Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-08-02

I
woman sink back into the arms of
male companion. 1t was his POT
mother. Her heart was well mig
I. broken. Yet I saw that all this ha
but little effect upon the mass of spe
tators. The prisoners course of di
lsipation-his many threats again
. the house-and the very fact of h
!, having been robbed and abused thel
:, were heavy against him.
+ The counsel for the prisoner mad
y his speech, which was labored an
:, hard. He was foolish enough to il
y innate that If his client was aroun
= al the back part of the house NOR
|" than once, he must have been intox
Gated. In short, his plea had bette
. been left out. The evidence he coul
= not shake, and he did all he could (
: suppose evidence, some of it most al
!! snrd and ridiculous. | aftcrwar
= learned that Moulton Warren engaa
ed the lawyer for the youthful pris
oner! The government attorne
= made his plea. 1t was plain, straigh,
!, forward and conclusive.
The judge finally gave his charge
. > He was fair and candid. He review
!, cd the evidence carefully, and point
= ! ed out such as bore heavily upon tn
! ! case. lie told us if there was liu
: gering doubt in our minds we shou
/ give the prisoner the benefit of it
: But / could plainly see that there wa
no doubt in his mind.
We--the jury-were conducted II
our room by an officer, and there
locked up. A silence of some min
utS ensued. Moulton Warren wa.
, the first to speak.
"Well," he said, ~ s'pose there's nc
, need of our bein' here great willie
Of course we all know that the pris.
oner must have set fire to the house.
There was something in the manner
OF that man, as he said this, which
excited my curiosity-I won't say il
was suspicion then-only curiosity
He spoke with forced effort at calm.
ness which at once perceived. The
laOre looked at him the more l be.
camc strongly nervous and uneasy,
wondered why he should DO so anx.
iOus to get rid of the case, and have
AmbOld convicted. l knew that he
frequented that evil house, and that
he had done much toward tempting
Charley to dissipation. | knew that
he was in that house OH the night on
which the prisoner was robbed-for
Charley had told me so when visit
ed him In the cell. had then asked
the unfortunate youth if he was sure
Warren was his friend. o, he was
sure of it. He should have hunted
him up on the night of the robbery,
only they told him Warren had gone.
By and by, the foreman proposed
that we should each take up a piece
of paper and write down our opinion,
and then compare notes. / went to
my hat, which / had placed upon a
table with a number Of others, and
took out q sheet of paper. i had got
half way back to the table when
found had made mistake. / had
got part of letter from another mans
hat. was about to turn back when
the name Of the writer of the letter
arrested my attention. looked
more closely and read:
"Stephen Grant"
Next caught this sentence:
"And now dear Charles, if not for
your own, yet for your mothers sake,
let me hope you will do better
l started as though a shot had
struck me. l held in my hand the
other half of the sheet which had
been used to fire the burned house.
! went to the table and found that |
had taken it from Warren's hat! |
looked to see if l had been observed
and | had not. l put the paper
back, and then took piece from my
own hat which was Of the same pat
tern as the other and by its side.
l returned to the table and sat
down. Warren was by my side. He
had written his opinion, and took
knife from his pocket to cut it from
the large sheet.
"Let me take your knife moment,
il you please" said to him.
Without hesitation lie did so. L
took it. III ras Charley Ambo1m's
air sasks A. ass1Fe4s vAsi.a AIsas acaS caa qae
ing cut my papers handed back the
knife.
Why should he carry that knife so
boldly about him. afterward learn
ed. He had not worn those panta-
looms before since the night of the
fire; and now he used the knife prod
ably without the least remembrance
of the loss it had sustained during the
very peculiar piece of work, to the
execution of which il was made sub
servient.
We talked for some ten minutes
and found that eleven of the jury
1nr A.,I s.,t
of guilty though most of them We're
in favor Of recommending the priso-
ner to mercy. Moulton Warren was
decided. He had no mercy at all.
Presently started up,and pretend
ing to be faint, l said must 60 out
for a few moments. kicked at the
door and the deputy sheriff came
He heard my plea and let me out.
As soon as we had gained a safe dis
tance, l told him all. He was aston
ished and went away when he came
back he brought the district attorney,
and the district Judge and sheriff. l
told him again what had seen-I
assured them that knew 1t was no
mere suspicion. And l explained,
too, Warren's manner in the jury
room, and his former connection with
the prisoner, and his known charac-
ter.
The officers went away, and at the
end of ten minute they returned. a
constable added to their number,
and this constable had freshly writ
ten instrument in his hand. The
sheriff bade me point out the hat to
them AS soon as we entered the
room.
The door of the room opened. and
pointed ont the hat. The sheriff
took II, and asked whose it was
| Warren leaped to his feet and seized
it, but was held back.
| Word was instantly sent to the
Judge that the jury could not agree.
They were discharged, and Moulton
Warren search'd. The knife was found
upon him, and his behavior at once
exposed his guilt. The :presence OF
that letter was accounted for in a
dozen different ways within an hour.
A new jury was empanneled, and
Charles Ambold was acquitted. Short
" afterwards Warren was tried. II
was plainly proved that the woman
who kept it was to have burned mp
in it, as he contrived to lock her in
a room shortly after setting the fire
She had incurred his displeasure in
various ways, and this was his revenge
Not only she, but two of her girls had
suspected him from the first, but they
dare not complain, for fear he would
not be convicted, and would be sure tc
murder them.
The hardened william confessed hi
guilt after he had been condemned
and then it was that he told how h,
happened to be so careless in regart
to the paper and knife. 1t was he VIII,
had robbed Ambold, and when h
took the old letter from his hat to u.s.
lii for u torch in setting the fire, h
did not even notice what it was, ant
when that partly burned half hat
been exhibited in court he had en-
tirely forgotten that he had torn tn
other half off and put it back in hi
hat, as he must have done. The let
. to,. had haau fnnnd in AmhOld's mock