The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-06-24

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few moments, he caught one Of my
hands in his own, and cried out in
eager tones. gi ~
s.Oh, sir, I have not suffered this
in memory of any crime; for, sas true
as there is a God in Heaven, Ineyer
did hahn to Laural III would die for
her now; and I suffer becauseI I have
lost her! Oh, save me, if you can.
not from death-no, no! for j would
rather die than ive-but save me
from this horrible suspicionl L did
not kill her-I did not harm herl I
never SO much as touched hair Of
her head with cruel thought!'
i; ".Who could have killed her?" I
asked.a "You do not think she killed
herself?n &. IL 4. 81. (, III ~.
"No," he replied, quickly, his eyes
| flashing, and his fingers tearing into
the bosom of his shirt. ''I think
Daniel Severance killed her. I left her
by the pond-left her alive and we'll
and presently afterwards / saw that
bad man come out of the bushes, and
she took his arm, and they walked
away by the edge of the water"
CartRright's words and manner
had o. powerful effect upon me.
Under ordinary circumstances, I
should have said that he was speak
ing the truth; but there was such
strong evidence to be disposed of
before 1 could see my way clear to
believe him now. I could not help
sympathizing with him; and I was
willing to believe if he had done the
homicide, he had done it under q
state of mind which would give good
grounds for setting up defence of
insanity. But when I spoke to him
of this, he was panied beyond mea-
sure, and refused to listen to the
proposition for @ moment.
I then proceeded to detail to him
the circumstances which would be
brought up in evidence.
"First, "said I, sit will be sworn
to by several reliable witnesses, that
you have. at various times, been
heard to threaten Laura Downing
with dire personal injury, if you saw
her again in the company of Daniel
Severance" .71
'That is true" replied the prison.
er; II only did it to frighten her.
And meant to frighten her for her
good, for I did not believe that
Daniel Severance was an honest
man."
cit will also be sworn that you
once exhibited to Miss Downing q
pistol, at the same time telling her
that you had bought it on purpose
to shoot her with"
Cartwright did not deny it; he said
that che never meant her harm-he
only meant to frighten her away from
O bad man." -.
sit will furthermore be given in
evidence" I continued, "that on the
evening of Miss Downing's murder,
you followed her out to the point,
where you again threatened her."
eyes" he replied. 'I knew she
was going to meet with Daniel
Severance.
'You were seen to have pistol in
your hand on that occasion, and you
were heard to take an oath that you
would shoot her, if she would not re-
turn with you. A Mr. Nichols boy,
who was driving home his COWS,
heard you make that fearful threat"
And even this the prisoner did not
deny. He only said that he was still
trying to frighten Laura into obe-
dience to his wishes.
"But," said I, ''the pistol which
was found by the dead girls side has
been recognized as your own."
e"That may be-" replied Cart
wright, for when [ found that Laura
spurned me, and would not listen,
sank upon my knees and prayed to
her. 1 dropped my pistol upon the
sand at that time, and know did
not pick it up again. She turned
and left me upon my knees, and there
[ remained until I saw Severance Join
her. They disappeared together, and
then forlorn and broken hearted,
crawled home, and people thought,
because they found me in such
itorturing agony. that there was
blood upon my hands. But, before
God, my hands are clean. Daniel
Severance must have found my
pistol; and it was he that killed
Laura!'
Such was the substance of all that
I could gain from my client; and
must say that I really thought him