“Where you find that a complainant is acting through malicious motives, and there are no other witnesses, or, if any, that they do not substantiate the complaint, you had better dismiss it. But where the complaint, however maliciously made, is shown by other evidence than that of the complainant to be true, you must order an indictment.”
And consequently we ordered an indictment against the alleged swindler.
Not many days after we were convened, a case that touched the heart of every man in the room was brought before us. A young girl had been accused of theft; a few dollars in money had been stolen; it was found in her possession, and she had made partial confession. The complainant was a woman, and the accused had been in her employ. When the case was called, the woman entered the jury-room, and was sworn by the foreman. She took the chair assigned to witnesses, and the foreman questioned her.
“Did you lose some money?”
“Yes, sir.”
“When did you lose it?”
“On the first day of December?”
“Who took it?”
“The girl named in the complaint.”
“How do you know she took it?”