The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-02-16
FOURTEENTH DAYS PROCEED
INGS.

Mr.. Blackford resumed Ills argument
to the jury. Defendant had been i'm
pressed with the idea that the Granger
organization was hostile to him. be
cause of his brother Elijah, being a
member of that order, and himself not,
and that th- women of the neighbor.
hood, also, had Joined against him /;
he was driven almost to desperation,
and he armed himself with a revolver
to resist the unlawful aggression of the
mob. When the constable and DIR.
Sturgeon came to his house to make
the arrest, they found Isaac, when he
opened the door, with revolver in
hand; but when he understood that
it was a civil process that awaited him
and not a blood thirsty mob, he sub
mitted with cheerfulness- He was
quite willing that the allegations
against him be thoroughly investigat-
ed by jury of his peers.
Dreams, in this era of civilization
and enlightenment, are not the stuff
of which accused people are hanged.
They might have formed good evi
dence in the days of New England
witchcraft, against an accused party
but they are invalid in our day. Hu
man testimony, however, even In our
own time, may not be regarded as the
perfection of wisdom. Prejudice, sus-
picioD. hatred, ignorance, may imperil
the life or liberty of the innocent.
fhe combination of all these elements
is arrayed against this prisoner. These
accusations occurred at aperiod when
the defendant was under q financial
cloud-the tendency was to crush and
overwhelm a guiltless man, uncon
scious of any intent to commit crime.
And at this point in remarks of coun-
sci, he could not anathematize in too
harsh terms, the vampires of the press,
and particularly of this sneak Fuller.
Counsel again returned to the tesfi-
mopy regarding visits of prisoner to
the milk house, and his poisoning the
yeast, and all this evidence was weak,
and could not be tortured into a point
that would make against the prisoner
Counsel was severe in his auimadver.
sions of the volunteer witness Fuller.
who. in order to get himself here as a
witness, doubtless promised the prose
cution that he would swear to any
thing that would convict the accused
party. The bread in which the alleged
poison was, was made of freshly
made yeast. There is no charge or
suspicion, that it was made of the dry
yeast. Yet, inferentislly, according TO
Fuller's testimony, Isaac had placed
poison in the dry yeast, another sort
of yeast altogether from that of which
the alleged poisoned bread had been
made. Isaac had given it as his opin
ion that the poison could not have been
strychpine. for, had it been, it would |
have accomplished its work sooner.
Would not any man, of ordinary intel |
Iigence, have reached the same conclu |
sionl
Can you, gentlemen of the jury, find |
from any chain of circumstances given |
in testimony that has been before You.
the slightest proof that Isaac B. |
Charles could have been guilty of the |
crimes alleged against him? To assume
Decuniary motives as among those tina.
would have induced the attempted |
homicide of all bis kindred, would be
an assumption far fetched, indeed.
Unless he had been successful in kill |
ing all his pum -rous blood relations.
his murderous work would have been
No motive, SO base
as murder. could, in ali reason, have
governed him. Council made an ex-
hibit of the financial condition of Isaac
B. Charles, up to the date of his arrest,
and showed that, had he continued in
possession and management of bis own
business. he would have paid dollar
for dollar, and had a competence re
least a sum reaching 50,
500; but this suit has utterly ruined
10 fortune, If Isaac B.
Charles has been made bankrupt, he
has been made so by his arrest and this
criminal trial. To day he would have
been worth at least $50, 900, had the
of his own affairs rontin
n ID in his charge. Had the trade with
,Iis brother Elijah been consummated,
as it would have been, had he not been
prosecuted and prosecuted, he would
doubtless have built the contemplated
hotel at Ada. and furnished it, and
had considerable surplus left
Mr.. Biackford then returned to the
poisoning theory, and analyzed thor
sughly the evidence on this point. He
showed by numerous quotations from
criminal trials in this country and
England, that d, aths attributed to
arsenic poison, had been communica
ted by use of laurel water, and other
substances, as had been repeatedly and
,learly demonstrated. Mr. Blackford
also cited numerous instances {. show {
tha unrolia hilifv ef ,nad,.>I &..<;xoocv q