The Caledonian

CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.

A correspondent of the New York Evening Mirror furnishes the following thrilling narrative:

Ballston Spa, Dec. 21st, 1849.

The most singular and astounding developments that ever characterized the proceedings of a court of justice, have just been made before the Oyer and Terminer now sitting at this place. You remember the case of John Talmadge, indicted here last spring for the murder of Wm. I. Dodge, the engineer who was killed by the running off the cars from the track. The catastrophe was produced by stones placed by the accused on the side of the rails. Talmadge was an intelligent and wealthy farmer of the higher grade, and up to the time of his arrest, had maintained character and standing, that placed him beyond the reach of calumny. Yet he was a high spirited and passionate defender of his own and the rights of others. And as the railroad passed through his farm, he had been coolly subjected to the loss of several cattle, run over by the cars, for which the company refused all remuneration, and in consequence of which, much litigation and bitter animosity had ensued between the parties. Talmadge had been heard to say, he "hoped to God the cars would run off," and this, together with the circumstance referred to, had concentrated public suspicion upon him, and he was indicted. At length two witnesses, (Irishmen connected with the road) were found, who saw Talmadge place the stones on the track. Their story was simple and plausible, and there seemed for the accused no possible escape from the gallows. The man whom all had esteemed, who had been honored by the people in many a public trust and represented them in the State Legislature, was soon, in the reluctant belief of all, to swing upon the scaffold and expiate the crime of deliberate cold-blooded murder. In this state of things the day of trial arrived.

Thousands from all sections of the country crowded to the scene, eager to catch every movement, and listen with tearful eyes to every word that seemed to make against the prisoner. The most eminent counsel were employed on both sides. The prisoner persisting in his entire innocence, with pale countenance and an eye of wild agony, sat trembling and restless in his box. The two principal witnesses took the stand. They were calm and apparently honest in the natural and plausible story which they told, from the effect of which it seemed impossible for the accused to escape. His wife who sat by his side, and who up to this moment, had preserved an unexampled composure, now burst into a flood of tears, and by sobs interrupted the proceedings of the court; and the friends of Talmadge began to abandon all hope and to prepare their minds for the awful sentence, and the still more appalling scene that was soon to follow it.

At this point a movement of the crowd took place toward the door of the court room. "Make way, make way!" resounded through the spacious hall. Two men pressed up to the prisoner's counsel, and whispered, agitated and almost breathless, in their ears. A fellow Irishman, who had long known that the story of these two witnesses was a fabrication, to obtain the reward offered for the detection of the man who placed the stones, had been moved by conscience to disclose it, and to conduct another person to the proof, positive and undeniable, that when the fatal catastrophe occurred they were not in this country but in Ireland. This proof was now presented to the prisoner's counsel. The witnesses were placed upon the stand. The evidence of Talmadge's entire innocence was clear and undeniable—the attorney for the people at once moved permission to withdraw the prosecution, and to arrest the two false witnesses at the spot, which was granted, and such a shout as rang through the multitude present, never before thundered from the windows of a court room.

Talmadge was borne off on the shoulders of the people amid the booming of a six pounder as expressive of their exultation. Thus closed up one of the most novel and exciting scenes that ever transpired in any court or country.