The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1873-11-20

NELSON'S IMFOttEt
is yours TO say if it be inpotent to vnd
cate Itself. he witnesses, upon whom nputatons
have uniustly been cast, are OF the highest ipte-
gtnce and character They are uncontradicted and
On the other hand We have the pris-
oner's statement uncorroborated and started with
an acknowledged lie about the mythical Greene.
He lies because the truth will not him. W hat
confidence, then i to be placed in his statements:
Let them have all the weight they entitled to,
but let Them not outweigh the testimony of disinter
eted witnesses aud OF facts. He stands indicted for
the highest CRIME known TO the law. In it are two
propositions-lst, was the woman murdered? I'd,
was IL done by the prisoner: The is as clear as
the other. wnola family brutally murdered
in their suInbers, father and mother, husband and
wife, and their mangled bodies found covered all
over with tine deep damnation of their taking off,"
Is there any wonder that the people there felt deep
interest to discover the criminal? And not their
moderation astonishing? They obeyed the law and
maintained order.
wa the perpetratorf Consider the circumstances,
the surroundings, the facts. There was n motive,
without which no crime is committed. What was
1t: Thunder, gain malice and revenge the usual
motives? There was no plumber here for robber
Murder Is not done for nothing Ii was done for
malice or revenge. No straggler had such motive
and that there was such motive is unquestoned
II y stranger did it, why did he seek to burn the
bodies, when fire would bring the whole neighbor-
hood 10 tn" spot? Something demanded conceal
inent OF tue bodies, and hence the burning. The
torch was to conceal the work Of the axe. Did Il
stranger hnd that axe in the darkness in strange
place! There is upon il tell tale drop Of tallow
that tells candle used. 4 candle was found in
the crip--did stranger bring that-when 1t Is iden
titled As the one the elder Mr.. Gordon used. Could
u stranger find shat also: Another circumstance
that 1 am not permitted By the Court to comment
upon tthe dog All that belongs TO the crime be
longs to the premises. Was the criminal Ward?
Every acquits him, and suspicion rests on
him The only other Is John True Gordon,
After alarm, bodies rescued and fire put out he WAS
arrested by unanimous voice of the neighbors.
Every felt that it he, and in all the long
months since no one else has been suspected.
WHAT is the evidence? There was first motive,
which is always present in crimes. There was ill
will and enmity, long brooded over, threats to kill,
towards his brother And in regard to the letters,
he said II think Almons wife did it, and If were
certain could Kill her" Sunday night he announced
matter OF the saw, and the facts show enmity.
he called Alnon "a damned whelp," and. said he
would remember him Then there is the property
matter Almon declined to live there unless he had
q deed OF the farm. Inbeknown to him deed was
given TO Almon. He knew his father and Almon
had gone TO Belfast, and he must have suspected II
not known the fact when he sent away. He
told Mrs. Toward, ct Bangor, that his parents had
used him Ill, and that he had been driven almost
cra3y Al harmon he talked OF the property and
sad perhaps their plans will not all succeed yet"
he complained OF wrong that he held TO be still
greaferthat OF the anonymous letters which he be,
not speak together Why did he on coming home
n 10 al night not get into the house Instead Of sleep
ing In the she'd loft and after he said he going
to Bangor? God only knows what purpose was in
his heart. They talked OF the roadbis only because
compelled 10. And the awful threat uttered TO the
yonng man 'AlnlOns life mine is DAMNED short
in this world, IS strong evidence Of his hatred of
AlmGn.
His ene.nity TO Aiulon was a nothing compared to
his feeling towards Almon's wife lie could possibly
have borne the loss Of property although it drove
him almost CRAZY, but hot the letters He did not,
Oh the stand, answer he question Did YOU have any
difficulty with Ahnon. wift;"-hut said he had no
3CJfd$ VITA her. He is testified TO have been not
QuarielSotne man, and he not 4 close, silent
man, nursing hi> wrath he did not break into
qnarrel7 buy be bidod his tme-ihe quality of dan
pilf1S.
tAc letters pronounced such mind can be imagined
He told Mrs. Toward If he found out for certain The
anthnr OF those letters be could take her life and at
forwards O!d Gates he had found out it Emma.
