapsed, and father aud mo.
!ner were both dead. The eldest girl, Rachel,
had married for love, and he whom she low ri
died within eighteen months of their union.
Rachel then was young widow, with an infant
clinglng to her for help. Her sister Anna il
was who wrote to their uncle at his grand est.ts
In Northamptonshire, detailing all these events
and 1t was that letter which produced tho flood
Of tears we have mentioned from the old lone
knight.
Would these two sorrowing ones and the little
child he welcomed Would he open his heart to
them3 All, yes! The mere thought Of their
coming was new life to him. and he was secn to
smlle, for the first time in the memory Of some
Of his servants, on the day succeeding the receipt
Of Anna's letter from Ccylon.
That the answer to that letter was all that
could lie wished by the sisters, we may well
imagine. II sent them ample means to come to
England, and assured them oil a fatherly well
come at Heritage Hall.
The time sped on, and tho sisters, with the in
fant, reached England. They Travelled by post
from Liverpool TO NORTHAMPTON. aud but for the
accident Of a break-lown of tho post-chaise about
ten miles from Heritage Hall, would, or a Wild,
tempcstuous day in February, haye dined with
their uncl". Iut this VS. not Ia be.
On the CT - road that the pos,ilon was ad-
yised TO take, since it avoided very hllv dis
I'll I, the chaise encountered f,len trunk Of a
tree which, ia tho dim twill ,ht wa. not
Observed until too late; and then Il had so dislo-
Gated the machinery OF tic chaise, that it was
2 ~ ,iblo to proceed further with il, and the
y .wcre fin t'k' shelter for the ri, ,,ht at a
II hcs Inn unmrd The Whoatslcai."
" | re rain came down In torrents, and the wind
:. IL n tb~,l.h some mel. hhnrirv copses, ar II
,iA,-re hy It's ii-na. tone. uuh"irl Of e, lis to
,sEV unio.tu.a,e travellers tLcA bcnis sh.cl on
~ journey.
.3s4 9i Inu ocst room-l took the trouble to cx-
..l!lnc H. in the interest Of my cicnt-was shab-
| by IN tic extreme. II had two b~ls in il, Rni
there was down the IN. ldl' Of the room n s ling
| partition, which, on an omci srncy, would con-
| ye.i the apartment into two.
| Il was in'u his room. then, Mt ten o'clO,'. on
this wild spring evening, that The two si-tcr4,
| with the infant wcrc ushcrod. The rain dA 3hed
| against the two atticyi windows AZ il tholr de-
| eruction was the sole object Of the storm; anl
| tho wind stru Il The lirgc ,loping rout If ,c
| housc with such Eustv blows ,lat the t,s;cis
more than once believed th4t tome one mu,t ho
| af work in some mal fashion above thcir h ils.
The small candle that tho disappointed Ian
l I'd. 4 fNa Al. H.. D..