The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-04-19
THE HIDDEN CLOSET.

ULL1OuS IjHl6Sj WAS IOr the WILL
ful murder Of Henry Thompson. The
| case was one OF most extraordinary
nature, and the interest excited by It
was almost unparalleled. The accused
was &, gentleman of considerable prop
| erty, residing upon his own estate. A
person, supposed to be an entire stran-
ger to him, had late in summers day,
requested and obtained shelter and hos
pltality for the night. He had, it was
supposed, after taking some slight re-
freshment, retired to bed in perfect
health, requesting to be awakened at
| an early hour the following morning.
When the servant appointed to call him
| entered his room for that purpose, he
was found in his bed perfectly dead;
and, from the'appearance of the body,
| it was obvious that he had been so for
many hours. There was not the slight
est mark of violence upon his person,
and the countenance retained the same
| expression it had borne during life.
Days and weeks passed on, and little
further was known. In the mean time
rumor had not been idle. Suspicious,
vague, indeed, and underlined, were at
| first whispered and afterward boldly
| expressed. The precise object of these
| suspicious was not clearly indicated
some implicated one person, ,Gsome an
other; but they all pointed to Smith,
| the master Of the house, as concerned
IN the death of the stranger; and, in fine,
| the magistrates were induced to commit
Mr.. Smith to jail to take his trial for the
| wlllful murder of Henry THOMPSON. As
it was deemed essential to the attain
ment OF justice to keep secret the ex-
animation of the witnesses who were
produced before the magistrates. all the
information of which the public were in
possession before the trial took place
was that which have here narrated.
Such was the state of things upon the
morning of the trial.
Lord Manstield's charge to the Grand
Jury upon the subject of this murder
| excited a good deal of attention, He had
recommended them, if they entertained
reasonable doubts Of the Suffciency of
the evidence to insure a conviction, to
throw out the bill; explaining to them
most justly and clearly that, in the event
Of their doing so, If any additional evil
dence should, at future time, be dis
covered, the prisoner could again be
apprehended and tried for the offense,
whereas, if they found true bill, and,
from deficiency Of proof, he was now
acquitted on his trial, he could never
again be mOlested, even though the
testimony against him should be NOR
ally as clear as light. The Grand Jury
after, as we supposed, very considera-
bic discussion among themselves, and,
as was rumored, by majority of only
one, returned a true bill. After the
charge, it was conjectured that the
proofs offered to the Grand jury must
have been strong to authorize such a
| finding; and a strong impression in con-
tsequence prevailed that there would ul-
| timately be conviction.
| The counsel for the prosecution ODen-
ed his case to the jury in manner that
indicated very little expectation of a
conviction. He began by imploring
them to divest their minds of all that
they had heard before they came into
the box; he entreated them to attend
to the evidence, and judge from that
alone.
It would be proved beyond the possi-
bility of doubt that the deceased died
by polsOn-poisOn of most subtle ma
tulre, most active in it's operation, and
possessing the wonderful and dreadful
quality OF leaving no external mark or
token by which its presence could be
detected. The ingredients of which it
was composed were of so sedative a
nature that, instead of the body on
which it had been used exhibiting anv
contOrtiOns, or marks of suffering, it
left upon the features nothing but the
calm and placid quiet of repOse. .-..
| The prisoners family consisted onlv
of himself, a ahouse-keeper, and one man
servant. The man-serVant slept in an
Out-house adjoining the stable, and did
SO on the night of Thompson's death.
The prisoner slept at one end of the
house and the hOusekeeper at the other,
and the deceased had been put into a
room adjoining the hOusekeeper's.
It would be proved, by a person who
happened to be passing by the house on
the night in question, about three hours
after midnight that he had been Undue
ed to remain and watch, from having
his attention excited by the circum-
stance, then very unusual, of q light
moving about the house at that late
hour. That person would state most
positively that he could distinctly see a
figure, holding light, go from the room
in which the prisoner. slept to the house
keepers room; that two persons then
came out of the housekeeper's room
and the light disappeared for a minute
Whether the two PERSONS went into
j Thompson's room he could not see, as
the window of that room looked another
way; but in about a minute they returns
ed, passing quite along the house tc
Smiths room again; and in abont five
minutes the light was extinguished an(
he saw it no more. Isl z..# a-la.
Such was the evidence upon which thu
magistrates had committed Smith anC
singulaTiy enough, since his committa
l the housekeeper had been missing, nol
could any trace of her be discovered
I Within the last week, the witness whC
4 saw the tight had been more particu
, larly examined, and, in order to refresl
4 his mem0Fy, he had been placed, at dark
= in the very spot where he had stood on
that night. and another person was plac
!, ed with him. The whole scene, as III
had described it, was acted over again
but it was utterly impossible, from, tn
cause above mentioned, to assert Whel
: the light disappeared, whether the par
ties had gone into Tlompson's room
: AS If, however, to throw still deepe
' mystery over this extraordinary trans
y action, the witness persisted In a1din.
2 a new feature to his former statement
: that after the persons had returned witt
the light into Smiths room, and befor
+ it was extinguished, he had twice per
: ceived some dark object to interven
between the light and the window, al
most as large as the surface of the win
dow itself, and which he described b,
: saying, 1t appeared as If a door had bee
E placed before the light,
I Now, in Smiths room there was moth
l. ing which could account for this ap
Q pearanee; his bed was in a differen
. Dfirt, and there was neither cupbOar
!. nor press in the room, which, but flo
= the bed, was entirely empty, the rooI
n IN which he dFegsp1 hainp MI n fligfanc