Litchfield enquirer., 1872-02-22

was now endeayoring to force his way through the crowded and anxious audito- ry.-, ss<5t s7 Is l ssMy Lord, ]" said I, q have to request on the part of the prisoner that the per- s0B desir0us 0f adihi&tane may be heard. . tWhat has she to say Or-if material l witness, why have you not called her at 1 the proper time 2 replied his lordship with some irritation.
 | My lord, do not even now know her name; but in case involving the life of | the prisoner, it is imperative that no l chance be neglected"-
 'Let the woman pass into the witness box, interrupted the judge.
 l The order brought before our eyes a pale, stunted woman, of about fifty years of age, whose excited and by no means unintellectual features, and hurried, ear nest manner, seemed to betoken great and unusual feeling.
 'tAs I'm alive, Hornby's deformed housekeeper p whispered Symonds 'This poor devil knot will be unraveled yet. :"
 The woman, whose countenance and de meanor, as she gave her evidence, exhib- l deposed to the following effect:
 "Her name was Mary NJ 'Grath, and she was the daughter of Irish parents, but born and brought up in England. She had been Mir. Hornby's kousekeeper, and remembered we'll the 4th of February last, when Mir. Burton, the prisoner, called st 1 the house. Witness was dusting in an 1 apartment close to her masters business 1 room, from which it was only separated l by thin wooden partition. The door was 1 partly open, and she could see as well as 1 hear what was going on without being seen herself. She heard the conversation 1 between the prisoner and her master: heard Mr. Hornby agree to sign the paper bill she ought to say-for two hundred and fifty pounds; saw him do it, and then deliver it folded up to Mr. Burton" 1 A shout of-execration burst from the auditory as these words were uttered, and every eye was turned to the spot where Hornby had been seated, He had disap- peared during the previous confusion.
 ''Silencel" exclaimed the judge sternly. 1 "Why, woman," he added, fshaye you never spoken of this before ?"
 Because. my lord, D replied the witness with downcast looks, and in low, broken voice-''because am sinful, wicked creature. When my master, the day after Mir. Burton had been taken up, discovered that knew his secret, he bribed me with money and great promises of more to si- lence. I had been nearly all nay life, gen. tlemea, poof and naiserahle, almost an outcast, and the temptation was too strong for me. He mistrusted me, Lowever-for my mind, he saw, was sore troubled-and he sent me of to London yesterday, to be out of the way till all was over. The coach stopped at Leeds, and, as it was heavy upon me, thought, especially as it was the blessed Easter time, that I would step to the chapel. His holy name be praised that did The scales seemed to fall from my eyes. and l saw clearer than had before the terrible wickedness I was committing. tald all to the priest. l and he has brought. me here to make what amends can for the sin and cruelty of which I have been guilty. There-there is all that is left of the wages of crime. 3 she added, throwing purse of money on the floor of the court; and the bursting in- to flood of tears, she exclaimed with passionate earnestness. s'for which may the Almighty of his infinite mercy pardon and absolye me p
 "Amen P responded the deep husky voice of the prisoner, snatched back, as it were, from the very verge of the grave to liberty and life, ''Amen, with all my soul !''
 The counsel for the crown cross-exsm- ined the witness, but his effort only brought out her evidence i'll, if possible, a still clearer and more trustworthy light. Not 2 th2ught of doubt was entertained by any person in the court, and the jury, with the alacrity of men relieved of a grievous burthen, and without troubling the judge to resume his interrupted charge, returned verdict of acquittal.
 The return of Burton to his home tigur- cd as ap nEatian in the Pool and Otley an- nals. The greetings which met him on all sides were boisterous and hearty, as En- glish greetings usually are; and it was with some difficulty the rustic constabula- " could muster suficcint force to save Hornby's domicile from sack and destruc- tion. All the wsndows were, however, smashed, and that the mob felt was some thigg at all events.
 Burton profted by the painful ordeal to which he had, primarily through his own thoughtleesaess, been exposed, and came in few years to be regarded as one of the most prosperous yeomen-farmers of Yorkshire. NIT. Frank Symonds' union with Elizabeth Burton was in due time solemnized; Mir. Wilberforce, the then PoPuia4 u1cAnUcI AOE tue AeSb 1slllluS, remember hearing, stood sponsor to their eldest born; and Mary NJ 'Grath passed the | remainder of her life in the service of the family her testimony had saved from dis grace and ruin.
 Mr. James Hornby disappeared from Yorkshire immediately after the trial, and, except through his business agents, was not again heard of till the catastrophe at the Brunswick Theatre, where he perished. He died penitent, after expressing to Mir. Frank Symonds, for whom he had sent, his deep sorrow for the evil deed he had planned, and, but for merciful interpo- sition, would have accomplished. As 2 proof of the sincerity of his repentance, he bequeathed the bulk of his property to Mrs. Symonds, the daughter of the man he had pursued with such savage and re- lentless hate !.