Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1892-07-05
point away froIn nv friend in whose in
nocence. IN spite Of appearance, / tirrnls,

point away from my friend. in whose in
nocences In spite OF appearance. / firmly
believed.
AT length, ON the day before the
trial "a last despairing search in the library
resulted In my finding q shred Of fnstian
caught in the easement of window
opening ON to a veranda Inan instant
was out ON the sIoping roof examin.
ing every tile down to the water pipe,
Sticking ON TO this I found another
larger shred of the same fustian, and IN
the pipe itself horn coat button.
This was something. Indeed, it was
much But it was hardly enough. to
make defence that would counteract
the terrible direct evidence against the
accused /, therefore, kept my discover
les TO myself, and Thought away harder
than ever
The case Before ours was one of
house-brealdng. Guriously enough, ON
the very night of the murder, a diamond
pane of glass had been removed from the
window of house occupied by an old
man reputed to be miser and the burg
lar had put his hand through this. opened
the window, and so entered the house.
The accused wns a big. braway fell
low, his hands hung over the edge of the
dock, and ! was particularly struck with
their immense size. To the astonish-
ment of the court, and the disgust Of the
solicitor retained to defend him, he
brought the case to y sudden stop by
pleading guilty BE got twelve months,
and, as he was leaving the dock, an idea
struck me that brought my heart into
my mouth, and in an instant, 1 saw my
way clear before mo.
g Freds case came next The prose
cutting counsel made his opening speech
and called his witnesses. cross-ex-
anined none of them, but waited anx-
iously for the return of messenger
had sent to bring me the lead frame OF
the diamond pane at any price. The last
witness had just stood down as he came
and put it into my hand. When rose
to begin the defence, Iastonished every
body in the court by asking that the last
prisoner should be brought back and
placed in the witness box, To all objec-
tions / simply replied
The life of my client. and the clear
ing up of this crime, depend upon
what ask being done.
cat last L got my own way, and the
burglar was brought back only asked
him three questions, but they were
these:
How did you open the window in
- street.
by putting my hand through the
pane took out.
How did you lose that button of
your coatH'
Climbing through hedge fort.
night ago. Rre
Did you ever fall off veranda, and
try to save yourself by catching at thu
waterspous?'
At each question the man grew
winter and more uncomfortable At the
last one he opened his mouth to speak,
but only an indistinct gurgle came forth.
Then produced the lead frame. and
the two shreds of fustian and the button,
and addressed the court with them in
my hand, This is something like what I
said:
The man in the witness box haa
pleaded guilty to crime that he did not
commit. in order to conceal his guilt in
a far grayer one. He says that he
opened the widow In - street, by put-
ting his hand through the place he had
taken the pane out Of Here is thu
identical leaden frame. Let me see him
put his hand through 1t.
q 1t was handed up, and, as the man
put out his hand to make the trial. he
drew it back, and staggered, with star
ing eyes, to the rear of the box. 1t was
evident, at a glance, that he could not
even have put all his fingers through it.
' Now, see if this is the button you
lost in the hedge. found It in the wa.
ter-pipe of the yeranda outside Mr..
Tressillan's library window, In the frame
of which also found this shred of stuff,
which think matches your coat.
"As spoke. the wretched man put
his great hands to his face. and sobbed
out: God forgive me- Yes, / did It.
Take me away
Three weeks later, one morning at 8
O'Clock, Fred called me into his bedroom.
and pointed through the window to the
black flag floating over the jail wall. He
put his hand on my shoulder, and said,
with shudder:
".But for you. old man. that fsg
would be flying for me. sf
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