The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1874-01-14
A Clear Case.

How often do we hear men in
other pursuits-keen to detect
trickery in all callings but theil
own-denounce lawyers for defend
ing people whom they have reason
to believe guilty.
Did it ever occur to these critic:
that it is no more the lawyers pro
vince than it is theirs to pas:
Judgment on accused persons
That duty is confined to legally
constituted tribunals, bound tt
hear both sides; and so importan
is it deemed that none shall be con
demned unheard, that if prisoner
be too poor to employ counsel, thf
court must assign it to him, and h.
upon whom the burden is laid il
not at liberty to decline it, Wha
alawyer may thus rightly be com
PEELED to do, it can scarcely bf
wrong for him to do voluntarily.
So, at any rate, reasoned on un
dertakiug the defence Of Walter
Warren, against whom two indict
ments were pending, one for theft
the other two for attempting to put
off counterfeit bank-notes.
The proofs against him lef
scarce loop-hole for doubt. He
had worked his way to be Mr.
Vests chief clerk, and had COM
pletely won the confidence of his
employer. The latter having oc'
casion to forward large sum to 8
place at some distance, selected
young Warren to carry it. When
ready for his journey, the money.
enclosed in all envelope directed to
the person to whom it was sent,
was handed to Warren, and placed
by him in an inside pocket of bis
coat, where. he insisted, he had
found the packet safe on reaching
his destination, when he immedi-
ately delivered it to the proper
person.
On being opened, the envelope
was found to contain the correct
amount, Jut made up entirely Of
forged Jank-notes.
Mr.. West was positive that the
bills he had enclosed were genuine
a point on which a man Of his
experience could hardly be mista-
ken. Besides, they we're on a diff
ferent bank from that by which
the counterteits purported to be
issued. lie further remembered
that, before inclosing the bills, he
had, in Warren's presence, written
the address Of the gentlemen to
whom they were to be delivered on
an envelopessin which he had i'll
tended to place them, but, having
laid it aside temporarily, he was
unable to find it afterward, and
used another. The inference was
that Warren, having secretly pos
sessed himself Of the mislaid en-
velope, after sealing it up with the
counterfeit notes in it, had substi-
tuted it for the genuine packet,
whose contents be had appropria-
ted.
Mr.. Vests statement was fully
corroborated by that of a gentle
man who was present at the time OF
the delivery of the money to War
ren, and who had seen it counted.
In my conferences with the pris-
oner, he strongly asserted his inno-
cence, but could give explanation
of the mysterious transformation
which the money had undergone,
from good to bad, while in his pos
session. He had gone, he said, di-
rectly from Mr.. Vests office to the
railway station, whittier he had
been accompanied by the gentle
man who had seen him receive the
money, who had occasion to a
short distance by the same train.
Mr.. Allgood, the gentleman in
question, had, for a short time, oc-
cupied the same seatwith my client,
conversing with him on indifferent
topics. With that exception,
Warren had had the seat to him
self during the entirej journey; and
|he assured me he had not at any
time, suffered half an hour to pass
without ascertaining that his
charge was safe.
Mr.. Allgood was a person be.
yond suspicion. True, he had
| lived but a few months in the town.
but he was q man who carried a
certificate of character in his face.
1t was long, thin and melancholy;
It wore an expression of satisfied
sadness, often observable III those
who, having no faults of their own
to be sorry for, overflow with sor-
row for the sins Of others. He