CHAPTER VII.
“A shout as of waters — a long-uttered cry:
Hark! hark! how it leaps from the earth to the sky!
From the sky to the earth, from the earth to the sea,
It is grandly reëchoed, We are free, we are free!”
[figure description] Page 078.[end figure description]
Every thing, the next morning, seemed as quiet and peaceful in
the village, as if nothing unusual had occurred there. The commoiton
of the preceding night appeared to have wholly subsided. With
such secrecy and caution, indeed, had the revolutionists managed,
that no knowledge of their movements had yet reached the ears of
any of their opponents. And so guarded was their conduct, through
the whole morning, that the court party leaders, although their
spies had early been out, prowling round the whole village, were
yet kept in entire ignorance of all that had transpired among
the former during the night. Being consequently deceived by
the false appearance which every thing within the reach of their
observation had been made to wear, and feeling thus relieved of
their last night's guilty fears of a popular outbreak, these cruel
and dastardly minions of royalty now counted on their triumph
as complete; and, soon giving way to noisy exultation, they
began openly to boast of the sanguinary measure by which their
supposed victory had been achieved. And, about nine o'clock in
the forenoon, the judges and officers of court, with a select number
of their most devoted adherents, all in high spirits, and
wholly unsuspicious of the storm that was silently gathering
around them, formed a procession at the house of Brush, and,
attended by a strong armed escort, marched ostentatiously
through the street to the Court House, and entered the court-room
to commence the session.
After the judges had been ushered to their seats, and while
they were waiting for the crowd to enter and settle in their places,
Chandler, who had kept aloof till the procession had begun to
form, was seen to run his wary and watchful eye several times
over the assembly, to ascertain whether there were any discoverable
indications there pointing to any different state of things
from the one so confidently assumed by his confederates, when
he soon appeared to have noted some circumstance which caused
him suddenly to exchange the bland smile he had been wearing
for a look of thoughtfulness and concern.
-- 079 --
[figure description] Page 079.[end figure description]
“Do you notice any thing unusual in the crowd this morning,
Judge Sabin?” he said to his colleague, in an anxious whisper,
as he closed his scrutiny.
“No, your honor,” replied the other, “unless it be the cheering
sight of encountering none but friendly faces, instead of the
hostile ones, which a man would have been led to expect to meet
here, after so much clamor about popular disaffection.
“Ay,” responded the former, with a dubious shake of the
head — “ay, but that is the very circumstance that puzzles me.
Had a portion of the assembly been made up of our opponents,
quietly mingling with the rest, as I had rather hoped, I should
have construed it into a token of submission; or, had a committee
been here to present a petition, or a remonstrance or two, I
should have been prepared for that, and could have managed,
by a little encouragement, and a good deal of delay, to give
every troublesome thing the go-by, till the storm had blown over.
But this entire absence of the disaffected looks a little suspicious,
don't it?”
“Why, no,” answered the stiff and stolid Sabin; “I can see
nothing suspicious about it. Indeed, it goes to show me that the
rebellion is crushed; for, as I presume, the honest but well-meaning
part of the rebels are ashamed, and their leaders afraid
to show their faces here to-day, after last night's lesson.”
“I hope it may be as you suppose; but I have my doubts in
the matter,” returned Chandler, with another dissenting shake
of the head, as he turned away to renew his observations on the
company before him.
On resuming his scrutiny, the uneasy judge soon perceived
that the assembly, during his conversation with his colleague,
had received an accession of several individuals, whom he recognized
as belonging to the party whose absence had awakened
his suspicions. But the presence of these persons, after he had
carefully noted their appearance, instead of tending to allay,
only went to confirm, his apprehensions; for, as he closely
scanned the bearing and countenance of each, and marked the
assured and determined look and covert smile which spoke of
anticipated triumph, attended with an occasional expectant
glance through the windows, he there read, with the instinctive
sagacity sometimes seen in men of his cast of character, enough
to convince him, with what he had previously observed, that a
movement of a dangerous magnitude was somewhere in progress,
and soon to be developed against the court party. And he instantly
resolved to lose no time before trimming his sails and
-- 080 --
[figure description] Page 080.[end figure description]
preparing to meet the coming storm. And the next moment, to
the surprise of his colleague and the officers of the court, he was
on his feet, requesting silence that he might address the assembly.