On the stand he denies none OF these threats. All
the SUNDAY before the murder he had nothing to do
with the family, but wandered about the place. He
neither ate talked sat with the family, Slight
motives influence some characters to atrocious
crimes Miss Edwards testities that on Tuesday She
told him Not to come again. He had lost her and
lost me tArni-tht two made one cause to spur him
10 revenge. Was not this q motive for such mind
He told Mrs. Toward you may hear from me again
IN Two weeks'-and in just TWO weeks occurred the
murders
have spoken of the surroundings Of the murder
and the theory that stranger did it. have given
yon motives on the part OF the accused. 1t is hard
TO oeheYe thai any one wearing the human form
could have done itbut that II done there be
no dispute And every circumstance points to the
prisoner III the bar. When he had been discarded
all his acts point in regular order to this conclusion
They say tina, the brothers good terms, ami
that they rode 10 the depot together Joseph is here
an attempt TO weaken the testimony of Elisha Cor
don He had motive tasify, for he is related to
the prisoner. And how directly be went to the threat
against AlmoN, with nothing leading TO it, though
II we-led up from heart full OF its deadly hatred
And in his testimony the prisoner does not derry the
tnroat-but his silence admits il, Elisha GoFtions
testimony IL not even COntrAdicteG
On Sunday the prisoner WAS breeding over his
WrongS-that night he meets Gates and wife, and
alluded to the lettcrs-they bring word of hope
from Jackson why did he ask the boy Ira to sleep
with him. tie has never done so, Anna lestiies
and 90 does Ward. lie did not want TO murder the
boy. Why WAS not the crime done on Saturday
night, when ard was away? He wanted 10 divide
the responsibility to do the deed secretly, conceal 1t
by ire, rescue the children up stairs and be The
heard the children cry. The family all there
that night, Ward saw John in his room he went
TO bed. Anna and the boy retired The family went
20 their room, and John alone was lc{t. You have
heard Wards sccount of the alarm He called to
John twice ~ he went through his room, and got
no reply When he retreated from the burning
room, be saw the axe and was filed with an unde.
lined terror and lied. As he Went John called him
back ITO help" and he him standing h the
door. 1t was not a minute, or half minute after
he came down. John denies ii, and who do you be-
ieYe: 1t Is al lmporthut point il settles this ques
ton. Defence say7 Ward the first up-but If
John met him at the front door it cannot be so. We
are looking for facts, and is 1t fact that John WAS
there? We have his own confession that he did
call Ward back, q confession made in IL minutes
atler his arrest 1t il the statement Of BesSey. Phil
brick and Robert T. Rich. that lie stated. TO
tins lAcl We have these witnesses, and Ward, aud
the prisoners confession 1t must be that John
Down before Ward. If he wasn't he was walked bv
Anna dressed himself went to Anna's room, talked
with her, took up Eddy told Anna to follow, went
down stairs, put the children down, went 10 the
burning bedroom, returned, got dress for Anna,
got qMiti then ran out and shouted fire. Did he
have tilne TO do al this, while Ward was coming
around the house? II il not possible. He up
and down stairs before Ward. II oyerthrows the
whole theory of the defence. and it melts like the
baseless fabric OF dream. He must have been up
Ten MN stea IN either case, When ne met y ard and
Peter Harmon hat was he doing When they
all got mere be wa3 recognized master OF the
house and they obeyed his directions in clearing the
house. They went for more help at his suggestion.
And when the bodies We're rescued wher, was John :?
John \. Harmon him at the front door aft er
Asbury had asked him to help rescue the bodies,
and had actually got two Of them out. Is that the
conduct Of an innocent man? And when the elder
Harmon again went around the house, John at
the puInp-aways doing something else than going
near the bed room and the bodies Therei is another
fAtaI admission, when he told Mrs Bumps that he
wasn't at home when tho fire hrok" out. He hadn't
had time 10 fix up his story Two hours afterwards
he refused to talk.
At tins point, half past T. the tourt adjourned to
O'Clock il the afternoon.
AFTERNOON.
Resuming, Gen. Plaisted said he had given a por-
ton OF the facts the motives on the part of John
the conduct OF ard and the prisoner and the testi
Mony OF Inc Witnesses. 1t is claimed that John
acted as others might have acted at a FIRE 1t is
asked why Ward did not tell the HArmons of the
bodies IN the fire. There is reason enough He came
only near enough to tell them help was wanted and
hurried back. When he got back and help came he
aided IN bringing out the bodies, But John never
Went near them from first last The conduct of
Ashbury has even been compared 10 that of John
he who was the hero OF the occasion. 1t was true
as to compare ii with Wards. Little Anna says she
went TO that door, looked in and SAW the flames came
out and shut the door, Ward found it shut and left
II open Then did not Ward go there after Anna
She told Rand and Phllbrick in the road TINT her
uncle Alrnon and her aunt Emma were all burned
up IL she v rs not there how did she know it? Yet
three Witnesses testify that she told them So If Won
beeFt this, il is decisive Of the issue There is nm
other Tact III Annals testimony She says John went
10 that bedroom, for she saw him go in and come
back, and heard him open and shut the doors II
you believe she herself looked in you must also be
lleve tins. Thea he must have looked in while the
nre was IN little spots on the bed, came back and
gone to strapping his trunk And later when he had
hlmsef, in answer to questions about the family
SAID th"y We're burning up, he did not make sin gle
httem 10 get the bodies out. 1t Is shown that John
was tAe hrst person awake, and that he woke uu
Anna what was he doing before he woke her !:
Ana why does he deny that he was first awake. Be.
cause he cannot account for himself during the time
Inns criLle IL brought home to him rs clearly as
though unimpeachabe witnesses saw him strike the
blows.
After examining Mt length the evidence of blood On
the person and garments of the prisoner and dis
cusslng the Greene letter the Attorney General con
cluded as follows
Gentlem en- we have been unable to procure Il wit
ness who saw the deed done. If you wait for the
evidence OF an eye witness crime viii 90 unpublished
There would be no security for our homes or for
human life We may as well annul all penal statutes
nhnGf -.t,1.a I'k,., ,x,l,oI