The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1885-10-08

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establish his innocence. The letter was
of such a character as to merit conf
dence and demand immediate attention.
The counsel lost no time in making the
journey when he arrived and was admit.
ted to the prisoners cell he found "a
gentleman of culture and impressive
Manners man who looked more like q
poet than felon. He was surrounded
by many evidences of refinement, Shak-
speare and Byron and various novels
we're upon his table. His clothing was
of fine quality and sat we'll upon his well
formed person. The counsel was rot
long in receiving his confession, for it
was a confession of his own guilt in
committing the Montague robbery. He
was educated a physician he said and
received his diploma from Virginia
college. In his youth he had became
fascinated with the. romances that por.
trayed q brigand's life, and after removing
to st. Louis he was induced by some
fellows of kindred minds to join in
series of adventures, whereby the rich
and miserly could be made to disgorge,
and the poor and needy be lifted up.
eve have," said he, distributed thou
sands and thousands of dollars in this
way and saved but little for ourselves, for
we enjoyed the excitement and peril Of
our calling more than we enjoyed the
booty. A few years ago our line of ser.
vice was from St. Louis to Pensacola, and
the old man Montague was directly on
the route. We learned that he was a
miser and that he boarded his gold.
The week before he was robbed my pal
and stayed over night with him, for he
was accustomed to entertaining travellers.
I was riding blooded Kentucky mare
and my companion was we'll mounted on
a fine large sorrel mule. That night we
made observations of the plan Of the
house and the surroundings. The next
morning after breakfast 1 gave the old
man a twenty dollar gold piece to pay
our bill, and I saw he was pleased to
handle it. I saw him 90 to his bedroom
and unlock the old hair trunk and get
the change, and he had to unite bag Of
coin to get it; then he procured small
old leather bound book which he said was
his travellers book. Indeed it had its
name rudely written upon the cover. He
asked our names, and | gave mine as
William Thompson, of Kentucky. He
wrote it down with a pencil at the top Of
page, and spelled my namo without an
"h" or "p" and marked it "paid" and
left out the "i" in that word. I remem.
Der these things distinctly. We travelled
on to a little village few miles away
and remained there until the dark of the
room. We left one evening under pre-
tence of visiting some friends in the
country and then continued our journey
Southwark, but by the time it was dark
we reversed our course, and by ten
o'clock had passed old Montague's house,
and secreted ourselves in the woods q
quarter Of a mile back. There we waited
until the hour when deep sleep falleth
upon man. With our dark lantern it
was easy to find our way to the house
and the window, and still easier in our
stockings to take the trunk from under
the bed where two old deaf persons were
sleeping. Now in that trunk we found
the two left hands halves of two one
hundred dollar bills on the Bank of the
State Of Georgia. These two halves l
have kept and they will be sent You in a
few days. They are marked letter A,
and one is numbered 2096, and the other
2097. I have here the supreme court
reports of this State that contains the
sworn testimony of old man Montague,
and he does not mention these bills. He
says he lost nothing but gold out he
did, and he knew he did, and no doubt
put the officers of the bank upon notice.
suppose he had sent off the other halves
in letter and was waiting to hear from
them before he sent these. Now, my
dear sir, what more do you wantH is this
not enough to release Benson 2"
1t surely is, said the counsel. he sent
the jailer for q magistrate and had DIR.
Robinson sworn to his confession, and
was preparing to leave when the doctor
arose and said: zone thing more, my
dear sir. / have been here long enough
to review my life and consider my great
mistake. I have not done bodily harm
to any one in pursuing my unlawful
avocation but have brought dishonor
upon my only child. She has no mother,
and is living with her grandmother, and
they know nothing of my manner of
life. 1t has been two years since I saw
them, but they have not suffered for
anything. My gold watch and chain is
very valuable, and I will have lit sent yon
SO that you may send it to her., L. shall
never see her again." and his voice trem.
bled and fell as he uttered the last
sentence.
The counsel learned that Robinson
had lately robbed an old man in that
naborhood of four thousand dollars and
had blundered in his boldness, for he was
pursued, surrounded and caught with the
money on his person. The twenty years
sentence would about wind up his life,
and he knew it and was resigned to his
fate. He had taken his chances and
lost.
In a few days after the attorney re.
turned to his home he received letter
enclosing the half bills. The letter was
mailed in Louisville, KY, and said this
only: "by direction of my friend |
enclose you these half bills" There was
no signature. Heimmediately interviewed
Montagne's attorneys and submitted
everything to them. They began the
perusal Of the long confession with o
careless incedulity, but as they read
along o chance came over them-a
change from doubt 10 conviction, and
when the half bills were exhibited the
elder attorney said with emotion: "He
is iunocent-no man knew of those half
bills but Mr.. Montague and myself
charged him to keep it secret, for |
thought the robber would seek to collect
them from the bank and it would give us
clue to the gold" Let it be mentioned
here that on the trial of Benson he was
unable to prove the fact that Mrs. Ben.
sons father had sent her the five hundred
dollars that saved the farm from sale.
He was old and bed ridden and could not
attend court, for he lived hundred
miles away and the friend who brought
the money was on his way to the West
and could not be heard from iu time.
So the gold that be paid the sheriff re-
mained unaccounted for and was a
weight in scale of evidence-a weight
not as heavy as the little patch Of sorrel
hair, but with both together his convic-
tion was sealed.
Next morning, which was Sunday, the
counsel on both sides went down to
Montague's. Sons and sons-in-law had
gathered there as usual to spend the day