He then proceeded to remark on the unfortunate occurrences of
the previous night, with a show of much feeling and regret, and
concluded by expressing his disapprobation of the course taken
in the affair by the sheriff and his abettors, in a manner that
would have given the highest offence to all implicated, had they
not believed that the speech was secretly designed only as a
game on their opponents, whom he might think it expedient to
quiet and delude a little longer. They, therefore, winked knowingly
to each other, and remained silent; while the speaker sat
down with the mental exclamation, —
“There, let it come now! That speech will do to be quoted.
I can refer them to it as the public expression of my views before
I knew what was coming.”
Having thus placed himself in a position, as he believed, where
he could easily turn himself to meet any contingency, — where, in
case the apprehended overthrow of the court party took place,
he could easily and safely leap the next hour to a favorable, if
not a high stand among the new dispensers of place and power,
or where, should the present authorities be able to sustain themselves,
he could as easily explain away his objectionable doings,
and retain his standing among them. Having done this, he then
turned his attention to the official duties of his place, and ordered
the crier to give the usual notice, that the court was now open
for business. This being formally done, the court docket was
called over, and the causes there entered variously disposed of
for the time being, by the judges, till they came to that of Woodburn
versus Peters; which was a petition for a new trial for the
recovery of the petitioner's alleged farm, that had been decided,
at the preceding term, to be the property of Peters, on the ground
and in the manner mentioned in a former chapter.
“Who answers for this Woodburn?” said Sabin, with a contemptuous
air. Significant glances were exchanged among the
tory lawyers and officers about the bar at the question, and a
malicious smile stole over the features of Peters, who had found
a seat among them.
“I move the court,” said Stearns, the attorney of Peters, “for
a judgment in favor of my client for his costs, and also for a writ
of possession of his land, of which he has been so unjustly kept
out by this vexatious proceeding. And, as the petitioner has not
entered his appearance according to rule, whereby he tacitly
-- 081 --
[figure description] Page 081.[end figure description]
admits that his cause cannot be sustained, I will not permit myself
to doubt that the court will so order, even at this early hour —
they certainly have the power to do so.”
“They have also the power to postpone the hearing, even to the
last day of the term, before rendering judgment,” bluntly interposed
Knights, a large, plain-looking practitioner at the bar, who
had taken no active part either for or against the court party.
“We all know how this young man is debarred from appearing
here to-day; and it seems to me manifestly unjust that any power
which deprives a man of the opportunity of appearing at court,
should render judgment against him in consequence of his nonappearance.
I would, therefore, suggest a delay in this cause.
Perhaps, within a short time, he will employ counsel, or be liberated.”
“And perhaps be hung for treason,” said Stearns, in a sneering
under-tone.
“Do you answer for him or not, Mr. Knights?” demanded
Sabin, impatiently.
“No, your honor; he has not authorized me. I only made a
suggestion,” answered the former.
“Then judgment must go for Peters,” rejoined Sabin, with
ill suppressed warmth. “Traitors and rebels must look somewhere
else for favor, beside this court, while I hold a seat here.”
“Nobody has yet been convicted of treason, I believe,”
promptly responded Knights, while an expression of indignant
scorn flashed over his manly and intelligent countenance; “and
till such is the case, I take it the rights of all have an equal claim
on the court. I should be pleased to hear the opinion of the chief
justice in this matter.”
“Although I may have my doubts on this subject, Mr. Knights,”
graciously replied Chandler, “you could hardly expect me to be
guilty of so great a discourtesy to my colleague here, as to interfere,
after the intimation he has just given.”
“Make the entry, Mr. Clerk,” said Sabin, hastily; “judgment
for costs, and a writ of possession. I am not troubled with any
doubts in the matter, and will take the responsibility of the decision.”
