Litchfield enquirer., 1872-05-16

seemed 70 mS III Ter 1ilcttrIidbou, cOnCPn- trated. and combined! And now lost lost forever lost r The violence of his emotions ehoked his utterance; and deep ly and painfully affected, I hastened from his presence.
 Time sped as ever 6nwards, surely, si- lently; and justice, with her feet of lead, but hands of iron, closed gradually upon her quarry: Alfred Bourbon was arraign- ed before jury of his countrymen, to answer finally to the accusation of wilful murder preferred against him.
 The evidence, as given before the con- hitting magistrate, and the coroner's in- quisition, was repeated with some addi- ton of passionate expressions used by the prisoner indicative of adesire to be aveng- ed on the deceased The cross-examina- tlon by the counsel for the defence was able, but failed to shake the case for the prosecution. His own admission, that no one but himself had access to the recess where the poison was found, told fatally against him. When called upon to address the jury, he delivered himself of speech rather than 8 defence of an oratorical efusion instead of a vigorous, and, if possible, damaging commentary upon the evidence arrayed against him. 1t was a labored and in part eloquent, ex- position of the necessary fallibility of human judgement, illustrated by nnmer- ous examples of erroneous verdict. His peroration l iotted down at the time ;- linus my lord and gentlemen of the jury, IS 1t abundantly manifest, not only by these examples, but by the testimony which every man bears in his own breast, that God could not have willed, could not have commanded, his creatures to per formed pretended duty, which he vouch- safed them no power to perform right eously. Oh, be sure that if he had in tended, if he had commanded you to pro- nounce irreversible decfees upon your fel- bowman, quenehing that life which is his highest gift, he would have endowed you with gifts to perform that duty right ly Has he done SO? Ask not alone the pages dripping with innocent blood which have quoted, but your own hearts, Are you, according to the promise of the ser pent-tempter, gods, knowing good from evil? of such clear omniscience, that you can hurf an unprepared soul before the tribunal of it's Maker, in the full assur- ance that you nave rightly loosed the sill yer cord which he had measured, have justly broken the golden bowl which he had fashioned Oh, my lorl," he con- clnded, his eyes flashing with excitement, Sit is possible that the first announcement of the innocence of this crime, to which you will give credence, may be proclaim ed from the awful tribunal of him who alone can not err! How if he, whose eye is even now upon us, should then pro- claim, 'I, too, sat in judgment on the day when you presumed to doom your fellow worm and I saw that the murderer was not i'll the dock, but on the bench ? Oh, lnr.l thinL xzon If hat 1o pause ere you incur such fearful hazard for be assured, that for all these things God will also bring you to judgment He ceased, and sank back exhausted. his fervid Reclamation produced a consid- erabie impression upon the auditory but 1t soon disappeared before the calm, i'm pressive charge of the judge, who re-as- sured the startled jury, by reminding them that their duty was to honestly ex- ecute the law, not to. dispute about it's justice. For himself, he said, sustained by pure conscience, he was quite willing to incur the hazard hinted at by the pris- oner. After careful and luminous sum- ming up, the jury with very slight delib- eration, returned a verdict of Guilty As the word passed the lips of the fore man of the jury, a piercing shriek rang though the court. It proceeded from a tall figure in black, who with closely drawn veil, had sat motionless during the trial, just before the dock. It was the prisoners mother. The next instant she rose and throwing back her veil, wildly exclaimed, ''He Is innocent-i innocent, I tell ye! I alone"-
 ''Mother mother for the love of Heav- en be silent P shouted the prisoner with frantic vehemence, and stretching him. self over the front of the dock, as if to grasp and restrain her.
 ''Innocent tell you P continued the woman. 'I-I alone am the guilty per son It was l alone who perpertrated the deed He knew it not, suspected it not, till it was too late. Here" she add ed, drawing sheet of paper from her each circumstance detailed! P
 As she waived 1t over her head, 1t was snatched by her son, and, swift as light ming torn in shreds ''She is mad! Heed her not-believe her notp He st the same time shouted at the top of his voice, ''She IS distracted-mad Now, my lord, your sentence! Comei''
 The tumult and excitement in the court no language which I can employ would convey an adequate impression of. As soon as calm partially restored, Mrs Bour- don was taken into custody the prisoner was removed; and the court adjourned, of course without passing the sentence It was even as his mother said Subsequent investigation, aided by her confessions, amply proved that the fearful crime was conceived and perpetrated by her alone, in the frantic hope of securing for her idolized son the hand and fortune of Miss Armitage. She had often been present with him in his laboratory, and had thus become acquainted with the uses to which certain agents could be put She had purloined the key of the recess and he, unfortunately too late to prevent the perpetration of the crime, and had by mere accident discovered the abstraction of the poison. His subsequent declara- tions had been made for the determined purpose of saving his mothers life by the sacrifice of his own
 The wretched woman was not reserved to fall before justice of her country. The hand of God smote her ere the scaffold was prepared for her. She was smitten with frenzy, and died raving in the Me- tropolitan Lunatic Asylum. Alfred Bour- don, after heightened imprisonment, was liberated. He called on me by ap- 1 pointment, & few days previous to leaving | eAAAC CO6AeAy anu p4dCGu III HIS hands a small pocket-Bible, on the fiy-leaf of which was written one word-sssE Ellen !'
 His dim eye lighted up with something ofits old fire as he glanced at the characters; he then closed the book, placed it in his
 bosom, and waving me mute farewell saw he durst not trust himself to speak - hastily departed. never saw him more
 The democratic state committee have
 called convention on the 18th of June. A dispatch from Cincinnati reports
 Frank Blair as ''profane and confident
 about Mir. Greeley's nomination. It is
 his usual condition. s=- l MT. John R. G. Hassard,, of the New
 York Tribune, was married Thursday to
 Miss Isabel Hargous. Mr. Greeley was
 present at the ceremony.