Litchfield enquirer., 1874-02-26
From the Atlantic Monthly. -a JOHNS TRIAL.

0f the great ChaEpiain Valley, III little clearing, is a lonely log-house On tbe 10th day of July. 1852, muscular, gaunt woman stood at the door of the house, overlooking the vast extent of the valley.
 From her standpoint, ten miles of green forest swept down to the lakes winding shore. She saw the indentation made Ill the shore line by 'the bay and beyond,
 the wide waters gleaming,,in thesfervid
 brightness of summer Specks were here
 and there discernible in the light, flashed
 back from the blue. mirror-like surface,
 and; by long watching 1t could be seen
 that these specks were moving to and fro
 The woman knew that these distBnt moving atoms were boats freighting lum-
 Der through Lake Champlain She knew there was but one boat that would be likely to turn aside and come into the lit tie bag, and that this boat would be her son Johns sloop.
 That was why she watched SO anxiously speck that neared tho bay and at length entered it. To make doubly sure, she brought to bear an old spy-glass whose principal lens was cracked entirely through. It gave her smoky view of the famous sloop, The Dolly Ann, Johns property. and then she was entirely cer- tain that her son, who had been three weeks absent on his voyage, was coming home
 r Jupiter, the house-dog, who had been watching her, seemed to know it too, per fectly we'll; for as she turned from her survey through the glass, his canine na- ture developed degree of wriggling friskiness of which the grave old dog seemed half ashamed. He whined and walked about the door-yard for few mo- ments, then give his mistress a long, steady look, and seeming satisfied with ! what he read in her face, jumped over the fence and started down the road into ! the valley, at full run.
 The woman knew that three or four hours must yet elapse before John and Jupiter would come along the path to- l gether, tired by their long tramp up the | mountain-side. She thought and waited as lonely mothers think and wait for ab- sent sons.
 At about four o'clock. young, dark eyed man and the dog came up ,he road and to the house. "Heigho, mother, all well?' was the mans greeting. The wo- mans greeting was only, "How do you do, John?' There was no show of senti- ment, not even hand-shake; but bright look in the mans face, and tremor in the voice of the woman, conveyed the im- pression that these plain people felt great deal more than they expressed. Two hours passed away, and after SUD- per, the neighbors who had seen John and the dog come mp the road, dropped in for talk with ''the captain" as John was called by his friends.
 Soon the inquiry was made; "Where did you leave your cousin William?" John had taken his cousin William. who lived upon the lake-shore, with him upon this last trip, and hence the question. But John did not answer the question directly. He seemed troubled and un- happy about it. He finally acknowl- edged that he and William had not agreed, and that high words and blows had passed between them. and added that his cousin had finally left the boat m huff, he knew not where, but somewhere into the pineries of Canada. He declar- ed, getting warm in his recollection of the quarrel, that he s'did mt care darn' where Will went, any way.
 A month passed away; it was August. Cousin Will did not return. But certain l strange stories came up the lake from Canada, and reached the dwellers along the Adirondack Wilderness road. No cousin William had been seen in the pin- cries; but just across the Canada line, at the mouth of Fish River, where the sloops were moored to received their lading of lumber, Q bruised, swollen, fostering corpse had risen and foated in the glare of hot, August day. The boatmen res cued it and buried it upon the shore. They described it as the body of hale, vigorous young man, agreeing in height, size, and appearance with cousin Will liam.
 And there was another story told by the captain of a sloop which had been moored at the mouth of Fish River, near by Johns sloop, on the fatal voyage from which cousin William had not returned. The captain said that upon the 4th of July, he had heard quarreling upon Johns sloop all the afternoon, and had noticed that only two men were there. He thought the men had been drinking. At night-fall there was a little Hull; but l soon after dark, the noise broke out I again. He could see nothing through the gloom, but he heard high and angry words, and at length blows, and then a dull, crushing thud, followed by plunge into the water, and then there was entire | silence. He listened for an hour, in the ! stiffness of the summer night, but heard 1 no further sound from the boat. In the early gray of the next morning. the cap- tam, looking across the intervening space to Johns sloop, which he described as hardly stones throw from his own. saw hat lying upon the deck, and using his glass, was confident that he saw "spatters of blood" He thought it ''none of his business, land taking advantage of light breeze, sailed away and said nothing. But when the floating corpse was found, he felt sure there had been murder, and, as he expressed it, felt bound to tell his story like an honest man, and so told it. Putting these things together, it soon grew to be the current opinion upon the lake, that Captain John had murdered | his cousin William. The dwellers upon the Wilderness road also came by slowde- grees, and unwillingly, to the same con- clusion. It was felt and said that John 1 ought to be arrested.
 Accordingly on dreary day in Novem- Der, two officers, from the county town twenty miles away down the lake-shore, came and climbed the steep road to the lonely log-house, and arrested John. It was undoubtedly dreadful blow to those two lonely people living isolated in the wilderness. Perhaps there ought to have been some crying and a scene but there | wtso -AS oWOI@ eAAAASSs 42AO OAnOCNS lccbA1eu
 that neither John nor his mother made
 any fuss about it. There was slight
 twitching of the strong muscles of her
 face, as she talked with the oficert, but
 no other outward sign.
 John gave more evidence of the wound 1 he felt. He was white and quivering, yet
 he silently, and without objection, made
 ready to go with the officers He was
 soon prepared, and they started. John,
 as he went out of the door, turned and
 said, "Good-by; it will all be made right,
 mother. " She simply answered, ''Yes,
 good-by; I know it my son."
 The trio went on foot down the road to
 the next house, where the officers had left
 their team. Jupiter, standing up with
 his fore paws upon the top of the fence,
 gazed wistfully after them. When they
 passed around the bend of the road out
 of sight, Jupiter went into the house.