Litchfield enquirer., 1864-06-30

Ilc Was aS pale as uedtil, duu hiS Suhotiut intense. As the case now stood, could hay no hope. Whatever may have been the opin. ion of the court and the jury upon the rgh and justice of the thing, there could have beer but one opinion upon the law and fact. M, heart sank within me:
 Were the counsel for the appallsnt ready tc rest there case?
 held the will in my hand believed it tc be forgery. believed the only will whict Timothy Elliot ever made had been destroyed and that Ackers, in consideration of share in the spells, had from the old draft in his hands forged this instrument, counterfeiting even Jackson's signature so nicely that the simple old man could not disown it.. 1 was about to i give the instrument up, and my last faiut hope with it, when dim mark in one corner of the sheet caught my eye. It was stamp--an im- pression on the paper-not so large as the mark of fingers end, bat bent my head for a moment 10 call to mind something of the past.
 What is it ? asked Fred, who Lad noticed my emotion.
 l told him to wait. And then I arose and looked around the courtroom. Was my uncle here? Yes, saw him close by me. I asked Stephen Ackers night be called to the stand. The wretch saw that I was excited, and he trembed little when he started to answer the call, though he was firm enough when he gain cd the stand.
 Mr. Ackers,' said l. controlling myself as well as I possibly could. you made this will ?
 Timothy Elliot mqde it, he replied I merely wrote it down for him as he dictated.
 This will is dated,' said l, looking at its sign and seal October, eighteen hundred and twenty three. That is eighteen years ago this very month.
 Certainly replied Ackers, that is just when it was made.'
 And you swear that this is the identical instrument
 I do.'
 Aatl you swear that Timothy Elliot set his hand and seal upon this paper at the time herein mentioned
 T do,' answered the witness.
 looked him in the eye he must have read in that look something of my thoughts, for his countenance changed and his knees actually shook beneath him.
 I told him was done with him.
 Then asked that Ansel Forbes might be called to the stand.
 What dld I want of him And my uncle also was anxious to know why he was called upon, for he was well known, aHd stood as hlgn as me JQuge hlnSell.
 Mir. Forbes, said l, you are a manufactur- CT of paper?'
 He said he was.
 How long have you been engaged in that business
 He thought minute, and then replied:
 Il entered the business in 1881 so 1 have been in it just ten years
 Now. sir said l, handing him the instru- ,,.,4 ,,h;ob I halJ Iuill uo, toll uou tell the fury, when that paper was madeY
 He took it, and the moment his eye rested upon it he started. He gazed upon the cor ner, aud then, in bursting amazed tone, he cried:
 l MADE IT MYSELF!
 'When? when 7? demanded.
 It could not have been over nine years ago, for here is my mark-my name-upon 1t, as l alone have stamped paper in this country
 And he showed to the court and to the jury the mark which he detected. It was plain enough nova little oval impression with the name A. Forbes embossed within it, it was defaced and soied, but not obliterated.
 Stephen Ackers was trying to make his way from the court-l oom, but the deputy brought him back.
 Two wholesale dealers were summoned, and when they examined the paper, they at once recognized it as of Anse Forbes manufacture. They knew it-thero could be no question.
 Aud thus, almost miraculously, was the whole current of the affair changed. We gave the case in, and in very few minutes we had the verdict.
 Tha: evening Hattie hung about my neck and blessed and thanked me until fairly cri- ed. And Fred, when he tried to speak of what had passed, at once broke down under the weight of joy and gratitude that was upon him He was safe-his fortune was safe-and his wife and little ones were still blessed. Some asked ne how l happened to detect that little silent witness away up in the corner of that paper I answered them that my uncle gave me half dozen reams of that same kind of paper when he commenced making it, and l have been using it ever since, so that stamp was very familiar to me. The forger had se- lected for his wicked purpose sheet of re- spectacle age but it had not proved quite old enough to answer the date he had put upon it.
 Master John Staffer got off to sea again but Stephen Ackers found his way to the State Prison, where, for a term of years, he was for cibIy restrained from cheating his fellowmen. -------- --------