Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1871-03-15

Amongst the alleged culprits of various de-
| grees on trial recently at Lincoln, Mich, was
| Albert II, Gardiner, an old man of seventy-two
| years, who stood accused of having attempted
the murder of strong, sturdy, young fellow,
young and strong enough to have killed him
with blow. The complainant was very
| straightforward and pertinaclous in his story,
| however, and plainly wished to be signally re-
venged by the law. On the day of the assault,
| he said he was walking carelessly on the road
near his own house, when the prisoner, AK in
hand, suddenly sailed out upon him from be-
| hind tree, and, eXcaiming 'now have got
| you where | want you and will murder your
attacked him like maniac. He made what de-
| fence he could, and was finally able to escape
from his furious assailant, but not till after the
latter had felled him with the axe and repeated
| ly dumped upon him." The judge, jury and
| spectators, looking at the two, aud comparing
the vigorous frame of the young man with the
emaeiated, STOPPING figure of the old, could
scarcely believe such tale; but there was the
complainant with his head still bandaged, and
respectable physician testified that he had
scientifically dressed said head for scalp wound
which had unquestionably been inflicted by an
axe, OF which the accused did not deny owner
ship.
In the ensuing cross-eXamination, to be sure,
of these and other witnesses, it was ELECTED that
the cut or blow as revealed by the wound must
have come from behind, rather than from
above; and that after receiving the injury the
young fellow had gone on foot eleven miles to
obtain warrant for his aSSailants arrest before
seeking help from doctor; but still the fact of
the assault seemed established, and there was
much eagerness in the court to hear what de-
fence Gardiner could offer. Testimony for the
prosecution being all in, the old man came for
ward, leaning on his staff his white locks
bowed form, and trembling limbs, offering
stronger contrast than ever to the marked physi-
cal vigor of the young Hercules accusing him.
81 am not guilty, your honor and gentlemen of
the jury" he said, i'll a low, but firm and clear
voice. 81 have attempted no murder How
could |, old and infrm as am? Invent into the
war and fought for our country. When the
war was over found myself alone in the world
without home or family.
With what pay | had saved went into the
woods, built cabin with my own hands, and
with my own hands labored TO clear off and Sc
cure homestead for my last lonely days. This
young man and his father happened to take land
on both sides of my little piece and after failing
to buy me off, said that | should be driven
away. On the morning of this alleged assault,
while | was at work chopping away stump,
the young man came up and falsely claiming
my axe as his own, tried to take it by force
Pm an old man, gentlemen-a very old man.
but I've been q soldier and will fight for my lust
rights. In the struggle we fell to the ground
and the young man fell upon the AK, or against
the stump of the tree, don't know which; that
was the way he got his hurt, for | never struck
him" Here the old man lifted his eyes and
right hand, adding sOlemnly: "And this is
Gods truth" Then pulling up a leg of his pant.
aloons he laid bare the scar of an ugly gunshot
wound, where the tendon Achilles of his limb
had been severed by MIME ball, which had
gone crashing into the bones. "That wound"
said he, 81 received at Gettysburg. Just at the
close of the war my right shoulder was shattered
by shell, and it left mark as big as this young
mans head. Pve been a soldier, gentlemen, and
will fight for my just rights; but never struck
this young man, who only tells this story to
drive me away from all the home I've got in the
world. And, | solemnly swear this is Gods
truthP All the lawyers in the world could NOT
have devised such a defense as were those words
of palpable honesty, and those scars of an old
hero. They carried conviction to every heart on
the jury, and the abused veteran was at once
declared not guilty amid such cheers as he had
not heard since he and his comrades greeted the
coming of the victory at Gettysburg.