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

4 dafk, s1nlStef-lOOklng 1eIIOW-'
least to me. I knew that young An
: bold had one fault. He had been al
) dicted to drink, and had been know
to visit disreputable houses. It ",
, one of those houses that had bee
, burned, for setting fire to which h
,, had been apprehended.
Now had often tried to persuad
Charles Ambold from the course h
was pursuing. He had repeated
promised me that he would reform
and as repeatedly had he broke
away. I had often talked to him q
, his poor mother until he had wep
like child, but the effect was no
lasting. There was power of tempta
ton more effective than any influenc
; | could WELD. He would fall ava
into evil companionship, and for
while his manhood was going. On
or two abandoned woman had game,
great power over him, and upoI
them he wasted much of his sub
stance.
And knew that this very man, VIII,
was now on the jury-this Moulto1
Warren-was one who had don
more than all others to lead the poo
youth away. It was Warren who ha,
drank with him, and who had led hin
away to those more ahominahl,
haunts of sin and pollution. Why wa
he upon the jury? could only &C
count for it upon the ground tina
Charley still supposed him to be hi
friend. The poor scorched insect wa
still ignorant of the flame tha
scorched him. He really believed tha
Moulton Warren was his friend.
The trial commenced. The indict
ment set forth that Charles Ambolf
had, with malice aforethought," and
with all sorts of wicked and feloniou,
intent, set fire to a certain dwelling
house, thereby endangering human
life. This dwelling. as / have already
intimated, was low sink ofiniquity
where the abandoned of both sexe,
were wont to congregate, and where
the youthful prisoner had spent much
of his time.
The evidence for the prosecution
came on and ] was startled. One
after another gave in their testimony,
some of them very reluctantly, and
was frightened when / saw how
plainly ii all pointed to the prisoner
as the guilty party. Several credit.
able witnesses swOre that they had
heard him threaten to burn the house
down and others had heard him re.
peatedly say that he wished II
crar wrtnvsArs-ssu,,e''s,s- s--...~-,..~-.---
nent citizens--who saw him lurking
about the premises on the night Of the
| fire.
With regard to the provocations OH
the prisoners part for such q deed, il
was proved upon his own admission,
that he had been heard to say that his
salvation of soul and body depended
upon the destruction of that house.
Next came more testimony stronger
still.
The fire had been set in a bach
basement room, where shavings and
kindlings were kept. Entrance had
been gained through back window
which had been partly pried open
with stout knife. The basement wal
was brick, and beneath the sash wa!
the blade of knife, which had beer
broken off in trying to raise the sash
The blade was recognized as belong.
ing to the prisoners knife. A maker
of cutlery had made knife to order
for Ambold only a month previous
and he knew the blade at once anl
swore to il.
But this was not all. The fire haC
evidently been set first to the shaving
which lay upon the stone floor, bu
piled up against wooden partition
The floor was damp, and some of th'
outer shavings, even, were not Who'll
ly burned up. But just at the edg,
where the fire commenced, lay q piec'
of paper, rolled up, and about hal
burned, and from the manner il
which it lay, it was very evident tina
the fire had been set with it. Thi
piece of rolled paper had been ignitet
with match, o number of whicl
were scattered around, and as soon a
it was on fire it had been laid upoI
the floor with the burning end justil
the shavings. OF course these shay
ings were in blaze instantly, but til
paper torch being on the damp stone:
had not burned wholly up.
/ And the paper was found to be par
of letter belonging TO the prisoner
A letter which he had received frof
friend Of his (and friend of mine
only week before. That friend ha
to come forward and swear that piec
: of charred paper was part of lei
ter he had written to the prisoner
This friends name was Stephe
Grant. He was young merchan
and the letter had been written fo
the purpose of inducing Ambold I
reform. Stephen tried hard to avoi
testifying, for he knew as did other
that the fire must have been set wit
that indentical paper; but he ws
summoned, and he could not deny Ii
T own chirography.
/ The case looked dark. Many wi
nesses were willing to testify to Ii
I, prisoners good qualities, but no on
could swear that he was not dissip,
! ted and degraded. The house ha
i been to him indeed, region inferl
al. Its destruction called out for h
!, bodily life; and its existence ha
long been eating into his soul. Poo
Charley! l had before been sure ,
! his innocence; but now could onl
shake my head and pity him.
5 Finally he was allowed to speak f.
I: himself. He said he was innocent ,
i the crime imputed to him. He sal
f that he had threatened to burn tn
a house down-that he had said abol
), all that had been sworn to. And, flu
l. thermore. he was round the house
the night of the fire. He was not Il
rods off when the flames burst fort
! and he was one of the first to gi'
!. the alarm. He had uttered one CT
% of fire when he noticed where q
I flames must have originated, and Il
: thought came to him If he was -four
" there he might be suspected of ha
- ing set the fire, so he ran away.
= also said that three hours before
n had been robbed in that house. II
r pockets had been emptied of ever
{. thing in them, and his pocket-boo
containing $40 in money and sOI
valuable papers, had been take
He had gone there on the night
"a the fire to try and persuade them
10 give him back his money and papt
ofl-or at least to get what he coul
I. When he got there, he saw man
- in whom he did not wish to see. so
IL had hung around waiting for him
he depart. He was around by the ba
%. of the building once-and that was
"A hour before the fire broke out.
!" knew nothing-nothing. He clasp
~ his hands, and with his fearless g!
y raised toward heaven, he called
God to witness that he was innoce
have told you that l knew h
well. knew him so well, that FRI
es that moment knew him to be inl
IA cent! knew his very sOul-I KIN
n how sfrce and open it was--oh, h
~ sinfully SO! | knew there was
falsehood in the story he told US.
u. "My boy is innocent! Ny boy
n innocent p