The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1868-02-21

would come round right tomorrow and
that there was nothing in the world t,
fret about.
Thus out ofmy home to the main road
where the cab was waiting, and then
inside the cab with the police, and rat
tling towards q city statiOn-house. re-
member that during my progress a few
questions were put to me concerning the
Ncssengers and Mrs. Wiltshire, which
/ could not answer, knowing nothing
OF the former and but little of the latter
questions which were, | have no doubt
IN the way of business, and i'm the hope
OF directly or Indirectly helping the Of
hcels still further in their quest. They
seemed Il little surprised that ! had been
80 long IN one employment, and were
pPg-zzled al the position OF my brother.
The chief detective said at last -
You'll do, J think. It's awkward
about the cupboard, but stick to the
truth Yo've only cot. y he said. having
his hand impressivclv upon my ann.
70 stick TO the truth, Blackwell"
Which had been, I hope. n habit Of
mine before the advice of my custodian
was offered me-
Arrived at the station-housc. | was
SHOWN into a room full of policemen.
from whom ] was shut of BIZ bar,
whilst the property was spread oft on a
table, and carefully examined. Here 7
was focused by every policeman who
came INTO the place, and who seemed Ca
my Ideas to be trying to persuade HIM
sell that he had seen me somewhere, and
by whom | felt III least that ! should be-
eternally remembered 1t was with Am
Increased throbbing at nay hear that |
thought Indignantly how | was TO Toe
known To the police from that night
forth, ana To be ever associated in their
minds rs a man connected with what
they would call q City job. should
get oil in the morning, | was sure all
would be very clear i'm my favor then
bat the stain would remain, and the rem
lniscence be forever afterwards an an
pleasant one.
My name and address were taken
down, and not till the order was given
to remove me did / feel even quite sure
that | should be locked up for the night
L knew nothing Of police rules, and be-
heNed THAT the inspector would have the
power to dismiss the charge-an idea
which, ! dare say, never entered the
head Of that official.
That night in the statiOn-house is,
perhaps the most memorable of all the
weary hcart-depressing nights that fol-
lowed It IL was so fresh upon me, so
sudden so acute; and strange. that even
now il seems like a bad dream from
which haveonly justawakened. Look
ing back upOn it, hardly realize il ~
the hard truth from which | suffered.
When the key was turned upon me.
found myself cropping in a dark cell, and
falling over "A slanting series of boards
which formed my couch there. The
policeman who had locked Inc in look
ed through trap in the door at me. and
asked me what | was making that noise
for
" should like a light for minute
| answered.
What for?n was the rejoinder
." should like to see where | am
whether this place is Clean
Oh, its all right answered the
man, il was well scrubbed this morn
ing; its all right, y he added again assur-
ingly, before he closed the trap oncl
more
Not quite so sure r. my informant that
* was au right, sat down cn my wood
en- bed to wonderful We're notall wrong,
and TO brood upon all the stories Of cir
cumstantial evidence that | had heard,
until the fact my own innocence shin
ing forth became = matter Ofgrave doubt
to me.
7 got up and paced the marrow limits
of my cell to walk of this last impress
sion. l thought Of my friends, my
brothers position, my good character,
ter, and became less respondent; and
when the turnkey passed me in two
slices of bread and butter and some cof-
fee for my supper, was full of hope
q nm r.. hf lff1-
business.
Finally | tried TO sleep, and failed
miserably i'm the attempt; my mind
was TOO disturbed nay bed was too hard.
The window Of my cell had bars before
it, bat no glass % shut out the air fr0lo
the ward into which it looked. ana as
the night grew late the cold wind seem
ed TO creep III with greater Intensity,
and TO freeze me as lay there
j was a long, long night, 70 which Il
seemed no end would ever come. 4
night full 0fnoise, and with many breaks
TO vary its mOnOtOny, but still endless
and horrible. Feet shulied 10 ana fro in
the corridor without, men walked with
heavy boots across the yard, the white
faces OF those more curious or Watchtul
stared in through the window, and were
pressed against the bars to look more in
tently at me; a woman shrieking and
in her drunkenness, was
brought in late and locked in n cell not
far from mine, whence she called down
frightful imprecations on the heads OF
her captors until she fell asleep, and
snored with an intensity that would
have been alone sufficient TO keep me
till the morning.
When that morning came | was very
grateful for the light that stole IN through
the window, and my spirits went up
few degrees. To my jailor who brought
me my breakfast-bread and butter and
coffee again. said, almost cheerfully-
This is the first night | have ever
spent in the station-house, and | think
il viii be the last
What, were you never locked up be-
fore ~ he said.
Never
You mean to say never?n he repeat
ed.
Yes, did mean to say never.
My assertion appeared to surprise him
very much his life had been spent in
locking and unlocking humankind,
and he could scarcely imagine a man or
woman who had gone scot-free for seven
years. He looked at me
for moment, and then
burst forth with
What, not even when you was
little boy?"
/ responded in the negative, but fear
he left me with grave doubts of my We
racity.
After breakfast ] was left TO myself
for awhile, and to suppress ali unneces-
sary detail, and to arrive at the more
important portion of my narrative, let
me state that at ten in the morning |
stood in the prisoners box at the Guild
hall police court, and found that the
brothers Messenger and two men whom
/ had never seen before, were ranged
along side of me-a grisly row of unfor-
tunates under suspicion, and on the ma
iority of whom the evidence weighed
heavily. l began to think then that
looked like one of the gang in that po-
sitiOn, and / have no doubt that the al
derman on the bench, the police and
around me, the witnesses for
the prosecution on my left (all heaped
together by the fireplace, l recollect),
the policeman at my side in the dock,
.he men who had arrested me, the re-
oorteIs at the table, and the representa-
ives of the outside public who had stray
lied into court to hear the case, all re-
garded me as very black sheep indeed
-one of those receivers of stolen pro-
Derty on whom the law could not be too
hard.