The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-08-27

III one cOrner--a Knot commonly called
by young people "love-knot. 1t was
SO small that it would hardly be noticed,
and she desired me to look at the hand
kerchief found mt the first opportunity,
and see if there was such knot on it.
for, if it was not there, then it was not
Henry's.
The hearing before the magistrate was
to take place the next day but one, and
l sent her home with instructions to
bring me in one of the handkerchiefs
the next day, but TO be sure and let no
one know it. She started home, and l
went to my Office to think.
The hearing was before A. c., mag
istrate in our city. There was long,
high desk at one end of his office, be-
hind which he sat during the examina-
ton. l stood behind the desk mt one
end. The prisoner, witnesses and audi
ence were III front. L had procured
newspaper, which / opened and spread
upon the top of the desk, and stood
reading it while the preliminaries were
being arranged. The handkerchief was
produced, and, while | was cross exam
ming the principal witness, l carelessly
spread it over the newspaper had been
reading, and with pin, unseen by any
one, L punctured the handkerchief and
paper around the margin of the blood
spots. This L did while / was cross
examining the witnesses and "quarrel-
ing" with the District Attorney.
When the examination had concluded
and the defendant had been held under
bail for his appearance at court, L re-
quested the magistrate to inclosc the
handkerchief in IN envelope, and Keep it
until court. did this because feared
some one would discover the love-knot.
which | found MS Ellen had related. /
then returned to my Office with the
punctured newspaper, making n COM
plete map of the blood-spots. Next,
spreading out the handkerchief Ellen
gave me, and the punctured newspaper
over it, with tuft of cotton | busted red
the paper there was Il map of the spots on
the handkerchief. We had chicken for
dinner that day, and vial of its blood
found its way into my office. With the
blood and small brush | saturated the
spots marked on the handkerchief, let it
dry, laid it away, and awaited the time
of trial
1t came at last, in the month of Au-
gust. The jury was impaneled, and the
District Attorney opened the case. By
the side of the prisoner sat his mother
and affianced bride. Ellen was really Il
very beautiful girl, and, while the Com
monwealth's counsel was stating the
facts he intended to prove, she looked at
the jury with such startled, pleading
expression III her tear-dimmed eyes that
I thought to myself, Well, gentlemen, if
you can disregard that item of evil
dence," You are made of different mate
rial from any jury l ever selected.
The witnesses were called and the
facts proven in substance as / have mar
rated, up to the Identification of the
handkerchief. When the District At
torney called the name of William
W l felt the blood rush to my heart
i'll way that almost silenced its beat
ing. The crisis was at hand. knew
if | failed the young girl would be heart
broken, and L believed it would kill the
old mother, whose heart was bound up
i'll her idolized son. Not only this, but
the defendant-as honest and worthy Il
young man as there was i'll the country
would be branded us II felon, sent to
prison, and ruined for life and all this
because the Infamous license law had
spread its poisonous influence over the
little village of S, and tempted its
young men to vice and crime:
The witness, William W, came
upon the stand with supercilious air,
full of the Importance of his position rs
principal witness against "A defendant in
IL case that excited so much interest in
the county. knew he was deep-dyed
villain at heart, whose Hottest thoughts
and best acts were SO mean and low that
the lowest and worst thoughts and acts
of the prisoner at the bar had never vet
descended to their level.
In my practice L have observed that
there are two kinds of witnesses who
appear III our courts. One class will
tell "A lie SO adroitly that it will look just
like the truth the other will tell the
truth SO bunglingly that il will look Just
like Il lie Fortunately for my client,
William belonged to the latter class,
and, when he tried to mix truth and
falsehood together, he made most lam
entable failure. The fact was that he
Hutl lIltu 10 DeCOHlt SulOI n Ellen,
and, moved by jealous hatred toward his
successful rival, believed he would hes
itate at nothing that would procure that
rivals conviction.
The witness narrated the occurrence
at the ball, the broken glasses and bleed
ing hand and, when the handkerchief
was handed him, he identified it without
hesitation as the one he had taken from
Henry's pocket and wrapped around his
hand. When the Commonwealth had
ended the examination in chief the wit
ness was handed over to me for cross-ex-
animation. | sat behind the counsel
table. Close to me, on one side. sat the
mother on the other, Henry and Ellen,
to whom, my impression is. had given
some instructions before the trial COM
menced. 1t is so long ago, however,
that may have forgotten it.
The handkerchief lay upon the table.
The one Ellen brought me was in
small roll in my lap under the table. 1
took the right handkerchief in my hand
and proceeded with the cross-examina-
ton My first object was to get William
angry. In this l succeeded most COM
pletely; for, when l proceeded to ask
him about his store, and if it were not