Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-08-07
"I had unused aloud at this point, and
NV wife had heard me-

"I had unused aloud at this point, and
my wife had heard me.
There are many ways she said,
with directness which showed that her
thoughts had been in company with my
own. Ashcroft left her sitting upon a
log, crying. When she got up to start
again for home she blundered along
almost blindly, thinking of nothing but
the betrayed lover she had sent from
her. There have been plenty of pigeons
in these woods, and others beside
Charles Ashcroft were in all probability
hunting there that Saturday afternoon.
Did you never hear of persons being
shot by sheer accident in such places
What more easy than for Susan Latti-
mer to have suddenly come into range
of a gun already aimed, with the finger
of its owner pressing the trigger p
But, L cried, startled at the
thought, had such an naccidentoccurred,
the man would have come forward and
owned it. .--s.=.e -A
"' 1t was not man it was boy
said my wife, and the catastrophe
frightened him out of his wits-a boy
who knows not the grades of homicide
who fears that the gallows would follow
revelation of the deed
cannot tell you, gentlemen, how
that thing worked upon my mind. I
came to the belief that my wife had
truly solved the problem and the more
I reflected, the more firmly became that
solution fixed in my faith. The time
for Ashcroft's execution was drawing
near. How could I save him There
was but one way. A new trial without
some new evidence was out of the ques-
hon. I must set him free. I could not
II L. /,
cell, aud came away morally certain
if she had the will and the courage to
help that man to break his bonds. She
flashed in the glory of her woman's
power like an inpatient soldier. I told
her I would set her on the track, but L
must not know how the work was done,
nor where the prisoner had gone. She
conprehended and agreed. L lent my
official influence to gain her access to
the jail, and she did the rest. She came
home one night radiant like a saint who
has had a glimpse of heaven. On the
following morning / was informed that
the condemned man had escaped. I
asked my wife no questions and she
offered no information.
Search was instituted, but no trace
of the fugitive could be found. The
not many days thereafter an honest
farmer, living near to the uncle whom
Susan Lattimer went to visit that Satur
day afternoon, came to me in great trib
ulation. His son, a boy of fourteen,
had confessed the shooting of Miss Lat
timer. I went over with tho father, and
saw the boy. I found him sick nigh
unto death, his life worried away by the
fearful secret which he had held gnaw
ing in his bosom. I promised him that
no harm should come to him, and he
frightened up. 1t was exactly as my
wife had suggested. The lad had seen
a pigeon upon a tree, and had crept into
clump of bushes on the opposite side
of the cart-path, in order that he might
raise his gun without frightening the
bird. He had cooked his piece and
taken aim, and his finger was pressing
the trigger when Miss Lattimer, with
her head bent down, came directly be-
fore the muzzle. She had come like
dark shadow between him and the bird,
and not until his piece had been dis
charged did he know who had thus sud
denly obstructed his sight. When he
had leaped out from his cover and seen
the fearful work he had done, he was
for a moment paralyZed with terror
that was awful. Soon the phantom of
MURDER appeared TO Ills appalled, SENSE,
and he ran away and hid And from
that time he suffered, until his secret
was so near killing him that he had to
let it out.
"I returned home and asked my wife
if she knew where Charles Ashcroft was.
She.said she knew. I told her what 1
had discovered, and bade her bring him
back. On the very next day Ashcroft
appeared and delivered himself up at the
jail.
&c The final result you can easily COM
prehend. At the new trial the boy was
able to attend, and Charles Ashcroft
was set at liberty with but little cere
mony, his character fully cleared from
even the appearance of guilt, and his
friends multiplied in number.
And so the life of an innocent,
high-minded man was saved. He would
have been surely hanged had he re-
manned in prison to the appointed day.
People said it was an interposition of
Providence. They little dreamed how
much of that precious Providence lay
in the subtle instincts and in the heart
of my wife nor did they suspect my
own official treason. But L never blamed
myself And the teachings of
that experience have served me well in
the later years. -..