The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-04-23

T. IA. piles. a noted Carpet Sag
PEitfcfan of Pamela, Convicted
aud EHaaf-Iaed foa- E@efis larceny

From the Pauoi star
A considerable stir was created IN our
town on Wednesday last by the c'rcuia-
ton Of news to the effeeg thar j Ill. pies
colored. a noted Republlcs1 politician
and ex-nember # the Legislature from
this county. IS under arrest upon charge
of petit larceny. The news Was soon ascer-
tanned to be trtre. for III one . clOck, P. NJ.
the accused was brought before Mayor
J. a. Polk, and his trial began. Mayor
II. II. Chalmers and Major l.. T. Coop
er appeared cor the State, and Piles was
most ably defended by Col. III. W. Wal
ter and Senator Il IL. Taylor. The tn
al developed the following facts.
That in September last Messrs.
Miller IL Miller, attorneys Of the Pamela
bar, missed from their library two law
books-Beniamin on Sales and Starkle
on Evidence. They searched every lbrarA
in town for the books, but IA lied TO find
them Several weeks after the books
were lost, Piles was approached By Mr..
w. ID. Miller and asked il he had the
books in his possession, 10 " hIch he re-
Piled that he did not nave them, the mat
ter rested there until recently. But
other attorneys lost books in a most un-
accountable manner, and a suspicion was
gradually aroused that Piles was the thief
On Tuesday last Mr.. w. ID. Miller and
j. g. Hall, Jr., resolved to visit Plies
house and see if they could not ind some
of the missing books. They went, and
upon asking to be allowed to look ut some
authorities, were invited by Piles to enter
and look at his books. Ia a very few
minutes the two lost books of Miller Il Mil
Ter were found and Mr.. Miller informed
Piles that they were his books. This
Piles denied, but when Mr. Miller found
his name in one of the books and had
identified it-by certain private marks,
Piles Welded and ut once manifested
a feverish anxiety 10 remove the labels
containing his name, which had been
pasted on the back of the books, although
Mr. Miller requested him not 10 do so,
but wait until they could be carefully re-
moved. When removed, the name
miller was found to have been written
on one OF the books and to have been
partially erased by a knife or some . her
sharp instrument. The other book had
miller Il Son on the back, under Piles,
label aud had two fly leaves torn out and
j. H. Piles, Springfield, Ohio, 80, writ
ten on the inner side Of the cover, which
proved to be in the handwriting Of Piles.
After the first book had been found,
Piles placed himself Immediately between
Nh Miller and that portion Of the hook
case where the other missing book was
deposited, so that at last Mr. Miller was
compelled to reach around him aud take
the book from its place. Piles manner
after thelliscovery Of the books was agitat
edand confused in the extreme The value
Of the books was a6oug fourteen dollars.
This was the substance OF the testimony
for the State The sum Of the testimony
for the defense was that Mrs. Piles always
labeled her husbands books, and that
Piles had been absent from Sardis about
the time the books were first missing and
most Of the time since the first Of last
January No attempt was made to eX-
plain Piles possession of the books, or
their DETACHMENT.
Upon this evidence, Mayor Polk found
Piles guilty, and fined him twenty-five
dollars and costs This fine he has since
paid, and has not taken any appeal.
The Star adds, that after this den0lte-
nseat other missing books belonging to
other attorneys were found, safely stored
away the library Of the said Piles !