Scarcely was the cause thus decided before Peters glided up
to the clerk, and whispered in his ear; when the latter, nodding
assentingly, opened his desk, and taking out two nicely-folded
papers, handed them slyly to the other, who, receiving them in
the same manner, immediately left the court-room and proceeded
down stairs. As the exulting suitor passed through the crowd
-- 082 --
[figure description] Page 082.[end figure description]
gathered round the main entrance, he beckoned to a short, thick-set,
harsh-featured fellow, who immediately followed him around
a corner of the building.
“Well, Fitch,” said Peters, pausing as soon as they were out
of the reach of observation, “have you done up your business in
town, so as to be ready for a start for Guilford?”
“Yes; don't know but I have. But you can't have got your
decision, papers made out, and all, so soon as this?” replied the
other.
“All complete!” returned Peters, triumphantly.
“Why, the court has not been in session an hour!”
“True, but I had spoken to Judge Sabin to have my case taken
up this morning; and, as nobody was authorized to answer for
Woodburn, the case was disposed of in a hurry. And the clerk,
with whom I had also arranged matters, had made out the papers
before going into court, and got them all signed off and ready, in
anticipation; and here they are, ready for your hands, Mr. Constable.”
“Ay, I see; but what is the necessity of serving them so immediately?”
“Why, there's no knowing what may happen, Fitch. If the
rebels, in revenge for last night's peppering, should send over the
mountain for old Ethan Allen and his gang to come here to stir
up and lead on the disaffected, all legal proceedings might be
stopped. I know most of our folks think, this morning, that the
enemy are fairly under foot. But Chandler, who is as keen as a
fox for smelling out trouble, acts to me as if he was frightened;
and I think he must have scented mischief brewing, somewhere.”
“Some say he is a very timorsome man.”
“Yes; but watchful and sagacious, and therefore an index not
to be disregarded.”
“May be so. But what are your orders about these papers?”
“With this, the writ of possession, go, in the first place, and
turn the old woman, his mother, neck and heels, from the house;
and then get some stiff fellow in for a tenant, rent free the first
year, if you can do no better, provided he will defend the premises
against Woodburn, if he escapes unhung. And with this
paper, an execution for costs, as you will see, seize the fellow's
cow and oxen, and all else you can find, and sell them as soon as
the law will let you.”
“Why, you won't leave enough of the fellow for a grease spot!”
“Blast him; I don't intend to. But now is the time to do it,
-- 083 --
[figure description] Page 083.[end figure description]
before he can get out of jail and back there to give fight and
trouble us. So you fix all these matters about right for me, Fitch,
and I'll do the handsome thing by you when I come over, after the
roads get settled, in the spring.”
“Never fear me, as long as I know what a friend's wishes
are,” replied the constable, with a significant wink, as he stuffed
the documents into his hat, and bustled off on the detestable mission
of his more detestable employer.
While Peters and his official minion was thus engaged, Tom
Dunning was seen coming, with hasty strides, along the road,
from the direction of his cabin, which was situated without the
village, about a half mile north of the Court House, from which
it would have been visible but for the pine thicket by which it
was partially enclosed. As the hunter was entering the village,
he met Morris, hastening up the street, from the opposite part of
the town.
“Well met,” said Morris; “for I was bound to your quarters
with a message, which —”
“Which I am ditter ready to receive, and give you one,
which I started to carry to your folks, in return. So, first for
yours.”
“Mine is, that we are now drawn up, two hundred strong, in
the first woods south of the village, and are ready to march.”
“And mine, that we are der ditto; besides being a hundred
better than you, all chafing, like ditter tied-up dogs, to
be let on.”
“I will back, then, to my post with the news; and in less than
a half hour, tell them, they shall hear our signal of entering the
village, as agreed, which we will expect you to answer, and then
rush on, as fast as you please, to effect a junction, as we wheel
into the court-yard. But stay: have the prisoners been apprized
that their deliverance is at hand?”
