The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1875-02-20

| Tue SlaDic. rage came 10 WltneeSS H0QSe 10
live in September or Octob Der, 1865, when a
small boy. He is now sixteen years old, and
will be seventeen in April or May. He came
with his mother and father. The latter had
always lived there, and the boy and his
family had been treated with great kindness
and lcniency.
Mr.. Ruflin then gave an account Of the
| family Of the accused, &c. The house
which the boy and his parents occupied in
1874 was known as the servants house. and
was about forty or fifty yards from the fam.
| ilV mansion. There was no other family in
the servants house in 1874 except Pages
| family. Witness then described The location
of the Ruffin mansion, which is about two
miles from Manchester and two hundred
yards from the turnpike.
OTHER BURNINGs.
There have been other burnings, said wi t.
ness; who refreshed his memory from q
gave the dates as follows: March 13, 1874, the
first fire occurred-it was his sons (Frank'sj
house; on the 23d Of March, bis (witnesS's) sta
b'eand carriagc-hoUse, including three horses;
31st March, dwelling. house set fire to in the
night; 26th of April Qour weeks lacking
one d:y), same dwellng-house was set fire
to at the same place; on the I'd of May,
Lucy's house Uhe mother Of the boy) was
set fire to in the night; on the 7th Of May
the same house vas set fire to in the night
time: on the S;h of May the same house was
set fire to; on the 9Th of May the smoke.
bouse was set fire to; on the 14.h of May
Lucv's house was set fire to in the roof III
the daytime (at II .o'clock). At that time
witnessed commenced guarding the pre-
nd popfin1aI OI1gr1 the
premises (himself and sons UP to the 18th
of July. On the 10th of July the barn,
stable, and contents were burped; on the
18th of january, 1915, new stable and new
carriage, three valuable horses, &c, were
burned between y and s O'Clock at night !;
we were all at supper at the time.
MIR. Pullam interrupted the witness while
he was giving the above dates, and said that
these other burnings bad nothing to do with
the case under consideration.
Mr.. Wise conended that the other burn
inSs were closely connected with the indict.
ment being tried, and he proposed to show
that there had been a persistent effort, for
several months, to burn every house on The
place. 1t was closely connected with the
case. Night after night, day after day. these
attempts were made-sOmetimes as many as
two a day. We want 10 know what was
the motive and animus, and hence we go into
this whole transaclioa from the time that be
came on the place. We can produce the law
in the case of man charged with forgery to
show that be may be tried for twenty forge
ries. Can't we bring out all the facts con-
nrcted with this case. The motive OF tue
act expressed itself in every tire. Who Is II
| that is actuatcd by this malignity, which
would do honor 10 tiend! How can the
| iurv know the ennrmty Of this offence un'
less they are shown all the VARIOUS aclS con-
| nectcd with the specific otl9nce!
| Mr.. Puilam replied TO Mr. Wise, and IN
quircd whether these facts were Intended 10
prejudice the jury. He asserted that these
| statements were cXtrancOuS 1actS, ana cOulu
not be brought out against this man. IL
would be against justice and law, and III
violation of all right. lie contendcd that there
was but one charge upon which the prisoner
was being tried: and that the other al
legged attempts at burning had nothing to do
with the specific offence alleged to have been
committed BY this man. Suppose be was on
the place all the time that these houses were
| burned. Were not others there, too! he
hoped that the testimony would be conilned
! to the one specific charge.
| The Court said that the Commonwealth
must first establish the corpus deltch, and
that whoever did the burning did it by
design. He thought that the testimony was
admissible.
The witness then repeated the list of fires,
and, going back TO the 23d of March, said
that he was at home TO supper. He was
aroused in the night about II O'Clock by the
prisoner coming upstairs to bet him know
| that the stable was on fire. There was a
| high wind blowing ut the time. and he (%lt-
ncs>) remained until 2 O'Clock in order that
| he might put out the fire in several places
which had been communicated to the WOODS.
| When Lucy's house was set fire to, the torch
was applied to the rafters. tarred rope
and other combustlbles were suspended SO
AS to burn right into the sheeting. The rope
was about eighteen inches long. On another
| occasion witness found, on the I'd of May,
| that the flooring of the porch had been ar
ranged for tire. The space between
the joists and bricks WAS filled with
paper and sticks, and when he came
home Lucy showed him the place, and said
that she feared some one was attempting
10 set fire to the house. He also found, IN
another place, that piece of tin had been
thrust in between the laths; on the tin were
bundles of lightwood, but the bundles had
uOt altllQuSu IL W ds CNIllSlJ Ib1l luS
lghtWood had been fired. This room had
been sccured-it had been nailed up-and
witness believed that it could not be opened
without noise. No other servant lived in The
house except the Page family; but others
were mile off. On the 7th of May, under
the steps Of Lucy's house, he found Il bundle
Of old papers, and pretty piece Of cal.co
which corresponded exactly TO dress which
was worn by the boys sister. No other per.
son was in this house except the Page fam.
ily. In July last, Sias Fowlks, who is also
under indictment on the charge of burning
this barn, was in the Richmond Jail. On the
night of the 29th of July Hlfdrey told wit
ness that he was In the barn which was
burned, and escaped by jumping out of the
window. On the 18th OF May, when Lucy's
house was set fire to in the roof, Hildrey
told witness when be (witness) came home
that be had gone out into the kitchen from the
garden 10 get drink Of water ; that he had
come back and asked his mother who it was
that had been there. She said that she had
not seen any one. He stated that he had
seen a man working his way up between
Mr. Rutfin's house and Mrs. Tardy's house
His (Pages) theory was that IL was some one
| who had gone down to the barn to get work
from his (witneSs's) son. On his return to
The garden he said that he saw great smoke
coming up from his mothers house, and had
given the alarm to the family. The fire,
however, was on the north side of the house,
in the space OF six inches, while he page
was on the south side of the house, some
distance OFT, in the garden, which was o5'
| strlictcd from view by trees and houses.
| On the 18th of January witness had gone
into the dinlng-room, on his return home at
night, to get his supper. Had eaten one plate
of soup and was drinking cup OF tea when
1 -, p1 Sai1 tho eta hlp