The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1874-07-24
To himself he added .

I
should not have thought of it."
"Then I will strangle the trutl
out of him!" Ben said, his fac,
darkening, and he turned again t
go.
Lorena cried out sharply;
How cruel you are! "
Sam I?" he said, sofCening a
the woe of that still loved voice, q
forgot he was dear to you"
"Did you think 1 feared for hin
alone?" flashed Lorena, and hung
her head before the words were vel
spoken.
Ben caught his breath.
"Well, well, tell me. You may
trust me, Lorena-indeed you may
1 entreat you to tell me. Surely
something is due me for the past.
Lorena did not lift her eyes as she
said:
"Mr. Steiner told me how you
were involved, and he showed me
some papers which you had signed
his name to. He said he could send
you to State prison"
"Papers! signed his name! 1 am
not involved. 1 never signed any,
body's name to anything in my
life!" cried Ben.
"NeVer! Oh! Ben-Ben! 1 might
have known it! What blind fool
1 was!"
"My poor girl! And you married
him to save me! My God! how can
1 keep my hands off of him?"
"You must, Ben! Go now fo1
both our sakes. I can bear nc
more"
And Ben went. He was seen by
more than one of the townspeople
as he came, late that afternoon, down
the broad walk which led from HUI
bert Steiner's handsome house, and
was blamed for going there in its
masters absence. 1t was noted, too,
that he looked grim and forboding,
and that he frowned instead of nod
ding, at such acquaintance as he
met.
That night Hubert Steiner was
murdered within sight Of his own
door stone. and on the following
morning Ben Elroy was arrested
for the murder.
Il was a hard case. Everybody
liked Ben; very few the murdered
man; but then there were not six
people in Lawrence who did not be-
lieVe Ben had done the deed-not
even Lo-ena.
'Ben has killed him." she Whis-
pered, and dropped in a swoon, from
which she did not recover for hours.
But she never opened her lips
again on the subject. She just lay
like broken flower while the trial
went on.
The truth does not often float to
the surface in such times of excite
ment. It's very weight seems to
sink it below view, and the stravs
and driftwood almost choke the chan
mel.
When it became known that the
murdered mans wife lay dying, pub
lie feeling sighed How she must
have loved him. and took a turn
against Ben.
The evidence in the case was pure
ly circumstantial, but dark Of its
kind.
Ben was a dealer in the finer
kinds of cutlery, and on his shelves
was case of knives precisely
like the bloody one found beside
the murdered man. There, too, was
his known enmity, and its occasion; /;
and it was remembered that he had
been seen coming from Steiner's
house the afternoon before the muir
der, and had seemed under some
excitement at the time. His own
language concerning the settlement
with Steiner some time, was quo
ted against him.
The trial drew near its close, and
it was likely to 60 hard with him,
unless the jury proved more con-
scientious and scrupulous about
trusting to circumstantial evidence
than the crowd which thronged the
court room, and mad already con-
demned the prisoner.
The truth came out by the merest
accident. Ben's clerk seeing
strange and a very handsome wO-
man in the room, suddenly remem-
bered that he had sold that very
knife or one like it, to that very wo-
man, three weeks before the murder.
He whispered that fact inthe ear OF
Ben's counsel.
The woman gave herself up, and
owned to her guilt at the first dem
onstration. Steiner had wronged
her, she said, to an extent that only
his death could atone for.
If it was necessary for any person
to die because a bad man got his
dues, she was ready.
Ben was at once liberated, and the
woman took his place. In the end
she pleaded insanity, and the jury
was glad enough to escape hanging
her.
Ben Elroy quilted the country fol
while, but he returned in time tc
marry his old love, who had not died
and whose roses bloomed late as
brightly as they had early.