The Cotton Factory Times. — 1893-09-29 (Manchester, Greater Manchester, England)

CIIAPTER XXVII. 11111LTOANI TB= ARD SHIITINCIC.  - The Asziaes opened the following Moaday, and Peter went down to Manchester, leaving his wife and Lizzie in a great state of anxiety. In spite of Belton's disinclination to be defended Peter had retained Bowling for that purpose, and the latter had instructed a Mr. Gownall, barrister, to plead for the prisoner. The plea was to be that Belton had slain Rugden in sell-defence; that the latter had attacked Belton with the knife, and that in the souffle the weapon had been plunged in the kuobetick's heart, either by a twist of his own hand, or by Belton's. It was late in the November afternoon when the trial began, and Peter, who was in (mart, leaned forward eagerly to catch every word that was said, and note everything that went on. He looked at the stern solemn judge, whose wig and ermine and official surroundings seemed to make him something more than human; something higher, colder, surveying and judging the frailties of humanity from an elevation whose atmosphere was too rarified to carry to his ears the groanings, the strivings, the temptations, and the circumstances that tarn a man to good or evil, and thus prevented him having the sympathy of the flesh with those erring creatures whose acts he was appointed to define as lawful or unlawful. He was not as they were, and their world was not his; thus it seemed; yet if his own private book of life could only be opened and read who shall say what revelations of stumbling and sin —even as the offeucea of those upon whom he sat in judgment—it might not disclose? To a man who can realise his position and its ramifying responsibilities it must be a terrible thing to be a judge! Doss any judge ever reflect—se he ever struck with the startling truth—that but for certain odd trifling circumstances he might be standing in the dock, and the prisoner sat in his chair delivering sentence on him? _ _ _  Something of this passed through the mind of Peter Banks as he gazed round the court before the trial of Belton commenced. For, notwithstanding his light-hearted levity, Peter Banks was a thoughtful man and had read much and studied. The reader has only seen one or two phases of him ; but he had many more. Indeed he once laughingly told Belton that his comicality arouse out of the very seriousness of his nature. "Balton," he had said,  "f I have any fun and wit and humour in me, it is only because humour is the froth of the sea of sorrow (that sorrow, I mean, which is wisdom, as Solomon says), and because the roses of laughter grow on a tree of thorns." And Belton knew that Peter spoke the truth, though he had similingly replied, "Why, Peter, you're quite a philosopher." "Yes," said Peter, "a philosopher in the jester's cap and .bells." But Peter was melancholy enough now, as he sat in court. It needs the very genius of mirth to ho cheerful in a temple of law, where also Mammon is worshipped iu these days, and perhaps has more weight than blind justice in the scales. It may be that the cause why Justice is so often duped lies in her blindness. With the bandage over her eyes she plays the game of blind man's buff, and mostly catches the wrong person; while the lawyers look on and enjoy the fun, as they see the blindfolded goddess rushing gropingly hither and thither, tumbling against the furniture, knocking her divine shins against chairs, and occasionally rubbing her sacred nose against the wall; this is line diversion for the barristers and Each gentry; for they know that they will make a pleasant profit ea the damage done to anything, and are therefore inclined to be the more hilarious the more the breakage is. Peter looked at the jurymen : they seemed ordinary enough in all conscience. One of them had a very obstinate face on him: the countenance of a man who will differ from everybody because it is his nature to. Then the lawyers and barristers filed in; Belton was placed in the dock; and the trial began. Peter gazed on Belton with infinite compassion; and .smiled as cheerfully and reassuringly as he could when the prisoner looked up once and caught his eye. But there was no hope on Belton' s face; he had resigned himself to his fate. The police and their detective.; had been ver7' busy; and Peter was surprised at the amount o information they had collected about Belton, and which was brought out by the prosecution. "There is not the least doubt of the prisoner's guilt," said the counsel for the Crown, energetically, "and though the murdered man had grievously wronged prisoner, no man is allowed, in this country, to take the law into his own hands and execute vengeance upon those who have offended him with impunity. The murdered man eloped from London with prisoner's wife; this gives the strong Motive for the crime. Prisoner came to Spindieton, and in course of time the deceased man, Rugden— being a native of the place, and having a wife there —naturally found his way thither also, going to work at the large ironworks of Crane and Co., whose employes were, and still are, on strike. Rugden stole out of the works on the fatal Sunday in order to visit his home, and on returning was recognised as a knobstick, or importation, and attacked by a riotous crowd. He fled, but the mob pursued him. Then the prisoner Belton, who appears to have been one of the strike leaders, stopped the crowd from following the fugitive, and went after him himself, Defensibly, as he said, to persuade the man to leave his work and cease being a blackleg. That excuse, however, was a fictitioue one. He had recognised Rugden as the man against whom he owed such a bitter grudge, and determined to follow and punish him—probably deliberately intended to kill him. That he did so there is not the least doubt, as I have stated before. He overtook the man Rugden, and slew him. Where did he obtain the weapon? I will tell you. Witnesses will testify that Rugden, in his terror as he rushed through the house of his wife, seized a carving-knife with which to defend himself against the mad mob. Other witnesses will prove that this knife was struck out of his hand, and the prisoner mast have been the person who picked it up. It may be urged that Rugden committed suicide when he found prisoner pursuing him, but the medical evidence will demonstrate that this supposition is utterly absurd. Rugden was murdered, and by the prisoner Belton." (To be continued.)