Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-07-11

Clerk az Ose TO reau tne lHutcLulentS
Violation of the liquor laws, viola.
tion of the gambling laws, horse steal
ing, robbery, burglary, and, last OF
all, murder. One by one the black
record was spread before the Court, the
result of series of years of iniquities,
the work of half a dozen Grand Juries,
and now, for the first time, the much
indicted man was in the hands of the
law to answer its repeated summons.
Judge Gary looked towards Browneu.
'How does the prisoner plead?"
''Not guilty to every count in every
indictment, replied his attorney, one
of the younger lawyers in the city !;
'tand we demand a separate trial upon
each charge"
Amurmur OF disapproval ran through
the room. Was this notorious desper-
ado to escape through the very techni.
calities and delays of the laws he had
set at defiance.
"Then it becomes the right of the
District Attorney to move whichever Of
the indictments he may choose" re-
piled the Judge. "Mr. Arnold, what
is the desire on the part of the peo-
| ple?"
The gray haired prosecutor for the
county arose, and in deliberate and
dignified manner announced that he
would elect to try under the principal
J indictment.
! ''The greater might be said in this
/ case, Your Honor, to include the less.
| Should the prisoner be convicted OF
murder, it will relieve both him and
/ the commonwealth from the weariness
and expense of trials for the lesser
crimes should he be acquitted 1 shall
move IN immediate trial under the in
: dictment for burglary"
| The crowd breathed more easily.
Brownell was not to escape after all.
"Old Arnold IL do him." whispered
one listener to another; ''the evidence
is a dead sure thing! He's bound to
hang, an the Sheriff's posse thought
SO, or they'd never a brought him in y
The preliminaries were soon oIer, q
jury drawn and agreed to, the case
opened, and the trial begun.
Witness after witness was sworn in
rapid succession, and the dark story of
the crime with which Browneu was
charged-a street riot, resulting in the
death of one of the rioters-was re-
told in all its hideousness. The crowd
listened with eager ears, untiring for
hours, though the heat seemed to grow
with the day; the lawyers bent more
closely oyer their notes; the Judge
forgot to lean back in his chair. and
even the prisoner, resting with man.
acled hands upon the rail of the crimi.
nfi's box wherein he sat, showed by
t& gloom that gathered upon his
brutal face and the dull, angry glow in
!lis eye that he appreciated the desper-
ate strait in which he stood.
When the prosecution had rested,
the attorney for Brownell bent toward
him and whispered earnestly in hi:
ear. The man shook his head. Again
the lawyer addressed him, urging some
plan of defense newly thought, with O
gesture indicative of irritation, young
Stewart rose, and turned to.address the
jury.
He told them of his clients early
life, the lack of good influences, tho
hard paths for childish feet, the temp
tations of youth, the struggles and
failures of manhood. He told them o.
the fight for mere existence against
fate and fortune, with no one to lenC
q helping hand or breathe a heartenlns
word, of the frowning face OF virtue
and the tempting one of vice, of aspi
rations s1nothered, efforts unevailing
good intentions trodden under foot
and, at last, of hopeless, friendless, de
spairing wickedness. He warned then
:,gainst circumstantial evidence only
hc spoke of the inherent right of sell
defense; he prayed their pity and the
benefit of the smallest cloud that nigh
cast a shadow of doubt he opened ant
closed the case without witness ant
sat down.
Mr.. Arnold summed up for the peo
ple-coldly, logically, convincingly
and when as he closed the level rays o
the western sun shot through the dusty
windows and lit the wniting faces o
the Court and jury wi.V1heir glory o
crimson and gold, tbs prisoner, un
touched in the falling shadow where b.
sat. seemed, to the breathless audience
to rest beneath the gloom of a certain
punishment, desperate and without re
prieve.
In few words the Court charged the
jury so clearly, SO fairly, that ever
Blownell raised his ashen face from th'
rail whereon he had bowed it, one,
more to study, with cleaning eyes
the countenances of the arbiters of hi
fate.
AS the twelve left the room ther,
entered q child-a wee thing-in white
who wandered slowly in from the dool
behind the bar, looked solomnly abou
ms if in search of some lost friend, unit
her gaze fell upon Judge Gary. Thel
the little face frightened, and, with
shout of "Grandna!' she struggled
through the chairs, assisted by the law
ycrs, and claimed a seat at his side
where, for few moments, she whis
pered softly to the old man as b.
waited for the hour of adjournment.
Grandpa, it's going to rain, an
mamma wants 90 to come home
Zoys big cloud over Eat way, an it,
awful black ~ and, with round eyes O
wonder, she pointed directly TOWARD
the south.
'But, pet" said the Judge, "erand
pa's busy now. Who said that yor
could come herc?"
'No one: only mammals .'fraid. an
: { knowed shc wanted 90, an IL 5 IL Vi:
.loud, IN it whirls and whirls, an i
| ,cGrod me, too!'
, As the Judge was about to reply
, slisht commotion attracted his atten
ton. A moment later the jury filed il
, their boz, and the foreman ose an'
/ faced the Court
A hush fell upon the room Gs tn
= clerk called the roll; then in voic'
: that shook little he said:
''Have the jury agreed upon thei
, eerdict?"
.sWn hove ro-ol,,l 4l,a