For Flogging A Rebel

Once upon a time, about a hundred years ago, there was a colonel in the English arm y whose name was Wall; and Open Court says it was hls unlucky destiny to be governor and military commandant of one of the Brjlish West India islands. During his administration a mutiny broke out, which he vigorously suppressed. Having conquered the rebellion he arrested one of the mutinecrs on the parade ground in front of the barracks and ordered him to be tried immediately by a drum head cuurL iiuiriiin. me uourL inc&, me pnsoner being within sight of it but not near enough to hear the testimony. -He was found puilty and sentenced to be flogged. Gov. Wall approved the sentcnce and the man diod ander the ñogffing-. When the news reached England üov. Wall was indicted for murder. He evaded arrest and made his way to France, where he lived for about twenty years, and then that the fair was forgotten he returned to England. Iïe was at once arrested and brought to trial, where his fate rested on the following critical issue: Was or was not the mutineer present before the court martial? On this point the judges instructed the jury that if the prisoner was not near enough to hear the testimony of the witnesses against him so that he might cross examine them, he was not present within the meaning of the law; and in that case his trial and punishment were illegal. Thereupon the jury found Governor Wall g-uilty of murder; and, in spite of his rank and his influential friends, he was hanged.