Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1864-10-05

/ ordered home, and bidding me wish him
/ JOY upon his prospect of again beholding
his darling constant Laura
Well, six months passed, and | heard
no more of Charley; nor indeed had |
much time to think about him, for poor
old Wardle's illness ended in hi, death,
| and | was appointed, Professionally, man
aging clerk IN his stead The assizes were
on. and we had several heavy cases for
trial in different parts Of the country
One of these, the great cause of Stopperty
against Moss was entered for trial at
ork; and thither ! went by the mail
for there were no railways in those days
with my briefs and witnesses. and re
tanned therefor Lord Campbell as my
leading counsel.
York is a charming old city, in which a
stranger can spend day or two very
pleasantly in looking about him. But
clerk il charge of law suit, Master Jack,
must not 20 looking about him, or let his
witnesses out Of HE sight; for he never
knows, from one hour to another, when
his cause may be called on 1t may stand
half a dozen down on the list but if you
presume on this tc 90 out for q walk, or a
row on the river, the others are sure to
break down, or be referred, or what not
and pretty mess you will be in then. 1t
may renaIl the very next for trial, and
you may be told that the one before it
cannot last two hours; and for all that it
may drag on for days Such a case
was that which stopped the way"
before Stopperty against Moss. a dozen
times it threatened to break down, and
dozen and one times it got on its weary
legs again. 1t was dull affair; and, for
want of some thing better to do-as dared
not leave the castle-I strolled into the
crown court, where Gas you must know,
Miss Nary the prisoners were tried
There sat the Judge In his scarlet robes,
with the high Sheriff of the county by his
side, and before him three prisoners stand
in the dock upon their trial for burglary.
| began To chat with some young barrls
ters whom ! knew, and was paying no
attention to the proceedings, when all Of
q sudden | heard the name of Lord Thorn
bury mentioned by the counsel who was
conducting the prosecution. pricked up
my ears, and began to listen to the case.
1t appeared that day or two before the
burglary, Lord Thurnbury had returned
with his bride from their continental tour,
and had taken up his abode at his country
seat; that, in anticipation of the festivities
which were TO follow, the whole of his
grand family plate and her ladyships
Jewels had been brought down from his
London bar kers that one of the prisoners
was discarded servant, who knew where
those valuables were kept; that the house
had been broken into, and the whole Of
the silver swept away and that another
of the accused was caught in the act of
climbing down from the roof of an out
house CLOSE to the place where an entrance
L / Y n
fellow, (who was indicted by the name Of
Richard Thompson) seemed to be Gear
enough; that against his companions rest
ed upon circumstantial evidence One of
them, named Arnold, had been seen in
company with Thompson the day before
the burglary, prowling about the park
close TO the house, in a suspicious manner
and the landlord of the inn at which
| Thompson had been staying swore that a
| man-whom he afterwards recognized as
| Arnold-called for the prisoner Thompson
! the following night, and that they walked
| ont together in the direction of Lord
/ Thornbury' park The name of the dis
! carded servant was OHara. and he had
/ been taken into custody in the house of a
noted receiver Of stolen goods in Sheffield,
where. concealed under some ashes in the
! back kitchen was found mass of silver
plate broken up and partially melted, but
/ not sufficiently so to obliterate the marks
/ whereby ii was identified as Lord Thorn
! bury property The wretched old fence
was indicted also; but he pleaded guilty,
and was called as a witness against his
I client Arnold and 0Hara were defend
! ed bv counsel, and every dodge that expe-
rience and ingenuity could devise was
made use of to get them off, and to throw
all the blame on Thompson. There was
a public path through the park, where the
former had been seen talking with Thomp
son: perhaps he had merely asked him his
wav. If he had accompanied him to the
hall and assisted in the burglary, how
came it that he (the prisoner Arnold hao
not also been taken? As for . Hara, he
poor innocent, was the victim OF the oio
jew fence" No one had seen him bring
the stolen plate to Sheffield. Some one
else might have taken it to the Jew house
and there was nothing to show that . Ha
ra knew the bad character Of that mansion
into which-so suggested his defender
he might have been inveigled; and so fortf
and so on, but the jury were not to b.
| humbugged; and after short discussion
: found Arnold and O'Hara guilty, The.
had no doubt about Thompson; had h
, not been actually caught in the act? Thi
prisoner had no counsel had asked n
: question of any of the witnesses agains
) him and upon being asked if he wishe'
to say anything in his defence. merel,
| shook his head What will he get !?
, asked young barrister in front of me
"Oh, ten years at least, said the frien,
: he addressed its bad case; but wha
? good looking fellow the scoundrel IS
. The dock at \ ork Castle is panneled L
: at the sides, and raised a good heigh
: from the ground l was standing in
sort of gangway there is to the right of II
5 and could only see the back of the pris
j oners heads; so, when | heard the abov
) remark, began to press forward, out c
: curiosity to see what sort of a looking ma
T this Richard Thompson was; but my at
tention was diverted bv a rustling of silki
t and the next moment Laura, Countess c
Thornburv. escorted by her noble spouse
| appeared on the bench, and was polltel
5 handed into a seat on the left Of the Judg
1 hv the high Sheriff Now, | think tha
i handsome. well dressed women are orna
! ments in nearly every scene; but L cannC
l. bear to see them in criminal court, an
y l.