Litchfield enquirer., 1880-12-30
WHOLE NO. 1900

80 which the young lady had referred. 1 OBJ
served that she was sllll much agitated and
seemed to await my reply with something
Ike impatience; and, as / drew forth the blue
pocketbook, her eyes were rivited upon Il
with an eagerness painful 70 hebeld / then
exhibited the entries which r have already
shown you. and placed the book ID the hands
Of Mr.. Oliver. Both he and the young lady
examined and compared them without speak.
ing word. He took from q bunch Of papers
on the table . folded sheet, which, when he
had opened out, ] saw was criminal iadict.
nlent. Glancing Il over for minute. he read
out slowly and distinctly the number
81 i9-9s comparing II figure by figure with
the first entry 10 the pocketbook.
rs" Thank God. said the young lady, that
u IT,. During this time her face had changed
from being palIid TO a hue like that Of death:
and DOW, as the tears started from her eyes,
she sank, half-fainting into chair. was
not surprised at the nature Of her excitement
when came to know al, and that when
met her she was leaving the characteristic
state Of despondecyn almost bordering on de-
spair-day after day having passed. aud no
reply being received TO her repeated adver-
tiselnents and appeals. s
Mr.. Oliver spoke kindly and encouraging
iy to her, and 10 little she had so far recov-
cred as TO allow him so prosecute the inqui-
ries which naturally arose out Of the informa-
ton had given him.
- 1 have already mentioned to YOU he
said, that the note which tine young gentle
man admitted having received from you and
placed in the cash-box was forged notes
trust the fact that you had that note 10
your possession can be satisfactorily explained,
as we should be very sorry indeed If the in
formation that promises to give such relief to
US should in any way reflect upon YOU o..
Il said that hoped not. I had received
the note, as entered in the memorandum, from
firm called Roberts & Sons; but know
nothing further OF them, the firm having been
strange one to me, and the transaction-the
first and last l had had with them-a cash
one. ..... -...., ee. ....t.,.
HE asked if remembered the address Of
the firm. l told him as nearly as I could;
whereupon, again referring to bis papers, he
showed me cutting from newspaper con.
tanning the detection and conviction of a gang
OF bank-note forgers, who had transacted bust
ness under various cognoments, one of these
being Roberts q Co.. and be stated, what
was aftcrward verified, that the persons from
whom had received the note which had
caused all this trouble to innocent people were
in all probability connected with the forgers
referred to
ut was thus that first made the acquain-
snce of my heroine, Miss Briefly and may
say that never felt prouder of my old blue
pocketbook, with It's mass OF apparently trif-
ling entries, than when the Secretary of State.
after hearing the statement we made to him,
accepted my pocketboOk memoranda as evil
dence. and in due course issued an order for
George Hami,ton's liberation The very day
the order was received went to Millban to
take HIM back and in two hours he was sit
ting at dinner in the place you now occupy,
with his handsome bride-elect at his side. The
only atonement that could make him for the
suffering had ihnocehtly caused him was
to take the place OF a father, and give her
away on her wedding day.
"You will now, hope, perceive the value
place upon such memoranda as my old
pocketbook contains, To make such entries
is only the work OF minute; and when
made. there is no knowing what useful pur-
pose they may serve. There can be no rea-
sonable doubt that, ii had not had the
transactions above referred to, trihing as ut
first sight they may have appeared, duly
entered in my memoranda, my statements TO
the Secretary of State would have been of
no avail, as they would have looked like the
trumped up fictions of a later hour, concocted
for the purpose of defeating justice As 1t
was, the entries stood in my book under their
proper date, and were sufficient of themselves,
apart from my par0l evidence, to prove that
the person to whom gave the forged ten
pound note on the I'd of September was not
the utterer. OF that forged note, whoever may
have been the guilty party; consequently. I
was thus able to free an innocent person, not
only from prison, and from long and de-
grading course of penal servitude, but from
the lifelong stigma which the imputation of
such crime would have left on his character.
And now my dear boy, am going to give
you a present of q nice new memorandum
botk and hope you'll make good use OF
it. hambers's Journal