Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1870-06-16

The Criminal Witness

1ll6 O11llulldl w 1ULGSS
In the spring of 1861 l was
called to jackson, Alabama, to- at
tend court, having been engaged
to defend young man, who had
been accused of robbing the mail
| arrived early in the morning anc
Immediately had long conference
with my client. The stolen mai
bags had been recovered, as vel
as letters, from which money had
been riHed. These letters were
given me for examination, and
returned them to the prosecuting
attorney. Having got through
my private preliminaries about
noon, and as the case would no,
come off before the next day,
went into court to see what wa:
gong on, bsrfsstF ed 5afa5haM ~
The first case that came up was
one of theft, and the prisoner was
a young girl not more than seven,
teen years of age, named. Eliza
beth Madworth. She was very
pretty, and bore that mild, limo
cent look which you seldom find in
culprit. She had been weeping
profusely, but as she found SO
many eyes upon her, she became
too frightened to weep more. h.
The complaint against her set
forth that she had stolen a hun.
died dollars from Mrs, Naseby,
and as the case went on, l found
that Mrs. Naseby, wealthy wild
ow living in the town, was t he
girls mistress. The poor girl de-
clared her innocence in the wild
est terms; but circumstances were
hard against her. A hundred
dollars in bank notes had been
stolen from her mistress's room,
and she was the only one that haG
access there.
At this, juncture, when the
mistress was upon the stand, a
young man caught me by the arm.
He was a fine looking young man,
and big tears stood in his eyes
"They tell me you are a good
lawyer" he whispered.
81 am a lawyer" 1 answered.
"Then do save her. You GER
tainly can do it, for she is inno-
cent" rs-
SIS she your sister?" 2
"No, sir" he added; "but--but
-" here he hesitated. - q
HAS she no eounsel?" asked.
"None that's good for anything,
nobody that'll do anything for her.
Oh, save herl and I'll give you
all I've got-I cannot give you
much, but | can raise something"
I reflected a moment. / cast
my eyes toward the prisoner, and
she was at that moment looking
at me. She caught my eye, and
the volume Of humble entreaty |
read in her glance resolved me in
a moment. Re.,A ~ II .,
/ arose and went to the girl and
asked her if she wanted me to
defend her. She said yes. 1
then informed the court that / was
ready tO enter into the case, and
the murmur of satisfaction that
ran quickly through the room
told me where the sympathies. Of
the people were. l. asked for a
moments cessation, that ] might
speak with my client. I went
and sat down by her side and
asked her to state candidly the
case. She told me that she had
lived with Mrs. Naseby two years,
and had never had any trouble
before. About two weeks ago,
she said her mistress lost hun
dred dollars. zaI5eTssr7s 4
aShe missed il from her draw
er," the girl said to me, "and
asked me about it. / said | knew
nothing about it. That Nancy
Luther told Mrs. Naseby that she
ssw me take the money from the
drawer--that she watched me
through the key-hole. They went
to my trunk and found twenty
five dollars of the missing money
there. But, sir, / never took it,
and somebody must have put it
there.
81 don't know" said she, @who
could have done it but Nancy
She has never liked me because
she thought / was better treated
than her. She is cook. was
chambermaid." iaaa SO .sag sFa'i Z
She pointed Nancy Luther out
to me. She was a stout, bold
faced girl, somewhere about twen-
ty-fve years old, with a low fore
head, small gray eyes, pug nose,
and thick lips. / caught her
glance at once, as it rested upon