Connecticut western news., 1884-06-11
MY FRIENDS STORY.

''Many years ago." said my friend, Gin an idle moment. I went into the Old Bliley, when a scene of more than ex- traordinary interest was about to take place in that theatre of human misery and degradation.
 .'The prisoner at the bar was a young man of about twenty -four years of age, tall, of digniied and preposs essing air; his dark hair hanging disorderly on hls shoulders and about his brow, gave a singularly wild and mounful express sion to features that seemed to indicate feelings such as felons never possess.
 s'The indictment was read; it con- tained an account of most atrocious crime, committed under circumstances of ingratitude that deepened its horror. He was, it appeared, a young Scotch man, the son of a minister; he had dis tinguished himself in the University of Glasgow by his talents and acquire ments, and had been ordained minister of the Gospel. While at college he had formed an acquaintance with the son of a Highland laird, of nearly the same sge, and of an amiable and cultivated mind. The father of this youth, man of large property, had been so pleased with the friend his son had made, that he had obtained for him church in the Highlands, on condition that he should previously accompany his son in his travels over the Continent.
 ''They had accordingly gone to Lon don, and, having there received large remittances for their proposed journey, were just going to set of, when one night the youth was found murdered in his bed, and appearances seemed to point out the prisoner as the perpetra- tor of the deed. They were briefly these:
 ''Some days before they had been heard talking in their room in a very loud and angry tone of voice. The sub lect of the dispute was, it was supposed, a lady, whose name was mentioned. The words jealousy and revenge were dis tinctly heard; visible coolness was ob- served for some days after, till the even- ing of the murder, when they gave an entertainment at their lodgings to friends who had come to bid them farewell. An evident change had taken place in the behavior of the prisoner, who affected to be obsequiously attentive to his friend. But the principal witness for the prose- cution was an old game-keeper who for many years had been in the employ of the deceased, and who seemed almost oyerpowered with grief. He stated that on the fatal night, while sitting in the kitchen smoking his pipe, in company with woman who acted as charwoman in the lodging-house, he heard a noise in his masters room, AS if two persons were struggling. He alarmed the land. lord, entered the room, which was open; 8 light was on the floor and still smok. ing, and the prisoner was found hanging over the bed-a bloody knife, which was known to belong to him, by his side, his hands bloody, his face pale, and betray- ing all the marks of a guilty and dis. turbed mind. The prisoner was skilled in anatomy; he had been heard to de, scribe the quickest and surest way oi destroying life; and the place of the wound corresponded with the descrip tion. Moreover, some notes paid by $ banker to the deceased were produced II court by a woman, whom the prisoner had been seen to visit, from all which proofs it satisfactorily appeared tha this unhappy youth, corrupted by vicious company, had, by feelings of jealousy and the temptation of money, been in stgated to murder his friend.
 ''While this melancholy detail wal given, the prisoner appeared almos sinking under contrition and shame When the case had been closed for tn prosecution, the judge, in the most i'm pressive manner, called upon him for hi defense. He stood up, and, after
 short but violent effort to conquer hi feelings, he addressed the Eench with
 voice at first weak and tremulous. bu afterward collected and full:
 "'My Lord and Jury: You call upol me for my defense; have none to make yet am not guilty. You have jus heard circumstantial account of al atrocious crime, supportedIby a weigh of evidence which, fear, will leave up on your minds no doubt of my guilt But it Is all wrong. The woman wh, appeared in evidence never received tn money from me; 1t was my fear of tn, dangerous influence which she had oc quired over him that was the cause of tn temporary coldness of my friend, an, which his better feelings, and his conf dence in the purity of my intentions en abled him to conquer. My visits to tn woman had no other object but to pre- vail upon her to break off her connec ton with him. As to that horrible nigh Twill state all I know of it. I wa awakened by a nose in my friends room which was next to mine. I listened and all was still. Then heard what mus have been my poor friends last dyin cry, but which I thought was only tn involuntary moan of disturbed sleep; stil vague but irresistible feeling of alarl imp elled me to the room. By ligt that was dimly burning, discovered m friend in the condition you have hear de scribed,' Here his voice faltered.
 have no recollection of what followe,
 When I came to myself the room VI