“Yes; I ran up at the time the court ditter went in, and,
in the bustle, got a chance to tell them through the grate.”
“All right; but how are the wounded doing?”
“Ditter well, except French, who is fast going.”
“Indeed! Poor fellow! But his blood will now soon be
avenged,” said Morris, as the two now separated and hastened
back to their respective posts.
After Peters had despatched the constable on his work of legal
plunder and revenge, he returned to the court-room for the purpose
of pressing to a hearing some other cases which he had
pending against political opponents, and which he hoped, through
-- 084 --
[figure description] Page 084.[end figure description]
the favor of a biased and corrupt court, to carry as easily as the one
wherein he had just so wickedly triumphed. But he was not permitted
to reap any more of his despicable advantages; for he found that
another, actuated by motives no less unworthy than his own, had
already gained the attention of the court to a case of which he
had been the prime mover and complainant. This was Secretary
Brush; and the trial he had been urging on, through Stearns, the
acting state's attorney, was that of the alleged murderer, to
whose somewhat mysterious, as well as suspicious, arrest and imprisonment
allusion has already been made.
“As you say the witnesses are in court, Mr. Stearns,” observed
Chandler, after a moment's consultation with his colleague, “as
all the witnesses are here, we have concluded to take up the
criminal case in question. You may therefore direct the sheriff
to bring the prisoner into court without delay.”
The sheriff, accordingly, left the court-room, and, in a short
time, reappeared with the prisoner, followed by two armed men,
who closely guarded and conducted him forward to the criminal's
box.
The prisoner was a man of the apparent age of sixty, of rather
slight proportions of body, but with a large head, and coarse features,
that seemed to be kept almost constantly in play by a lively,
flashing countenance, in which meekness and fire, kindness and
austerity, were curiously blended. As he seated himself, he
turned round and faced the court with a fearless and even scornful
air, but promptly rose, at the bidding of the chief judge, to
listen to the information, which the clerk proceeded to read
against him at length, closing by addressing to the respondent the
usual question as to his guilt or innocence of the charge.
“I once,” calmly responded the prisoner — “I once knocked up
a pistol, pointed at my breast by a robber. It went off and killed
one of his fellows, and —”
“Say, guilty or not guilty?” sternly interrupted the clerk.
“Not guilty, then,” answered the other, determined, while
going through these preliminary forms, that his accusers, the
court, and audience, should hear what, under other circumstances,
he would have reserved for the more appropriate time of making
his defence, or left to his counsel. “Ay, not guilty; and that
gentleman,” he rapidly continued, pointing to Brush, “that gentleman,
who has offered to free me if I would submit to be robbed,
well knows the truth of what I say. The witnesses, whom he has
suborned, also know it, if they know any thing about that luckless
affray.”
-- 085 --
[figure description] Page 085.[end figure description]
“Liar!” shouted Brush, springing up, in high excitement, as
soon as he could recover from the surprise and confusion into
which this bold and unexpected charge had thrown him.
“The man's insane — evidently insane, your honors!” cried
Stearns, who, in his anxiety to shield his friend Brush, thought
not of the effect of such a remark.
“I thank the attorney for the government for that admission,
may it please the court,” said Knights, rising, with a sarcastic
glance at Stearns. “I may wish to make use of it.”
“Are you counsel for the prisoner, sir?” sharply demanded
the other.
“I am, sir,” coolly replied Knights; “and you may find, before
we get through the trial, that what the prisoner has said, as
much out of place as it was, is not the only truth to be developed.
But before the case proceeds any further, I offer a plea to
the jurisdiction of this court, and at once submit, whether a man
can be tried here for an offence alleged to have been committed
in another county, without a special order from the governor for
that purpose.”
“That order is obtained and on file, sir. So that learned bubble
is burst, as will all the rest you can raise in favor of the miserable
wretch you have stooped to defend,” said Stevens, exultingly.
“Mr. Clerk, pass up that order to the court.”
