before the fire, he saw the men removing their thi from Akermav's house; that they Gu past eleven o'clock, At that ti prisoner (Blackwood), Akerman, thi thought Welch left before, with Akerman when of an hour before the fire he prisoner go to the front door of the occupied by Akerman, look up and down nlock the door and go in, and be did him come out again," There certainly reasonable doubt about the truth of first place, persons mplativg the commission of crime do of 0 into the most public thoroughfare in a city broad daylight and behave in such a way as to attract ti parted with th the Police author tion to this, it may knowledge this witness had of Powell's original play, and th 8 conduct which says ho saw on the part of the prisoner at
neither watched the prisoner any closer door, ge" 0 aay the leas, that to have done, or officers of the' po duty, and which he had ample time to do; a courte which would certainly have caught the perpetrator in the very act. Next to be considered is the evidence of John Gould, Overseer of Public Works, and which is by far the most important, so far as the prisoner is concerned, in the whole case. He says that ho saw Mr. Dzionk and a Portuguese enter the house which was occupied by Akcerman; that he followed them iv, almost immediately, and in the first room he saw the prisoner who had come from where the fire was, and as he passed him, said, "My God! there'll be a big fire here!" that he did not speak to him or sce where he went. While the Court hae no doubt but that the witness sav the pri gover in that room during the fire, and that ho used the language attributed to im, yot it is possible for Mr. Gould to have been in error as to the time, For it might have been when he entered the room upon his no that this occurred, for according to the evidence the prisoner must the fire about this time; t at all strange that such a mi ould be made; for in the hurry and exciteent incidental to such occasions, mistakes this have been made in the past, and of course lo to be made again, The room having been seen by Mr. Dzionk, who was the first person to open the door, enter the room, reach the fire, Neither did the Portugu who followed Mr. Dzionk in, seem to the prisoner, or that fact would been brought out by the prosecution. if the prisoner had been in the back room, would have been very doubtful whether he could have passed out into the front room without being observed by either Mr. Dzionk or the Portuguese. Neither is it reasonable under such circumstances to suppose that a person would attempt to make his way out through the front door when he could escape by the back way, possibly without tection; neither would he remain in the of the fire after the match had been any longer than was necessary to is felonious purpose accomplished. Mr. Daionk says that when he went to the front door and tried to open it, ho did succeed. At the same time, he did not think it was either locked or bolted, but it seemed as if there was a pole or something ap ist it. He then put his shoulders against pushed it open qui. Sergeant Skinner says that whea he heard the alarm of fire he went to the alley at the back of Akerman's premises and found the back door was propped up with another door beh so as to fall against it when you got outs and that any one going in by this way would hi lace this door. From the in which these doors were found, the theory is a probable one, that whoever committed unlawful act firat placed the prop againat the front door, then set the fire and passed out through the' back the conflicting at which surround this the united opinion of the Ca that to warrant a conviction of the accused or agreed to doit, any one of whom had equal jos for carrying out those threats or agreements that the prisoners ha Berry testifies that at the time she premises minutes. That when he planation of this ing-above, parlour ove and water-kong which he had loaned to 3 he did not know whether they moved or not, as he had not been house since he had left
necessary to notice. At the time the prisoner There is only one other point which was arrested, the note referred to was found his possession. This might have ered against him had the premises of the maker of the note been insured at the tite of the fire, but without the insurance mone} twas out of the question for Powell to pay it, and hence it was of no value whatever, aside from its having been given for an unlawful purpose, Akerman says he handed the note to the prisoner to keep for him—nothing more, While the prisoner deserves to be punished for not reporting to the officers of the law itnmediately upon learning through Akerman of Powell's plans, a duty every honest, law-abiding wan owes the community in which he lives, yet there is no way to do this without finding the accused guilty of a crime which the Court does not believe he committed.
The prisoner is discharged.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.