The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1878-03-23

| Liberty was startled TO It's utmost suburb by
the fearful crime and despite the bowling
winds of winter and the cold snow drifts, an
excited crowd assembled before the house,
eager 10 catch at every report.
Amy was unable TO give any information
concerning the death Of her father that night,
owing to her critical nervousness, but on the
following morning she made statement,
which, coupled with the report, already in
ICirculatiOn, caused the arrest OF the teller Inc
Young man was charged with taking the life
| of the bank President
There seemed to be evidence against HIM
sufficient to warrant his arrest and IL amount
ed to this:
For several months prior to the murder the
banker and his teller had not been soclaDlc,
and Il report was current that the removal ol
the latter was not among the lmPIoDaHIe
things. The teller had been the last man seen
with Jasper Trcntham, and Amy said that he
had accompanied her father to hi, bedroom
few hours prior to her discovery OF his dead
body and She furthermore said that the teller
had left the house alone, while her parent had
remained in the chamber Added to THIS was
the testimony of no less person than Mayor
Mcdonald, who dcposcd to having seen the
TELLER emerge from the Presidents residence in
an excited manner, and that he had heard him
say, ." 1t is all over; we've settled accounts at
last!'
The tolls were tightly drawn around the
Young man, and he found public sentiment
decidedly against him. 1t was with great dit
ficuty that the mob spirit was kept in abey-
ance at his preliminary examination, and an
excited crowd followed him to the very doors
of the Jail
| By the accused the murder was strcnuOusly
denied He SAID that on the fatal night he had
been summoned to the Presidents house by
that person himself, and that an adjustment OF
their differences had there taken place. lie
denied that he quilted the house in an excited
manner, and said that if the words quoted by
his rival Mcdonald had fallen from his lips
they referred to the happy reconciliation be
tween the banker and himself
The majority of the people of Liberty, in the
moment of excitement, were inclined to receive
the teler's statement with many grains Of al
lowance They saw him sutton for Amy
Trcntham's hand, and were ready to believe
that he had swept an opposing parent from
his path
ANY returned from the examination in no
enviable frame OF mind.
She found herself parcntleSs in the midst OF
a cold world, and with the one to whom she
had given her hearts fresh love in the shadow
of the hangman's moose.
For in the moment of his peril her whole
soul went out to him, and she believed that
his hand had not stricken her father.
Such was Amy Trcntham's love.
"If he did not kill father, who dd?' she
asked herself again and again; but no salts
factory reply rewarded her, and the mystery
grew deeper than the sea.
The sun was setting when Amy entered the
little room from whence the old mans spirit
had taken flight
She had not visited it since the hour of her
horrible discovery of the night before and i'll
had remained in apparently the same condl-
ton.
There were dark stains on the floor, the
sight of which chilled her blood, and She
turned to other and more inviting objects.
All at once she noticed that the icy wind
penetrated the room through "a broken pane
1t seemed to shiver her very heart
A piece Of paper which she picked from the
floor and laid upon the desk was instantly
blown to one corner of the room.
1t was too chilly for her, lrail girl as she
was, and she was about to quit the uninvtingI
spot when her eye CHANGED to light upon some
lines of her fathers bold chirography on the
paper aforementioned.
The next moment she held it in her hand
and read:
God forgive me for the deed | am about to
do, Tired of life and with troubles which |
dare not confde to any one enylroning me,
die by my own hand. Certain papers in the
bank,sa will tell the story; but not until the
chronometcr is willing can the doors be open.
ed Heaven pity and bless my child, Amy
JASPER TRENTHAM." |
The girl read the sentences with feelings
that cannot be described.
Her father Il suicide? The thought was re
pulsivc, but the truth seemed burned upon the
paper before her, and she resolved to turn it to
account.
1t would save the life of Orrin Walters, the
accused teller and place him spo,lcsS before
society again.
She lost no time in exhibiting to few the
paper which the wind had blown from the
desk but they shook their heads and at last
pronounced it forgery.
1t but seemed to intensity the populace
against the teller.
Led by Major Mcdonald who fed the pas
sions of needless men by well coined words
and covcrty directed speeches, the paper was
called "damning evidence" against the prison
or, and the night promised to witness the ven
gcancc of mObrulc.
At her earnest solicitation the cashier &C
companied Amy Trcntham TO the bank and
tired the doors of the safe.
They were as immovabe AS mountains of
adamant and he told the girl that many hours
might eapse before they would yield.
Did father close them? she asked.
"Ies"
when, please"
Yesterday at 3 o'clock but, as they are not
open yet, there is, indeed, no telling when the
mechanism will run down.
Amys gaze fell.
Are you going now?'
YES, miss"
please let me remain" she said, bcSccch.
ingly The doors are liable TO open at any
moment, and every minute is precious to the
life one man has in jeopardy
John Meredith looked at her astOnishcd
you believe, then, that he is InnoccntE" he
said.
81 do"
| And that the papers spoken of in the dOcu-
mcnt which some declare forgery are in the
safe"
Yes"
"And so do l."