Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1890-12-26

Stevens, Sr., spat upon the breakfast ia
BILE and that 1t was to prevent a repeti-
ton of this that Levi removed him to his
room, using only such force as was nee
essary for that purpose, the pounding
and choking being denied in toto. Some
serious discrepancies appeared between
Brother-in-law Dickenson's testimony
and that given by him on "A former occa-
sion, and on the other hand a number of
reputable witnesses testified that the old
mans reputation for truth and veracty
was decidedly bad. The arguments were
completed by o'clock, and Judge Start
occupied half an hour in delivering the
charge to the jury. At half-past five a
recess was taken, but shortly after 8
o'clock the bell rang and the Court went
in. The jury had agreed upon verdict,
and it was guilty" Exceptions having
been taken, an appeal was entered and
Stevens was admitted to bail in the sum
| of S200-the same as before. The re-
spondents brother, Royal, and Judge
Slade went on the bond. and Stevens was
released. The elder Stevens bears a rath-
err hard name, and he has himself known
by experience how it feels to be charged
with crime in the county court. He has
managed during his long life of y years
to be constantly at war with some or 9th
er of his neighbors; and, whether right
ly or wrongly, the sympathy of the Corn
wall people who know the parties was
Enthusiastically with the younger man dur
ing the trial.
Tuesday morning the case State VS..
Benjamin Merritt, for bigamy, came on
for trial, Mr.. Bliss prosecuting and
Mr.. Wilds appearing for the defense,
having been assigned by the court. The
claim of the State was that on the 18th
day of November, 1885, Merritt married
in Addison a girl named Louisa Carter,
or McNOrton, and that while the wife
was still living and no divorce having
been procured, he on the 9Th dav of
July, 1889, at Port Henry, n. Y, mar
ried a woman known as Eva Heustis, or
Lucia. The first marriage, in Addison,
was performed by Baptist minister,
the Rev. T. Ii. Archibald, now of Mid
dlebury, and the bride was a girl who
was Familiarity known around the streets
here for years as "Topsy" McNorton.
She was wild sort of street Arab, and
among other freaks became recruit of
the Salvation Army while that host was
laying siege to Mddlebury. Topsy
went away from town with the last of
the retreating forces, ostensibly to be
educated and drilled for IL powerful
/
parts again after a while, and has been
hereabouts off and on ever since. 1t was
about year before the Salvation Army
episode that Merritt and Topsy were
married.
! Married life did not seem to suit Topsy
however and after trying it for "A month
or two she left her husband and passed
out of his sight forever, scornfully aban-
doning his bed and board-if he had any
such things.
Then, inside of four years, Benjamin
took unto himself another wife, and in
deed there was an inkling that there was
still another one between TOpsv and Eva
Heustis, Merritt telling the officer who
arrested him that he had tried two
women and found them bad ones, so
thought he would try another. The
couple lived, up to the time of their ar
rest. in Addison, Brdport and Wey-
bridge, but people became indignant and
called the attention of the authorities to
the case. The two marriages were not
denied by the defense, and no witnesses
We're put on for that side, but the de-
fense was devoted wholly to trying to
create an impression that Merritt be-
lieved his first wife was dead at the time
he contracted the marriage with Eva
iIeustis and that, anyhow, Merritt was
so nearly verging upon the line of idiocy
rs TO be irresponsible and held blameless
by the law. But the jury did not bank
much on these theories, and in the after
noon. having been in consultation only
ten minutes, they came in with verdict
of guilty"
In State vs.. Eva IIeustis. the compile
ment of the foregoing case, a continuance
was entered by States Attorney Bliss,
and at his suggestion the respondent
was admitted TO bail in the sum of 500.
She was released on her own recogni-
zance and left the court room with her
baby in her arms.
An hour and half was then occupied
in hearing the testimony in State VS..
Fred Delphia, who was indicted in June
for petty larceny committed by helpr (
to steal Charles Bisbee's grind-stone ib
New Haven on the night of Septembsr
30, 1889. In the following May, Deputy
Sheriff John Caldwell, with search war
rant in hand, found the grnd-stone IN
the attic of Joseph Ash's house in NEW
Haven, Ash being Delphia's brOther-ih.
law. Having been indicted, Ash pleaded
guilty at the June term and paid finS
and costs. 1t was suspected that Del
: phia helped him to lug off the grind
stone, which was variously estimated tC
, be worth from 10 cents to five dollars
hence this prosecution. The two prin
| cipal witnesses for the State, Mr.. anC
: Mrs. Ash, turned out to be much better
witness for the defense, and when the
, evidence was all in, Mr.. Bliss, seeing
that there was nothing in it to warrant
1 conviction, requested the court to direc
/ the jury to render verdict of mo
: guilty, which was promptly done
Judge Shade defended Delphia.
The court then, at / o'clock, took
recess until 10 o'clock next Tuesday
\ morning, when, il is expected, the But
t terfield case will be begun. There il
; probably at least a full weeks work ye
n before the court.