A Juryman's Story

We had been out twenty-four hours, iiiid stood eleven to ouo. The case was a very plaiu ono- at least wc eleven thought so. A murdcr of peculiar atrocity had becu uoiüUiittcd ; uud though nu eyo had witnessod tUo deed, eireuinstances poiutod to the prisoner's gnilt witli uiiiuüing certainty. The reotuaht juror had stood out froui the first. Ho aeknowledged the cogeney of the proofs, cunfewed his inabiiity to reconoiie the focta with the defendant's innocence, and yet on evory vote went steadüy forooquittaL His cmduct was inexplieable. It could not resuit from a lack of iiitellijjonce; for, whilo hu spoke but little, bis words wero well chosen, and evinced a thorough understanding oí the cuse. Though siill in ■■ the prime of manhood, his loeks were ! ïuaturely white, and his faca wo:e a ! iingularly sitd and thoughtful expression, i He might be one of tho.se who enterUimel scruples as to the right of society to .nlüi-l the death penalty. But no, it was not that ; for iu reply to sueh suggestiou ie frankly adniitted that brutal men, like the violent biutes they resomble, must be ■ mtmlled througli feecr, and that droad of death, the supreiho terror, is in many uases the only adequate nistraint. At the prospect of another night of iuitless iniprisonineut we began to grow mpatient, and expostulated warnily at what seemed to bo on unreasonuble i;aptiousness ; and somo not overkind i enarks. were iudulged in as to the improjriety of trifling with an oath like that ander which wo were actiig. " And yet, tlie man answored, as .hough communicating with liimself, rathcr than repulling tho imputation, " it s consoiense that hinders my concurrence 11 a verdiot appro ved by my judgmont." " Hoff can that be r " queried sovoral at once. " Conscicnco may not always dare to bllow judgmuut." "But here sho can know no otlier ;uide. ' " I once would have said the samo." "And what has clianged your opinions '(" " Kxperioncc." " Thu speakor's inminor was visibly agiated, and we waited in silencc tho exilanatioa which he scemed ready to give. Mastering his emotion, as if to answer ur looks of inquiry, he continued - " ïwenty yoars ago I was a young inan )cginning lii'e. Few had brighter pros)(jcts and none brightor hopos. An atachment dating from childliood ripened vith its object. There had boon no verjal declaration and acceptance of love - ïo formal plighting of tioth; but whcn took my departure to seí k a home in lie distant West, it was a thing uudertood, that when I had found it and put ; in order nJie was to share it. " Life in the forest, thoi g solitary, is ot necessarily lonesomo. Tho kind of society ntforded by nature derjends much upon one's solt'. As for me, 1 lived more in the future than in the present, and hoiy wasan over ehoerful companion. " At length the time cuino for making tho final payment 011 tliu home whieh I had bouglit. It would hence&rth be my own ; and, in a few nionths, my simple dwolling, whicii L had sparod no pains to ronder inviting, would bo grücod l.y its mistress. ■■ At tho land office, which was somo sixty miles off, I met my friend Goorge C. Ho, too, had oouiu to seek his fortune in tUe west; and wo woro both dolighted at the meeting. He had brought with liiin, lio said, a sum of ïnoney which he (Icsircil to investía land, on which it was his parpóse to settle. ' 1 oxprosscd a strong WÍ8U to lmve him for a noigbbor, and guve him n cordial invitatioii to aceompiiny ino home, gi ving it as my belief that ho eould iiuwhero mako a botter selectiou than in that vicinity. He readily consentid, and we j set out togethor. We had not rïddeb j many miles when Gcurgc suddenly e :ted a oominissionhe ttad undertakoii for j alriend, whioh roquired hisattcndanceat a public land sale on the following day. Eíacting a promise that ho would not dylay his viit longor than necossary, and having given minute direotions as to the route 1 eontinued on my way homeward, while he turnod back. I was about iiing to uiy bed on the night of uiy reurn, when a summons trom without cali cl