“Are you satisfied now, Mr. Knights?” asked Sabin, with
undignified feeling, after glancing at the order which had been laid
before the judges. “Mr. Stearns, proceed with the cause.”
But that court, on whom the subservient attorney and his corrupt
and arrogant friend depended to convict an innocent man
of an infamous crime, that a private and nefarious object might
thereby be enforced — that court were now destined to be arrested
in their career of judicial oppression before they had time
to add another stain to their already blackened characters: for,
at this moment, a deep and piercing groan, issuing from one of
the prison-rooms beneath, resounded through the building so
fearfully distinct, as to cause every individual of the assembly to
start, and even to bring the judges and officers of the court to a
dead pause in their proceedings. A moment of death-like silence
ensued; when another and a sharper groan of anguish, bursting
evidently from the same lips, and swelling up to the highest
compass of the human voice, and ending in a prolonged screech
of mortal agony, rang through the apartment, sending a thrill of
horror to the very hearts of the appalled multitude!
“Who? What? For God's sake, what is that?” exclaimed
-- 086 --
[figure description] Page 086.[end figure description]
a dozen eager and trembling voices at once, as nearly the whole
assembly started to their feet, and stood with amazed and perplexed
countenances, inquiringly gazing at each other.
“Don't your consciences tell you that?” exclaimed the prisoner,
Herriot, in a loud, fearless voice, running his stern, indignant
eye over the court, its officers, and leading partisans around the
bar. “Don't your consciences tell you what it was? Then I
will! It was the death-screech of the poor murdered French,
whose tortured spirit, now beyond the reach of your power, went
out with that fearful cry which has just assailed your guilty
ears!”
“Mr. Sheriff! Mr. Sheriff!” sputtered Sabin, boiling with
wrath, and pointing menacingly to the prisoner.
“Silence, there, blabbing miscreant!” thundered Patterson.
“Ah! No wonder ye want silence, when that name is mentioned,”
returned Herriot, unflinchingly.
Struck dumb with astonishment at the unexpected audacity of
the prisoner in thus throwing out, in open court, such bold and
cutting intimations of their guilty conduct, the judges and officers
seemed perfectly at a loss how to act, or give vent to their maddened
feelings, for some moments. Soon, however, the most
prompt and reckless among them found the use of their tongues.
“Shoot him down, Patterson!” exclaimed Brush, with an
oath.
“Treason! I charge him with treason, and demand that he
be ironed and gagged on the spot!” shouted Gale, bringing down
his clinched fist heavily on the desk before him!
“Yes, high treason; let us re-arrest him, and see if we can
hang him on that, should he escape on the other charge,”
chimed in Stearns.
“I have my doubts,” began Chandler, who was growing every
moment more wavering and uneasy.
“No doubts about it,” interrupted Sabin, almost choking with
rage. “I'll not sit here and see the king's authority insulted, and
his court treated with such contempt and treasonable defiance;
and I order him instantly in irons — chains — yes, chains, Mr.
Sheriff!”
“You can chain the body, but shall not fetter the tongue,”
responded Herriot, in no way dismayed by the threats of his
enraged persecutors, or their preparations to confine and torture
his person; “for I will speak, and you shall hear, ye tyrants!
Listen then, ye red-handed assassins! The blood of your murdered
victim has cried up to God for vengeance. The cry has
-- 087 --
[figure description] Page 087.[end figure description]
been heard! the unseen hand has already traced your doom
on the wall! and this day, ay, within this hour,” he continued,
glancing through the window to a dark mass of men, who might
now be partially discerned drawn up behind the point of woods
at the north — “ay, within this very hour, that doom shall be
fulfilled! Hark!” he added, in startling tones, after a momentary
pause — “hark! do ye hear those signal guns, echoing from post
to post, round your beleaguered Babylon? Do you hear those
shouts? The avengers of blood are even now at your doors.
Hear, and tremble!”
