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WmiMKlVKWMlOlG: •'■«A Story of Circumstantial Evidence.Our district court was in session, and in the evening, during the recess, a small party of iis were assembled in the private room of the presiding judge, a man ‘fully lip to three-score-and-len, with but’one‘guiding light while upon the bench, he told us- a story, as follows’:1‘Tears ago, I was Prosecuting Attorney for my judicial district. I was young then, a little more than thirty—but had worked hard to instruct andimprove my profession. When I became District Attorney I meant to do my duly, and as I felt myself, in a measure, pitted against the whole bar, I gathered my strength, and prepared to marshal all the forces at my command.“At length caiuc what I had long desired—a capital trial. It was a ease ofmurder, seemingly of the most atrociouscharacter. The Attorney-General cameclow n to attend, but when he found how well I understood the case,, and how thoroughly I had prepared myself, he did not propose to bother himself. He would leave me to conduct the prosecution, bolding himself in readiness to render assistance, or oiler suggestions,-in ease of need.“The case came on, aud I presented the Goucrnincut’s complaint, and thegrounds thereof. The prisoner at the» ■bar was Charles Ashcroft, a young man of five-aml-fwenly—intelligent andhandsome—and about the.last man in* # »» *the world one would have selected as n• . ■ *murderer.. Yet lie stood thus charged,, and-the evidence was overwhelming against him.....• 3* i | ■ *.4‘.The facts- as-elicited in evidence• » »were these : Ashcroft had been a teacher » • 'in the academy of the tqwn where he resided, and where the killing had been done. I-Ie had waited upon a young lady, named Susan Lattiiner, and bad evidently loved , her very dearly; but it seemed that Susan was not inclined to be constant. A wealthy suitor presented himself for her hand, and she cast off the poor pedagogue and aeccptcd the new comer. ,“One Saturday afternoon Susan Lat-timer went on‘foot to visit an uncle who■ *•lived two miles distant, and to shortenthe way she Look the cart-path throughthe wood that stretched down betweenthe sections of the town. Shortly aftershe was seen to enter this wood Charles#mAshcroft was seen to follow with a double-barreled gun upon his shoulder.SuBati Latfciraer went to'licr uncle’s, but finding only a servant of the family at home, sfie started- back at ouce by theway §hq iiad coiuc#■ . w“In tiie wood, on her return, she wits net by Ashcroft, who slopped her, and iphraidcil her for her desertion of him. Two girls—due fourteen years of age, tnd the other a vcar younger—who had ;one to the wood for the purpose of gathering beech-nuts, passed the twain vhile they were conversing, and heard Ashcroft “swearing terribly,” as they 'xprcssed il, at Miss Lattimei. They icard him declare that he “would asief die as not; and they heard her say,‘Don’t kill inc!” At this point the xltevcation frightened them, and they ran away.■- “Charles Ashcroft returned to hisboardiug-plnce, pale and agitated, withboth barrels of liis fowling-piece empty, but with no game. Later, the body of Susan Latlimer was found in the wood, not far from where I he altercation had taken place. She had been shot dead, the whole of one side of her face and head having been shockingly torn by a heavy charge of pigeon shot, evidently discharged with deliberate aim, at a very short distance. Some of the shot were extracted, and exhibited to a storekeeper in the village, who unhesitatingly declared that it was exactly such shot as he had sold on that same Saturdayto Ashcroft.“In response to this Ashcroft could only deny, in the most solemn manner, that he had not thought or offered harm of any kind to the deceased, lie admitted the truth of the statement made by the two girls ; and he admitted that he had purchased the shot as the.storekeeper had said. His story was, that on that Saturday afternoon ha had gone► «7into the .wood to shoot pigeons. lie drdnot know that Mis Latlimer had goneV*that way. . IIo met her unexpectedly, and foolishly allowed himself to give vent to his feelings of indignation. For words spoken on the occasion lie hardly felt himself responsible. In fact, lie could not remember what he did say. After talking until they had both become .exhausted by intensity of feeling, and Miss Latlimer had fallen to crying bitterly, be bade her Farewell, and told her lie had troubled her for the last time. She sat down _uppn a log .by the,'.pT.VT. ^TT j• • iTl| on ** ^ k j Al4ni uokluhim to leave her. He obeyed her, and saw her not again until he saw her dead. In explanation of the empty barrels of his gun, and no game, he saidthat he had met Miss Litlimer before he .had seeu any pigeons, and that after leaving he lmcl no heart for sport. Ha had discharged his piece in the edge of the wood into the empty air, as he never allowed himself to deposit a loaded gun in a dwelling house.