me to tho door. A stranger usketl iclter for himselfand bis horsu for the ight. 1 Lnvited him in. " ïhough i slranger, liis face soemed ot unfamiliur. Uu was probably umi of u: mn I had sueu at tho land office, a jlace much frequented. OSeriug him a ! uat I went to see to bis horse. The poor mmul, as woll as I could sou by thu staright, soemed to have been hardly used. íispantiiig sidos boie witnesa of meroiess riding, and u, ticmulous hiinling at ie süghtost touch, bctokonod fiight. " Oh re-entering the house, I fouud the ranger wm not there. liis abaunne exited no surprise ; ho would doubtless reurn. It was a little BÍngular, however, nat he should have lut't his watch lying n the table. " At the end of half an hom-, my gue t ot returning, I went out again to the :able, thinking he might huve found his ay tliither to give personal attention to ie wants of his horse. " Before going out, from more foreo of ïabit - for wc were as yet uninfestod liy ither thieves or policumen - I took the recaution of putting the stranger's Wfttoh n a drawer, in whioh I kept my own valuablcs. I found tho horse as I had eft him, and gave him the food which he vas now sufficiently cooled to be allowed o eat. But his niaster was nowhere to )e set'n. As I approached the house a rowd of men on horseback daslud up, and I was commanded, in no gcntle ones, to stand." In another moment I was in the clutches of those who claimed me as their " prisonor." I was too mucli stupofiod at first to aslc vhat it all moant. I did so at last, and liu explanatiop oame ; it was terrible '■ Hy frioad with whom I had so lately set out. in company had leen found murderod and robbod near tbo spot at whioh I, but [ alone, know we had separated. I was thfi last pcrson known to be with hini, and I was now arrosted on suspicion of his murder. A search of the premisos was immediately institutod. Tho watoh was found in the dtawei in whioh I had put it, and was identiíied as the property oí tho rnurdered man. His horse, too, was found in the stablo, fur the animal I had just put there was none other. I recognized him mysi-lf whcn I aw him in the liglil. Wliat I said I know not. 3fy c mfuasion was taken as additional evidence of gnilt. And whcn, at length, I did cominand language to tfive an intel igent statemont, it was recoived with rntcrs of incredulity. Tho mob spirit is inherent in man, at luast in crowds of men It jnay not always manifest i tsolf in phytical violence. It sometimos contenta itself with lynching a character. But ■ whatever its form, it is alwaye relentless, ! pitilcsa, cruel. As the proofs ofmy guilt, one aftec anothor oame to light, low ïnuttering gradually gtevt into a clamor ( f or vengeaaoe ; and bat for the iiimness of one 'ïniui - the offioet who had me in uhatga- I would doubtless have p lid the t penalty of my 6uppoeed olfc-i.co on the spot. It was not syiapathy for me that actuntod iuy protector. Ilis heart wus as hard s his office ; but ho r.presented tho majesty of the law, and took a gort of grim piide in tho position. Ah muoh undcr the glaneo of his eyes as bufore tho muzzle of his pistol the cowardly chrniorors drow baok. Perhaps they ware not sufficiently numorous to fee] the full effect of that inyaterious reflex influente which nmkes a crowd of men so much worse, and at times so much bettor thau imy of them - single. + ♦ " At the end "of 9omc months my trial came. It conld have but one roenlt. Circumstanccs too plainly declared my yuilt. 