Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1873-08-07

but with no game. Later, the body of
Susan Lattimer was found in the wood,
not far from where the alteration had
taken place. She had been shot dead,
the whole of one side of the face and
head having been shocking1y torn by a
heavy piece of pigeon-shot, evidently
discharged with deliberate aim, and at
a very short distance. Some of the shot
was extracted, and exhibited to store
keeper in the village, who unhesitating-
ly declared that it was exactly such shot
as he had sold on the same Saturday to
Ashcroft.
In response to this Ashcroft could
only deny, in the most solemn manner,
that he had thought or offered harm of
any kind to the deceased. He admitted
the truth of the statement made by the
two girls !; and he admitted that he had
purchased the shot as the storekeeper
had said. His story was, that on that
Saturday afternoon he had gone into
the wood to shoot pigeons. He did not
know that Miss Lattimer had gone that
way. He met her Unexpectedly, and
foolishly allowed himself to give vent to
his feeling of indignation. For words
spoken on the occasion he hardly felt
himself responsible: In fact, he could
not remember what he did say. After
talking until they had both become ex-
hausted by intensity of feeling, and
Miss Lattimer had fallen to crying Bit
terly, he bade her farewell, and told her
he had troubled her for the last time.
She sat down upon log by the side of
the path, still crying, and asked him to
leave her. He obeyed her, and saw her
not again until he saw her dead. In e4-
planation of the empty barrels of his
gun, and no game, he said that he had
met Miss Lattimer before he had seen
any pigeons, and that after leaving he
had no heart to sport. He had dis
charged his piece into the empty air, as
he never allowed himself to deposit a
loaded gun in dwelling-hou
There is no need that should give
you the details of the trial. Suffice it
for me to say that I felt my reputation at
stake as Prosecuting Attorney. The State
was my client, and she demanded that 1
should succeed. Able lawyers were ar
rayed against me, with money and social
power to back them, and must over
come them in the combat, if could. I
marshaled my forces, and disposed
them in the best possible manner. /
threw my whole soul into the work, and
used every means possibly presented.
I took the connection of the prisoner
with the homicide as granted. Then I
drew picture of the murder, which
made the jury shudder and quake as
they sat /; and I demanded that outraged
Justice should be vindicated that
the community should be protected /;
that our homes, and our highways, and
our byways, should be safe to the inno-
cent ones whom we loved. I held the
prisoner up in colors so -frightful and
hideous that he tainted outright in his
box; and then this circumstance I
caught up and turned against him. I
fairly carried the jury by storm and
our sympathetic and good-hearted
Chief Justice had allowed all his sympa-
thies to be expended upon the distressed
and heart-broken parents and brothers
and sisters of the deceased. The coun-
sci for the prisoner were outhanked and
overpowercd, and they struggled hope
lessly. In the end verdict of murder
in the first degree was rendered, and
the prisoner was sentenced to be exc
cuted.
'I was jubilant and proud at the
close of the trial and both bench and
bar joined in complimenting me. Iwent
to my home, expecting my wife to con-
gratulate me warmly. She had been
present through most of the trial, and
had witnessed my triumph. But she
said not word. When 1 asked her if
she did not join with me in gratitude
for my success, she shook her head.
&c L am proud of my husbands legal
fame,' she said, 'but L cannot feel
grateful in the present instance. I
think, Edward, ,gou haze condemned an
innocent man
"The words struck me like bolt of
lightning only the words, but the
more than human feeling with which
they had been spoken. I recovered my
self, and laughed at the gentle woman
for her misplaced sympashy. I asked
her to look at the evidence.
8" Look at what evidence p she de-
manded. There are unseen evidences
as strong as those which are palpable to
sight and hearing. The heart feels
them, and the calm judgment indorses
them AS live, I do not believe Charles
Ashcroft ever knowingly or willingly
did harm to that dead girl. He
knows no more how she met her death
than do I.
sThe furry of conquest was over,
and in my own sanctuary sat down
and reflected 1 took up now the case
for the defendant, and went over the
whole business from beginning to end.
Shutting out the evidence directly i'm
plicating the prisoner, there was no hu-
man being who could have believed him
guilty. What, then, was this evidence
Did it directly connect him with the
killing? No. Only circumstantially
was he connected Herewith. Was it
possible that some one else could have
done the deed {? Aye, a thousand times.
Was it more probable that some one
else did it than that Ashcroft did it :?
Here was the rub. L had seen guilt in
many forms, and had seen innocence
accused. I had seen the guilty wretch
attempt to hide his guilt, and had heard
him deny it atoto. And here came in
the evidence which my wife experienced,
and which could feel, but which never
could be presented to a jury of ordinary
men with moving power. In the bear
ing of the prisoner there had not been
one shadow of that brazen impudence
which is sure to crop out somewhere, or
somehow, in the demeanor of guilt long
struggling to affect innocence. Nor had
he displayed the despair of a hopelessly
entrapped criminal. On the contrary,
he had presented, as I could calmly re-
L,