“There is no need that I should giveyou the details of the trial. Suffice it for me to say that I felt my reputation at stake as Prosecuting Attorney. The Stale was my client, and she demanded that I should succeed. Able lawyers were arrayed against' me, with money and social power to back them, and I must overcome them In the combat if I could. I marshalled my forces aud disposed of them in the best possible manner. I threw iny whole soul into the work, and used every means possibly presented. I took the connexion of the prisoner with the homicide as granted. Then I drew a picture or the murder, which made the jury shudder and quake as they sat; and I demanded that outraged justice should be vindicated ; that the community should be protected ; that our homes, and our highways, and byways, should he safe to theinnocent ones whom we loved. I held the prisoner up in colors so frightful aud hideous that he fainted oStright in his box ; and then tins circumstance I caught up and turned against him. I fairly carriet^the jury by storm; and our sympathetic and good-hearted Chief Justice had allowed all bis sympathies to be expended upon the distressed and heart-broken parents and brothers andsisters of llio deceased. The counsel.for the prisoner were outflanked and overpowered, and they struggled hopelessly. In tlie end a verdict in the first degree was rendered, and tlie prisoner was sentenced to be executed.“I was jubilant and proud at the close of the trial, and both bench and bar complimented me. I went to my homeexpecting my wife to congratulate me.warmly. She had bceu present through most of the trial, and had witnessed mytriumph. But she said not a word,—When I asked her if she did not join,with me in gfatitude for my success,she shook her head.u lI am proud of my husband’s legal fame,’ ho said, ‘but I cannot feel grateful in the present instance. I think Edward, you have condemned an innocent man /’The words struck me like a holt of lightning,—not only the words, but the more than human feeling with which they had bceu spoken. I recovered myself, and laughed at the gentle woman for her misplaced sympathy. I asked her to look at the evidence,the whole.“Look at what evidence'?’’ she demanded.“There are unseen cvidcnctsas strong.jas those which arc palpable Insight andhealing. The heart feels than, and the{calm judgment endorses then. As Ilive, I do not believe Charles Ashcroftever knowingly or willingly cbM harm to that dead girl/ He knows no more how j she met her death llianT (lo.V “Tlie flurry of conquest was over, aud iu my own sanctuary I sat down and reflected. I took up now tl|e case forthe defendant, and went over. • *business from beginning lo ;id*. Shut-nting out the evidence direct ft i in plica t-*■ - *r *ing the prisoner, there was iuo human being who could have believeij him guilty. What, then, was-this evidence?— Did it directly connect Imnlwilh the killing? Ho. Only circumstantially was ho connected therewith] Was it possible that some cne clso could havedone the deed ? Aye, a thousand times. Was it more probable that some one else did it than that Ashcroft did it?— Here was the rub. 1 had seen .guilt in many forms, aml I had.ii-fo?neeree.accused. I had seen the guilty wretch attempt to hide his guilt, and pad heard him deny it in into. And herd came in the evidence which my wife had experienced, and which T' could j foci, but which could never be presented to a jury of ordinary men with moving power.— In the bearing of the prisoner there had.been not one shadow of that brazen impudence which is sure to crop out somewhere and somehow, in the demeanor ol guilt long struggling to affect innocence. Nor had lie displayed the despair of the hopelessly entrapped criminal. On.the conlrary, he had presented, as I could calmly review the scene,. #a crushed and. broken heart— a manhood staggering under a frightful iucu-bus, and a shivering, shuddering sensitiveness under the suspicious restingupon him. • How that I had won the victory, I could afford to judge without prejudice, and I found myself, crc long,Ithelows.man:)in trouble, I had condemned I had consigned him to the ga“IIow—how could she havh conic toother way is possible ?’’ ’ 1“I had mused aloud at this point, and my wife had heard me.t“There are many ways,” she said,with a directness which showed thather thoughts had been iu company with • •my own. “Ashcroft left her sitting up-on a log crying. When she got up tostartagain for home she blundered along ** *almost blindlv, thinking of nothing but• .the betrayed lover she had sent fromher. There have been plenty'of pigis-■ *ons in those woods, and others besides Charles Ashcroft were m all probability hunting there on. tiuit Saturday afternoon. Did you ever hear of persons be-#ing shot by sheer accident in such places ? What more easy than for Susan Latlimer to have suddenly come into range of a gun already aimed, with the finger of its owner pressing the trigger ? ”and saw the bnv. I I'mind him sick nigh.lt; •unto death— his life wt.riled away by fearful sncivl which he had held gnaw-king in bis bosom. I promised him that wo harm should come to him, aud he.brightened tip. It was exactly as my | wife had suggested. The lad had seen I* ' o ia pigeon upon a tree, and had crept in-i to a clump of blushes on the opposite; side of the carl path, in order that he might raise Jits gun without frightening 1w n wthe bird. lie had cocked.the piece, aud tnkeu aim, and his finger was pressing j the trigger, when Miss Latlimer, with her head ben I clown, came directly' before the muzzle. She had come like a dark shadow between him and the bird, and not until his piece had bceu discharged did he know what had thus suddculv obstructed his sight. When lie had leaped out from his cover, and had seen the fearful work lie had done*, he was for a moment paralyzed, with a I terror that was awful. Soon the phantom of murder appeared to his appalledsense, and he ran way and hid. And from that Lime he had suffered, until his secret -was so near killing him that he had to let it put, .“I returned home, and asked my wife if she knew where Charles Ashcroft was. She said she knew. I told her what I had discovered, and bade her bring him back. On the very next day Ashcroft appeared, and delivered himself up at the jail.“Tlie. final result you can easily comprehend. At the new trial the boy was able to attend, and Charles Ashcroft was set at liberty with but little ceremony,.his character fuljv cleared from oven the appearance of guilt, and his friends multiplied in number.“And so the life of an innocent, high-sminded man was saved. He would have been surely hanged had lie remained in prison to the appointed day. People said it was an interposition of Providence. They little dreamed flow much of that precious .Providence lay in the subtle instincts and in the heart of my wife; nor did they suspect my own official treason. • But I never blamed my-never. And tlie teachings of that in tlmter years.« I rtliiftPIa1!»0}]basvS“But,71 cried, startled at the thought, ‘had such an accident occurred the man wo ii. (I have come forward and owned it.’ “It was not a man; it was a boy,’said my wife; ‘and the catastrophefrightened him out of his wits—a boy who knows not the grades of homicide —who fears that the gallows would follow a revelation of the deed.7“I cannot tell you, gentlemen, liowthat tiling worked upon my mind. I came to believe that my wife had truly solved the problem; and the more I reflected the more firmly became that solution fixed in my faith. The time for Ashcroft's execution was drawing near. IIow could I save him ? There was but one way. A new trial without some new evidence,-was out of the question.I must see him free. I could not see him hanged. I visited him in his cell, and came away morally sure that lie was innocent. I asked my wife if she had the will and the courage to help that man to break his bonds. She flash-cd in the glory of her woman’s power like an impatient soldier. 1 told her Iwould set her on the track, but I mustnot know how the work was done, nor where the prisoner had gone. She comprehended, and agreed. I lent my official influence to gain her access to the jail, and she did the rest. She camehome one night radiant like'a giant who had a glimpse of heaven. On the following morning I was informed that the condemned man had escaped. !l asked my wife no questions, and she offered noinformation.* • •“Search was. instituted, but not.atrace of the fugitive could bo fouud.__The limo set for the execution passed find not many days thereafter an honest farmer, living near to the uuele whom Susan Latlimer went to 'visit on that Saturday afternoon, came to me in greattribulation. His son, a boy of fourteen*had confessed he shooting of Miss Lat-timer, J wenf over wilji the father,s1ffccC11ltc
Newspaper Details
Denton Journal
Denton, Maryland, US
Sat, Sep 20, 1873
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Mary B.
USA 17 May 2018
Other Publications Near Denton, Maryland
American Union
Denton Journal
