The Bloomfield times. [volume] (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1867-187?, 1872-03-26

bounded several inches from the floor, ut
tered a wild shrek, and then stood pale
and trembling as if in the presence Of a
ghost from the grave. AL now, could
perceive that that there must be some mys-
terous connection between the two and the
scene assumed the profound interest of a
genuine romance. The stranger addressed
the court in accents as sonorous as the tone
of an organ" May it please your honor, l
will defend the legal tights of the lady"
What ~ exclaimed the astonished
judge, care you licensed attorneys"
"The question is immateral and irrele-
vant," replied the stranger with sneer,
"as your statute entities any person to act
as counsel at the request of party"
I" But does the prisoner request it ?" asked
the judge.
"Let her speak for herself said the
stranger.
81 do" was her answer, as a long-dawn
sigh escaped that seemed to rend her very
beart-strings.
"What is your name, as it must be
placed on the record ?" interrogated the
judge.
civilian Denton" said the stranger.
The case Immediately progressed. We
will briefly epitomise the substance of the
evidence. About twelve months previously
the defendant had arrived in the town,
and opened an establishment of millinery.
Residing in small room back of her shop
and all alone, she prepared the various ar
ticles of her trade with unwearied toll and
consummate taste. Her habits were Sc
cluded, modest, and retiring; and hence
she might have hoped to escape notoriety,
but for the perilous gift Of that extraordi-
nary beauty, which too often, and to the
poor and friendless, proves curse. She
was soon sought after by those gay fret flies
of fashion, the business of whose life is
everywhere seduction and ruin. But the
beautiful stranger rejected them all alike
with unutterable scorn and loathing.
Among the disappointed admirers was
one of character from which the fair mil
liner had everything to fear. Hiram Shore
belonged to family at once opulent, influ-
ential, and disappointed. He was himself
licentious, brave, and revengcful, and a
duelist of established and terrible fame. 1t
was generally known that he had made ad-
vances to win the favor of the lovely Emma
and had shared the fate of all her other
woers-a dsdainful repulse.
| n;,a o,nlooI> ~, ~ ,,;,.I,4 1000
the people of Hitchcock were startled by
loud scream, as of some one in mortal ter
ror; while following that with hardly an
interval, came successive reports of fire.
arms-one, two, three-a dozen deafening
explosions. They flew to the shop of the
milliner, whence the sounds emanated,
and pushed back the unfastened door. A
dreadful scene was presented. There she
stood in the centre of the room, with q
revolver in each hand, every barrel dis
charged, her features pale, her eyes flash
ing wildly, and her lips parted with an
awful smile And there at her feet, well
tering in his warm blood, his bosom liter
ally riddled with shot, lay the all-dreaded
duelist, Hiram Shore, gasping in the last
agony. He articulated but single SEN
tence-"Tell my mother that l am dead
and gone to h-ll % and instantly expired.
"In Gods name, who did this?' ex-
claimed the appalled, spectators.
d" / did it ~ said the beautiful milliner,
in her sweet, silvery accents. 81 did it to
save my honor ~
Such is a brief abstract of the essential
circumstances, developed in the examina-
tion of witnesses. The testimony closed
and the pleadings began.
First of ALL Fowler, Pike, and Ashley,
(all famous lawyers at that time in the
south-west) spoke in succession for the
prosecution. They about equally partition
ed their eloquence betwixt the prisoner and
her advocate, covering the latter with such
sarcastic wit, raillery, and ridicule as made
it a doubt whether he or his client was the
party then on trial AS to Denton, howev-
er, he seemed to pay not the slightest at
tention to his opponents, but remained mo.
tionless, with his forehead bowed on his
hands, like one buried in deep thought Oh
in slumber.
When his time came, however, he sud
denly sprang to his feet, crossed the bar,
and took position almost touching the
foreman of the jury, he then commenced
in whisper, but in whisper so wild, pc
culiar, and indescribably distinct as to fill
the hall from floor to galleries.
At the outset he dealt in pure logic, ana.
lying and combining the proven facts, till