As the speaker closed his bold denunciations, he descended
from the bench which he had mounted for the purpose, and, advancing
to the sheriff and his assistants, now standing mute and
doubtful with their hastily procured fetters in their hands, he
paused, and stood confronting them with an ironical smile, and
with folded arms, in token of his readiness now to submit himself
to their hands. But a wonderful change had suddenly come
over the whole band of these tory dignitaries. The dark and
angry scowls of meditated revenge, and the more fiery expressions
of undisguised wrath, which were bent on the dauntless old
man during the first part of his denunciations, had, by the time
he made his closing announcement, all given way to looks of
surprise and apprehension. No one offered to lay hands on him;
for, as the truth of what he said was every moment more strongly
confirmed by the increasing tumult without, no one had any
thoughts to spare for any but himself. And soon the whole
assembly broke from their places, and, in spite of the loud calls
of the officers for silence and order, began to cry out in eager
inquiries, and run about the room in the utmost confusion and
alarm. At this juncture, David Redding, who had been thus far
the most reckless and bloodthirsty tory of all, burst into the room,
hurriedly exclaiming, —
“The people have risen in arms, and are pouring in upon us,
by hundreds, from every direction! In five minutes this house
will be surrounded, and we in their power. Let every man look
to his own safety! I shall to mine,” he added, rushing back
down to the front door, where, instead of attempting to escape
through the back way, as he might then have done, he began to
shout, “Hurra for Congress!” and, “Down with the British
court!” at the very top of his voice.
“I resign my commission,” cried Chandler, jumping up in
great trepidation. “Let it be distinctly understood,” he repeated,
raising his voice in his anxiety to be heard — “yes, let it be
-- 088 --
[figure description] Page 088.[end figure description]
distinctly understood, that I have resigned my commission as judge
of this court.”
“D—n him! what does he mean by that?” muttered Gale,
turning to Patterson.
“It means he is going to turn tail, as I always thought he
would, — the cursed cowardly traitor!” replied the latter, gnashing
his teeth. “But let him, and that pitiful poltroon of a Redding,
go where they please. We will see to matters ourselves. I don't
believe it is any thing more than a mere mob, who will scatter
at the first fire. So follow me, Gale; and all the rest of ye, that
aint afraid of your own shadows, follow me, and I'll soon know
what can be done.”
And, while lawyers and suitors were hastily snatching up their
papers, and all were making a general rush for the door, in the
universal panic which had seized them, the boastful sheriff,
attended by his assistants and the tiger-tempered Gale, pushed
his way down stairs, shaking his sword over his head, and shouting
with all his might, —
“To arms! Every friend to the court and king, to arms!
Stand to your guns there below, guards, and shoot down every
rebel that attempts to enter!”
But, when he reached the front entrance, the spectacle which
there greeted his eyes seemed to have an instant effect in cooling
his military ardor. There, to his dismay, he beheld drawn up,
within thirty paces of the door, an organized and well-armed
body of more than three hundred men; while small detachments,
constantly arriving, were falling in on the right and left, and
extending the wings round the whole building. And as the discomfited
loyalist ran his eye along the line of the broad-breasted
and fierce-looking fellows before him, and recognized among
them the Huntingtons, the Knights, the Stevenses, the Baileys,
the Brighams, the Curtises, and other stanch and leading patriots,
from nearly every town bordering on the Connecticut, and saw
the determined look and the indignant flashing of their countenances,
he at once read not only the entire overthrow of his party
in this section of the country, but the individual peril in which
he, and his abettors in the massacre, now stood before an outraged
and excited populace.
“What ails your men, Squire Sheriff?” cried Barty Burt,
now grown to a soldier in the ranks of the assailants, as he
pointed tauntingly to the company of tory guards who had been
stationed in the yard, but who now, sharing in the general panic,
had thrown down their arms, and stood huddled together near
-- 089 --
[figure description] Page 089.[end figure description]
the door; “why don't they pick up their shooting-irons, and
blaze away at the `d—d rebels,' as I think I heard you order,
just now?”