1 alono know they liod. Tho ubsencu of the j'ify was vory briof. To their verdict I paid tlttle heod. It was a single hideoua word, but I had long unticipated it, imd it muele no iuipiession. As litde iinprensioii was mode by t!iu word of the judgo wliich folio wad it, and his soleiiin iavucution thitt G.d mijjht huvt; mercy apon me whioh man wiis too just to vonohsofe, soundod lileo the hollowost of hollow mockeries. Itmay be hard for the oondeuiued criminal to meet deatb ; it is still harder for Uim who is innocent. Thoono, whon Iho sliouk is over, acquies GOS in his doom, and givos himself up to repentanoe; the heart of the other, nlled with ïebeHion against mini's injustice, uan soarce bring itself to ask pardon of Q-od. I had graduully overcoino this Éeeling, in sjnte of the good clergyinan's irritating efforts, whic-h were m.iinly direct2d towards extracting a oonfession, with3ut which, ho assured me, he had no hope to offior. "On the morning of tho day iixed for nny execution, I feit measurably resigned. [ had so long stood face to face with death, lad so accustomed ruyseU to look odoii it as a merely raomentary pang - that my memory should ono day be vindicatcd. She for whom I had gono to prepare a home had already found ono in heaven. The tidings of my calamity had brokon her hoart. 8he alone, of all the world, believed me innocent ; and she had diod with a prayer ujíon hor lips that the truth might yet be brought to liglit. All this I had heard, and it soothed with a Bweot incensé my troubled spirit. Death, however welcomo tho ahaije, was now a portal bcyond which I could seo om: angel waiting to receive me. I heard the sound of approaching foot-stops, and nerved rayself to meet the oxpected summons. The door of my cell opened, and the sheriff and his attendants enterad. Ile held in his hands a paper. He b;gan to read it. The words 'fl'll axd free PASDON ' were the first to strike my pre-ecjupiod sonses. They afl'ect :d the by-standers moro than myself. Yet so it was ; vxu pardoned for an offenee I luid ncter eommittet!. " The real cnlprit none other, it is needloss to say, than he who sought and abusod my hospitality, had Deen mortally wounded in a recent affray in a distant city, but had lived long enough to make i a disclosure, which had been laid before the (Jovernor barely in timo to save me from a shuincful death, and condemn me to a chccrloss and buxdensome lifc. " Thisismy oxparienco. My judgmont, as yours, in the case before us leads to but one oonclusion, that of the prisoner's guilt; but not leM eonfi lont and apparently uuerring was the judgmont that falsoly pfonounoed my own." Wc uu longor importune! our fellow juror, but patiently awaitod our dischurgo en the grounds f inability to agroe, i which came at last. The prisonor was ti ii il and convicted at a subsequent lerm, an.l ut the last moment conl'ussed his crime on tho scuffoid. A Lusjion for Sluuldy. A San Francisco paper tolla tho following story. We can't say we feel sorry pcoplo who entertain enoh absurd uo tions of display if thcy do got taken in. II ui the ambitious bridegrooin more reaembled somo of thoso recently married in Chicago - glad to obtain a faithful brid5 even minus trouueau - ho might perhaps havo found a worthicr object ; Mis. 1?., of të;m .Francisco, is one of the ladios dcsci ibod as laoving in the " bost ciroles," and latoly she was informed by letter that a beautiful und aecomplished niece of au intimatc friend was about to make her a visit. Glad to welcoiue an eastern belle, Mrs. B. determinod to omit nothing that could ïcnder her guest's visit pleasant. In duo time Georgië Mandoville arrived, and her run; ocuomplishmunts, and above all, her luxurious golden trosses, became at onco tho thcinc of conversation among tho San Francisco bachelors. The story is oasily guesscd : She oame, she saw, sho conquered. A wealthy broker offered the fastiinating niocu his hand and beurt, and being fortunato in his sviit, pressod for an innnediate murriago. Mrs. B. rcjoiced, and to hei rcjoicing came the nnxious nieoe '■ What should she do for a troúttt i" ' Sint luid written to her bankcr, but it took time to receive money. Of oourso Mrs. B. was only too glad to advance the neoewary fö,OOO, and a magni Boent array of laces and othcr goods was at Miss (ioovgie's disposal. Meantiiue, having told h'jr predioament to her betrothed, he tco handcd his check for a like amount to his enslaver. ' As Üley say on the stage, " Exit Georgië ; enter polico." A trunk of cast off clothing and a profusión ot golden hair was all that tho fictitious niece but clever swindler had kft bohind her.