Litchfield enquirer., 1872-04-11

6!4ulnEs WOAO b14GSO assWhat was the reason she did not re- turn in the evening in question, to her | aunt's to supper as ususl?'' V < She did not know, except that she wished to get home. z
 Did she keep company with man of l the name of Pearce?"
 She had walked out with him oace Or twice. -TsseWhen was the last time?''
 She did not remember.
 'Did Pearee walk with her home on the night of the murder ?" '. Mot part of the way 2" ''Yes; part Of the way"
 "Did Pearce sometimes wear black, shiny hat ?"
 Moves she did not remember. ''Where was Pearce now?' ''She didn't know
 ''Had he disappeared since that Sunday evening9"
 ''She didn't know z.-. Glad she seen him since ?" sNo."
 ''Had Mir. Wilson ever threatened to | discharge her for insolence to Mrs. Arm strong?"
 'Yes; but she knew he was not in earnest"
 "Was not the clasp-knife that had been 1 found always left in the kitchen for culin- ary Rurposes?" thas time that Armstrong went away, she was sure."
 Mary Strugnell, you be false-sworn woman before God and mam!' interup- ted the male prisoner with great violence of manner.
 The outbreak of the prisoner was check ed and rebuked by the judge. and cross examination soon afterwards closed Had the counsel been allowed to follow up his advantage by an address to the jury, he would, I doubt not. spite of their preju- dices against the prisoners, have obtained an acquittal but as 1t was, after neu- tral sort of charge from the judge, by no means the ablest that then adorned the bench, the jurors, having deiberated for something more than half an hour return ed into court with 8 verdict of guilty against both prisoners, accompanying it, | however with a strong recommendation to mercy!
 Mercy P said the judge. 'What for |? On what ground ?" | The jurors stared at each other and at the judge: they had no reason to give The fact was, their conviction of the pris- oners guilt had been very much shaken | by the cross examination of the chief wit ness for the prosecution, and this recom- mendation was compromise which con- science made with doubt. I have known many such instances.
 The usual ridiculous formality of ask ing the wretched cenvicts what they had to urge why sentence should not be pass ed upon them was gone through; the judge, with unmoved feelings, put on the fatal cap; and then a new and startling l light burst upon the mysterious, bewil- dering affair
 ''Stop, my lord p exclaimed Armstrong with rough vehemence. ''Hear me speak! 1 I'll tell you about it; I will indeed, my lord. Quiet, Martha, tell ye It's ], my lord, that's guilty not the woman. God bless ye, my lord; not the wife! Doant hurt the wife, and I'se tell ye all about 1t. ed, of murder, but of robbery" l "John !-John p exclaimed the wife, clinging passionately to her husband, ''let | us die together p
 "Quiet, Martha, I tell ye! Yes, my lord, I'se tell ye all about 1t. I was gone away, wife and I, for more nor a week, to receive money for Mir. Wilson, on account of smuggled goods-that mon ey, my lord, as was found in the chest. l When we came home on that dreadful Sunday night, my lord, we went in the back way, and hearing noise, went up stairs, and found poor Wilson stone dead on the floor. I were dreadful skeared, and let drop the candle. I called to wife, and told her of it.. She screamed out and amaist tainted away. And then, my lord, all at once the devil shot into my head to keep the money I had brought; and knowing as the keys of the desk | where the mortgag writinge was kept was in the bedroom, I crept back, as the false hearted woman said, got the keys, and took the deed and then persuaded my wife, who had been trembling in the kitchen all the while, that we had better go out quiet again, as there was nobody In the house but us l had tried that wo- mans door-and we might perhaps be taken for the murderers And so we did: and that's downright, honest truth my lord. I'm rightly served but God bless | you, doant hurt the woman-my wife my lord, these thirty years. Five-and-twen- ty years ago come May, which shall nev- CT see, we buried our two children. Had they lived, might have been a better man but the place they left empty was soon filled up by love of cursed lucre, and that has brought me here. I deserve it !; but oh, mercy, my lord! mercy, good gen. tlemen Turning from the stony features of the judge to the jury. as if they could help hlm-"not for me, but the wife. She be as innocent of this as new born babe It's l !! scoundrell that I be, that has brought thee, Martha, to this shameful pass y The rugged man snatched his ife-aompanion to his breast with passion ate emotion, and tears of remorse and ag- ony streamed down his rough cheeks.
 Twas deeply lscted, and felt that the man had uttered the whole truth It was evidently one of those cases in which a person liable to suspicion damages his own course by resorting to trick. No doubt, by this act of theft, Armstrong had been driven to an expedient which would not have been adopted by 8 person per- fectly innocent. And thus, from one thing to another, the charge of murder had been fixed upon him and his hapless wife. When his confession had been ut tered, I felt species of self accusation in having contributed to his destruction, and gladly would I have undone the whole days proceedings. The judge. on VAAO NOAAs4eAAyS W0O 4OADC uAO1obuIOCus Viewing the harangue of Armstrong as a mere tissue of falsehood, he cool1y pro- nounced sentenced of death on the pris- oners. They were to be hanged on Mon- day. This was Friday.
 "A bad job P whisperedthe counsel for the defence as he passed me. That wit ness of yours, the woman StrugneIl, is the real culprit. 54 a
 I tasted no dinner that day was sick at heart; for I felt as if the blood of two of my fellow creatures was on my hands. In the evening I sallied forth to the iudge's lodgings. He listened to all I had to say; but was quite imperturbable. The obsti- nate old man was satisfied that the sen l tence was as it should be-. I returned to my inn in fever of dispair Without the approval of the judge, I knew, that an 1 application to the Secretary of State was futile. There was not even time to send