“And if that won't ditter do,” exclaimed the well-known
voice of Tom Dunning from another part of the ranks, “suppose
you ditter read another king's proclamation at us: no knowing
but we might be ditter done for, entirely.”
The sheriff waited to hear no more, but hastily retreated into
the house, followed by a shout of derisive laughter; and his
place was the next moment occupied by Chandler, who bustled
forward to the steps, and, in a flustered, supplicatory manner,
asked leave to address his “respected fellow-citizens.”
“Short speeches, judge!” impatiently cried Colonel Carpenter,
who seemed, from his position on horseback among the troops
and other appearances, to be chief in command—“short speeches,
if any. We have come here on a business which neither long
speeches nor smooth ones will prevent us from executing.”
The judge, however, could not afford to take this as a repulse;
and, with this doubtful license, he went on to say, that on hearing,
in the morning, as he did with astonishment and horror, of the
unauthorized proceedings of last night, he had denounced the
outrage, in an address at the opening of the court; and not
finding himself supported, he had resigned, and left his seat on
the bench.
“And now,” he added in conclusion, “being freed from the
trammels of my oath of office, which have lately become so painful
to me, I feel myself again one of the people, and stand ready
to coöperate with them in any measure required by the public
welfare.”
A very faint and scattering shout of applause, in two or three
places, mingled with hisses and murmurs in others, was the only
response with which this address was received. But even with
this equivocal testimony of public feeling towards him, this despicable
functionary felt gratified. “I am safe,” said he to himself,
with a long-drawn breath, as he descended the steps, to watch an
opportunity to mingle with the party with whom he was now
especially anxious to be seen, and to whom he was ready to say,
in the words of the satirist, —
“I'm all submission, what you'd have me, make me;
The only question is, sirs, will you take me?”
At this moment a sash was thrown up, and the prisoner, Herriot,
appeared at a window of the court-room above.
-- 090 --
[figure description] Page 090.[end figure description]
“I have been brought up here this morning,” he said, shaking
back his gray locks, and raising his stern, solemn voice to a pitch
clearly audible to all in the grounds below — “I have been
brought here from my dungeon to answer to the charge of a foul
crime; and both my accusers and triers, fleeing even before any
one appeared to pursue, have left their places, having neither
tried nor condemned me. But scorning to follow their example,
I now appear, to submit myself for a verdict, to the rightful
source of all power — the people.”
“Neither will we condemn thee,” cried Knowlton, pursuing
the scriptural thought of the other; “if thy accusers and judges
have left thee uncondemned, thou shalt not be condemned by us;
at least not by me, who have long had my opinions of the character
of this prosecution.”
“As also have I,” responded Captain Wright. “I know something
of the witnesses, on whom, it is said, they depended to
convict father Herriot; and I would not hang a dog on their testimony.
I move, therefore, that we here pronounce a verdict of
acquittal. Who says, ay?”
“Ay!” promptly responded a dozen voices; and “Ay!” the
next instant rose in one loud, unanimous shout from the whole
multitude.
“A thousand thanks to you, my friends, for your generous
confidence in my innocence,” returned the old man with emotion;
“and, thank God, your confidence is not misplaced. I was formerly
guilty of much, which has cost me many bitter tears of
repentance; but there is no blood on my hands, and I will now
return to my hermit hut, from which they dragged me, there to
pray for the success of the good cause in which you are engaged,
leaving to you what lesson shall be taught those Hamans who
have filled these dungeons with the dying and wounded, now demanding
your care.”
The effect of the old man's closing hint was instantly visible
on the multitude, who decided by acclamation to act upon it
without delay; and accordingly a score of resolute fellows were
detached to proceed to the prisons, release their friends, and
fill their places, for the present, with their murderous oppressors.
-- 091 --
Thompson, Daniel P. (Daniel Pierce), 1795-1868 [1851], The rangers, or, The Tory's daughter: a tale, illustrative of the Revolutionary history of Vermont, and the Northern Campaign of 1777 [Volume 1] (Benjamin B. Mussey and Company, Boston) [word count] [eaf721T].
