The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-12-10


vent a more horrible combination of ava
rice, recklessness and biood-thirstiness /;
granted all this, and yet he would under
take 70 clear Cartwright himself on that
very ground that no attempt, other than
the confession OF one, pdrticeps crtnirlts,
had been made to locate Cartwright near
the scene of the murder on the day of its
commission. Butt and the learned adj
vocate went on to enumerate the number
and standing of the gentlemen by whom
he proposed to prove, beyond the shadow
of doubt, that the prisoner at the bar,
"Hoffman, or Cartwright if you will, was
in Oldboro on that 10th of October. and that
my client, Hoffman, or, for the matter of
that, Cartwright, is not guilty and must
be acquitted of the crime for which he
stands charged under this indictment" Z"
This cool assumption, by Belcher, that
even Cartwright could not be convicted
after the evidence for the defense was
heard, rather staggered so collected man
as the prosecuting attorney and made an
evident impression on the jury i @
The first witness for the defense was
sworn and heard before the court ad-
1 journed on Thursday afternoon. He was
senior partner in the banking house of
Roswell & Mayer; he knew the prisoner
at the bar; his name was Erastus Hotf-
man no doubt what ever of that; he was
in Oldboro on October 10th, 1866; no
possible doubt what ever of that" Wit
mes here produced two volumes contain
ing the bank records of that day, show
Iihg that Erastus Hoffman had deposited
! SS35, and had procured draft on Chicago
4 for $500. "Prisoner at the bar was the
man who made the deposit and procured
the draft; witness was in the habit, grow
ing out of his business, of taking particu-
lar notice of men, and had no doubt as to
( theprisoner's Identity" A-4 IA
AS far as was concerned that settled all
doubts as to the prisoner innocence, with
| out hearing any further evidence, and my
report of the trial in the next mornings
PreSs.Was prefaced by an earnest assertion
of my conviction on that point. On my
report and expression of opinion the editor
founded an editorial predicting the tri-
umphant acquittal of the prisoner, so that
Friday mornings Press left nothing to be
inferred concerning its views on the HOff-
man trial at MilltOwn. sNa t1ies
During Friday forenoon the evidence
was all of the same character. Clergy
men, lawyers, merchants, bankers, gentle
men of elegant leisure and even lady,
a school teacher to whom Hoffman was
attentive, stepped into the witness-boX,
looked into the handsome, frank, smiling
face of the prisoner, who bowed gravely
vet pleasantly to each, and swore positively
that they saw Hoffman-"well, the pris
oner at the bar, if you prefer it, lin re-
| spOnse to a suggestion from the prose-
cutting attorney in Oldboro on the day
and date aforesaid; and each and all re-
/ called some circumstance or produced
/ some document to Substantiate or endorse
what was testified to.
At one O'Clock the court rose for dinner,
and Belcher. with a copy of that days
Press in his hand, stepped briskly across
the space allotted to the barristers, and,
shaking me warmly by the hand. thanked
me for (" the brilliant and truthful report
had so far made of the trial, and asked me
Ito GO over and be introduced to his client,
that he, too, might thank me for my eX-
act and impartial Treatment of the case,
not only as a reporter, but irirny capacity
as a commentator and writer of the inter-
esting narrative and description which pre-
ceded my daily amount of reported evil
dence. Naturally enough, was consider
ably flattered at this turn of affairs, and
saw with pride the envious glances of my
fellow-reporters at the press table. Under
any circumstance | should have been
! pleased to be introduced by Belcher 10 a
fine-looking gentleman, wearing NOUS
4 tacI1e and side whiskers a Ia Burnside,
elegantly dressed, evidently intelligent
and with all the bearing of a man of cul-
ture; but when it came about that | was
to be singled out to be introduced, still by
I Belcller, to such gentleman, in such a
I pitiful situation, the object of the sympa-
thies, loudly expressed, of the crowd that
kept their seats during the intermissions
of the court, so interested were they, |
was doubly gratified, and bore my shoul-
ders well back and head up as | kept step
with Belcher, around the horseshoe table,
! along the rail, among the chairs, fairly up
4 TO the dock. i marked the eager watch
4 ing of the Spectators who had not lost a
single one of Belcher'S motions; who had
4 seen him shaking hands with me; who
had noticed that he had ''our paper in his
hand (nine-tenths of them had read my re-
port, and who were half ready to cheer as
extended my handon Belcher intrOduc-
ton, ssMr. Hoffman. this is my, and yodr
friend, Williams, the representative OF the
New City Press" .....r-
But the crowd did not cheer; on the con-
trary, a rustic of surprised silence-I can
eal ii nothing else-wefts through the
room as | was seen to hesitate, turn al
: most purple with the rush of blood TO my
face, draw back my hand and hurriedly
make my way out through the exit sacred
to the officers of the court and the jury.
The prisoner at the bar was the man
had seen on those two previous occasions,
the latter on October 10, the day of the
murder. in Milltown.
What was to do knew the e4man-
/ knew him beyond peradventure. Thrice
! | had seen him; each time with different
tOnsure :; each time so unlike the others
al 81
tification was impossible and yet, | knew
him and could swear to him, day, date,
and events. Should | simply confine my
4 self to- my functions as reporter and let
loose man, then knew in my heart was
murderer, dangerous man to society,
or should | go into the witness box and
tighten the moose that had as good as fallen
from the mans neek?f I'sat at the table,
where sat eight months before Icould
not eat; | could only think.
At half-past two, the court was again In
session, and [ in my chair at the reporter
table. Only one more witness to examine
an unimportant one-then the summing
up. The case would be given to the jury
before an adjournment; and every body,
even to the district attorney knew what
the verdict would be. The vision of the
old man, lying with his blood-stained face
? on lUe uedTill. anu Ills gray HAIR sNStpillg
the ashes; the poor old victims of bad
mems lust, suddenlyand without reason
thRrried by violence into eternity, the
whole course of the crime, came like g
panorama before me. My mind was made
, up. Hastily tearing am Irregular STRIP
from the sheet Of copy paper on which
, had been writing, hastily scribbled these
words, "Call Horace Williams.'' A puZ
, Zled look came over the district attorney!
I; face as ne read them, when the paper haC
! been handed him by court usher; Soon ;
, CLEAN Of Something breaking in upon hi
! mind was visible, and recognizing tht
source from whence the misSive emanated
he rose as if to come, oyeruto me: but /;
second thought seemedto strikeshffn anC
he resumed his seat, merely shooting
hasty glance of appreciation at me-. Iha'
!, halfrepented, half-determined to fly tn
courtroom. halfresolved to plead n1istaS
! when.th the defense having declared an en-
of their testimony, the district attorne.
J stood up and quietly announcing that h
! had evidence IN rebuttal to Offer, repeate'
/. the words of my message, 'Call Horae
, Williams" k9 rrT ET
o The erier. obevin0 the dictation of th