The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-01-27


volver out and shot him twice in the left
side of the head. He must have pushed him.
back with wonderful force, for /
believe that long bruise down the
side Of the face was caused
by his head being violently pushed against
that partition, and that it was not caused by
the fall to the floor, how could he sustain
such bruise by striking on the Hat floor of
the room? / believe that Corwin must have
had him down on his knees, for the course
of the bullet shows it had come up. Here
Major Gordon had the overccat of the de-
ceased, and showed how the bullet had pur.'
sued an upward course as the ball had passed
through his own coat.) Now, do you sup
pose that If he intended to shoot Corwin
when he started out of his house that he
would have went out with an overcest
Hanging loosely upon him and his overshoes
unbuckled? No; if he was going out for
bloody encounter. he would have buttoned
up his coat and buckled his Shoes so thew
would not have tangled his feet.
Your Honor, there are three kinds of feloni-
Gus homicide. the first is murder in the
first degree. the second murder in the second
degree. and the third manslaughter. Now,
your Honor, if you can not decide upon the,
hrst OF these, there remains for you the sec
ond, and If not that, there is
the charge of manslaughter on
Which you can commit him, but if your
honor can not decide upon any of these, you
must declare the prisoner discharged and let
him go his way in peace. / wish to inn
press upon you the need of going around to
the Office where the killing was done and ex-
anime for yourself the situation, ofthe desks.
etc." The major spoke for about one hour
and half. His speech was commented
upon by all sides afterward and declared to
be most able effort considering the testi-
mony and circumstances of the case. The
justice then in company with Mr.. Halford,
went to COrwin's Office and during their
absence Mr.. Corwin conversed with his
friends and at one time with Mr. A. Kline
the former cashier of the suspended bank.
The justice was gone but few moments
when he came back Ia the hall and specta-
tors Quoted down and took their seats and
with painful interest watched him go to his
seat and slowly take off his hat and Law his
cane down. 1t seemed then that
there was no one breathing in the room, and
Tor some four or five minutes the justice did
not utter a word. The prisoner was leaning
forward with an anxious look on his face.
watching the Justices movements. Finally
the justice said:.
THE VERDICT.
"There is no evidence against the prisoner
strong enough to make me commit him for
trial in the circuit court, therefore / dis
charge him."
Following this the spectators stamped and
hurrahed again and again, and then they
pressed about Mr.. Corwin and one bv one
shook him by the hand. General Harrison
mounted table, and for a few minutes was
busy shaking hands himself. Major Gordan
pressed forward and very cordially shook
Mr.. Corwin by the hand. Mr.. Corwin then
made his way out through the throng and
passed down the street, accompanied by his
friends, and disappeared in his house. The
crowd began scattering about, and within
ten or fifteen minutes the streets looked
as ordinary as ever they did. / met the jns-
tice shortly after and said to him. "Mr.
Pratt, l expect this is relief to you" He
replied, Eyes, it is, but L have been watch
ing it so closely that when the evidence was
all in had pretty well made up my mind.
Mr.. Gordon's speech was a fine one but it
did not effect my decision any," and the old
gentleman walked about The streets looking
as serene and calm as though he had re-
stored everything to its normal condition.
FACTS AND FIGURES.
met Mr.. Thos. Mccullough next, and he
gave me the following statement showing
on the dates the indictment charges Col.
Stilwell with having embezzled what he had
really drawn and put in the bank. You
will notice that the parties who got up this
did not pay very strict regard to dates, as in
one place they make him to have embezzled
S29 200 three days after the bank had closed
and again, another day they affix amounts
to his name as having been embeZzled on
Sunday.
Thos. N. Stilwell charged in the indict-
ment with ENLIGHTENMENT from the First
National Bank of the following sums at
times herein stated;
Counts. Date. Amount
LIST Ian 4. lS73 G5O m