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

: nos'rums which he here confessed TIN
he ad administered, aud rhe woud
Is that with the administration of II
4 vile drugs he gave. that a single OF
: of the iuvalids escqped.
/ MONDAY p. Mn. Blackford r
= suIned: There were some mat q
forced into this issue between the Srai
aud it, prosecutor. or rather. DerSec1
tor, that he would not discuss-he W,
: given to the melting mood, but
3 would choke if he undertook to Civ
, them full utterance. That a man {
reputable and established characte
whose entire life, so far as evidenc
goes TO show, would be dragged int
this arena simply upon charges tha
the newspaper press is largely respons
BILE for having originated, will stan
forth hereafter, as one of the wonder
in our local history. These basele.
charges were published all over th
. land, and produced false public ser
) timent. and pre- judged this cast
: Added to the murder of his paren,
} were involved charges of wife, siste
: and child murder-forgeries, and othe
high crimes, of which no proof ha
been adduced that he was ever guilty
This is not the first case in our Grim
nal annals that has excited to a degre
OF frenzy our people, who clamored 70
the blood of the innocent-but in Cd
instance, six weeks afterwards the fact
vindicated the accused party. III
could not condemn, in terms too Sc
we're, this outside pressure.
Counsel then required to the evi
dence of DIR. Sturgeon, showing tha
his testimony was inconsistent and un
reliable. That witness had made state
ments. in answer to inquiries, that tn,
cause was ''sick wheat" but claimed
that these answers were '-evasive.
His contradictory statements, made t1
Outside people at the time, and after.
wards TO this jury, when upon the git
ness stand, were altogether irreconcIl
able. On the outside, and ar the time,
it was sick wheat" on this witness
stand it was arsenic that accomplished
the evil. Then we have his own evil
dence that he aided in making the
arrest of defendant.
Council said, if this man is guilty,
do not know it. l think [ have had
opportunity of knowing the secrets OF
his heart; and / say to you that not q
word ever escaped his lips that would
authorize me TO adopt the theory that
he is guilty.
j The theory of arsenic and other poi.
soning was distributed over a large
surface. 1t might have been in -four,
water, ormaking of the bread. Would
dwell on some ''trifies, light as air, y
which might become strong las proofs
of holy writ" Was it in water from
tea kettle2 In buttermilk, used in
making bread2 Was it milk sicknessi
A multitude of other causes might
have produced poison. How did de-
feudant know where this yeast crock
was placedY whether in milk house or
other placef The basis of suspicion
that he knew where the yeast was kept,
and that he made three distinct visits.
instead of one, to find the yeast crock,
when the vessel occupied a place in
the milk house, and when one visit
would have been enough to have in
rroduced poison. if be had dreamed of
committing such a crime-this basis,
counsel said, had no existence. Testi-
mony of Anna Charles showed that it
was doubtful whether, on the Tuesday
afternoon previous to the poisoning,
it was doubtful whether in a single in
stance he had been there alone. The
theory of the yeast poisoning, counsel
was utterly fallacious
and unreasonable, and rested upon
baseless as the fabric of
vision.
Mr.. Blackford then referred to the
slanders Illuminated against Mrs. Isaac
B. Charles, by counsel for prosecution.
When the death of the first Mrs.
Charles occurred, and for months pre-
vious, she, then q mere child, was
hundreds of miles absent, and then |
wearing dresses adapted to her infant
lie years.
Recurring to Annals testimony, he
'aid that she swore that she was not
positive that her uncle had visited the
milk house more than twice-oDce
With her eli, and once with her mother,
Turing the time that her mother was
burning the cream for butter. Had
e guilty intent, he would have sought
he late and dark hour of the night o.
tuesday, 9Th of June, to introduce the
POISON into the yeast, when the door
vas unlocked, and when no one, saYe
,nly God would be near to with IS his
Sewells saw defendant
n milk house twice, but in neither 10.
tance was he there alone. Mrs. Blink
ey, from her neighboring glass house,
aw Isaac near or at the milk house,
Itauding at the door of the milk house.
What of thlsi Does Mrs. Binkley's tes
;imony really amount to anything?
And now, of Elijah Charles, the un
fortunate man whose credutity and
singular mental organization, COM
nands your sympathies. He says, in
his testimony, that on that Tuesday
AFTER return of Elijah from
Putnam county, they were constantly
;ogether, either in the milk house, or
n the dwelling, or around the premi-
YES. And 20, the testimony of even
he abused and diseased mind of Eli
ah falls to the ground. Counsel could
ind thousand men around this very
own of Findlay, who would be ready
% buy tickets to witness the hanging
If this defendant, and who were NUT
ering, cruelty him-crucify him!"
Counsel had talked longer than he
led intended. Had he wandered
the magnitude and solemn
y of the case must be his Justification;
,ut he could not close without recur
ing ag ,in to the evidence; and he
would again refer to the testimony of
Dr.. Sturgeon. Anticipating the arri.
al of a messenger announcing the
,oisoning of Elijah's family, Isaac
,lants himself conveniently to DIR.
surgeons office; and, at the doctors
ate. prisoner over heard the delivery
4 the message. Isaac, having the 4,
ensibilities of human being, was not |
when he heard this sad intel !
gence. Who, that had a human
cart in him, would not be moved I l
But Isaac was furnishing timber tor {
'uilding fence sround the doctors J
WI premises, and was, according to
surgeons statement, regarding the 1
rogress of the work. When be over {
card, from the messenger, Stumm, {
hat his brothers family bad been I
Isaac became agitated, that i
e even bit his finger nails. Mon 6
trousi That he should evince sym I
oms of agitasicni Would a man be
Dol when his house was on fire, and ]
lmily in danger of perishing in the s
alnesf In bis kindness and solicitude
Or the distress of his brother and 9
,mily, he quite naturally inquired, i
how did they get itY' Have they {
ny suspicion that some one was guilty {
the crime. or, was the poisoning &C g
dentalf" These inquiries were in the !
louths of all-neighbor inquiring of
and even by DR.. Sturs con, =