Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1884-10-02
A NEW EDlEUND DANrEs.

Spending his Time While in the. Peniten-
uaEy IN EducatlEle Himself ana E'reIlslr-
ing for Revenge Upon HIS Perseeutors-
Times.
Three days ago a wel1-dressed finely
formed possessed gentleman knocked
at the door of the humble cottage Occu-
pied by the widow Gates, who lives in
the back country, some twenty miles
south Of this city, and inquired concern
ing the widows son, who had left home
s me ten years ago. In short time the
strangers identity was revealed and the
widows lOng-lost son was In her arms.
The name of the gentleman is Charles
Stafford. Ten years ago he was a rough,
unCuitivated backWoOds lad. The whole
of his lie since then has been passed,
until Wednesday last, in the penitentiary
at Allegheny, and the story o. the transit
ton from a bOOTish TO refined condition
discounts the fiction which was the pri-
mary cause of the change.
Last Wednesday Gov. PattisOn signed
StaffOrd's pardon and liberated him after
serving ten of the fifteen years to which
he had been sentenced for a crime that
shocked the whole of this part Of the
State, the details of which it is unneces-
sary to relate here from the fact that the
fearful story has been told in the trial
reports and that the victim of the crime
is now a young matTOn living in the
vicinity and morbidly sensitive on the
subject. Stafford the ignorant, uncut
tured WOOd-cutter was arrested and was
convicted upon strong circumstantial evil
dence. The strongest link In the chain
Of evidence was the fact that when ar
rested he wore the red vest which the
victim of the crime noticed upon her
masked assailant in the woods. The lads
assertion that he had been induced to
change vests with a man named Nc
Calm, who said he was going West, was
uncOrrObOrated and when a number Of
other links were supplied by some wit
nesses named Rockwell and Reeder
Moore there was no doubt in the minds
of the jury and they convicted him IN
less than ten minutes.
HIS INNOCENCE ESTABLISHED.
Four years ago the man named by
Stafford as the person who snapped vests
with him died in the charcoal woods of
Michigan, and before dying confessed to
the truth CT the prisoners story. He de-
MED being the actual perpetratOr, but
said Stafford was as innocent as an un-
born babe. The confession was duly at
tested and sent on here, but was cOnsid-
cred too obscure by the authorities. Two
years later Reeder Moore, the witness
committed suicide, and while in the
thrOes of death he confessed and exhOn-
Grated st ford. Public excitement en-
sued and the community began 10 fear
that an innocent lad was languishing in
prison. Lawyers of emInence and citi-
zens of prominence prOffered their ser
vices and by degrees q mass Of evidence
was obtained that cOnclusively estab-
iished StafOTd's innocence. Through
the tedious process Of the State pardon
board his release was finally affected on
Wednesday
When he arrived at the penitentiary
and reflected on the fifteen years to be
passed there, Stafford says he almost
went mad. His ignorance he saw was
against him. The Judge who sentenced
him had adverted to his unintellectual
condition as being in harmony with the
british nature of the crime and he had
seen the approving mods of the jury.
He felt that he could never hope to help
himself or prove his innocence without
education, and so he resolved to possess
the power which knowledge gives.
Through the kindness of the officials he
learned how to read and write, and then
he launched into the study of mankind
as reflected in the daily press. The
newspapers furnished to the cOnvicts
were devOured by him with avidity, and
soon he knew more of the world and its
dOings than thousands outside of his
prison walls. One day he procured a
novel from the pen of Alexander Dumas
THE Count Of Monte Christo"-and
upon that work Of fiction his future life
was shaped. There was no learned able
in the penitentiary to dig into his cell as
in the case of Edmund Dantes, but for
cell companions he once had q minister
who had once done wrong and a lawyer
who had not done right. From these he
obtained much useful information.
LIVING FOR REVENGE.
He lived now for revenge. Upon his
knees he swore by the eternal God that
each of the Wretches who had sworn
away his liberty should be made to suffer
as he was suiering-year for year, tear
for tear, groan for grOan. By the force
of his newly-acquired intelligence he
reasoned out a theory which plainly in
Dictated the guilty party and laid bare
the GINNING plot of the COnspiratOrs.
What was dark to him when an ignorant
lad was now as clear as daylight The
perspicuity Of the letters he sent to his