Letter, Willard Richards to James Arlington Bennet, 19 March 1843
Source Note
, Letter, , Hancock Co., IL, to , , New Utrecht, Kings Co., NY, 19 Mar. 1843. Draft inscribed 19 Mar. 1843; handwriting of ; two pages; Willard Richards, Journals and Papers, 1821–1854, CHL.
Your letter of the 1st ultimo, cameto hand[illegible] <arrived but> rcently;— after a long& <it had a> tedious passage, <◊> tedi◊◊◊indeed this<owing, in part, perhaps to th> extreme cold weather.— for the ice is now 2 ft thick in the . one mile opposite this .— but cold as it is, your communications ever find a warmth in reception, which will ever compensate for any inconvenience; & youI would here <permit me to> enter an apology for my mistake in not cancelling the postage on the enclosed sheets in my last,— but which was no excuse for detention or breakage,— the fear of which caused me to delay mailing them <it> sooner; and at another office.—
Your opinion of on questionsoflaw have legal & constitutional questions, have ever been sustained by the Judiciary, so far as they have been tested,— and for this very good reason, they have always <been> correct,— And no greater satis recompe[n]se can a man have, than the consciousness that he is in possession of truth, and next to this— accept my thanks. for your patient <many> answers; <to my questions queries> but, my DearSir, I have notdonewithyet. [space] but,Sirlet notyour but, Sir, let not your patience become wearied, for I have not done yet. We live in a Country <world> of news, & new things, & when we can get nothing new,— sometimes use the old over again. So we will take again <once more>, for by inteligence just received, she has succeeded in capturing our friend , and is holding him in custody to await his trial for the shooting of . We are assured of his innocence, and shall spare no exertion to give him a fair trial, & p[r]ocure his acquittal. was imprisoned in jail on the 6 inst and was remanded <from> thence to on the seventh,— he employed for his counsel , Esq— of .— whom we expect will use his influence to <for> his <s> personal safety from mob violence.— p[r]ocure a change of venue to some county near us, & postpone the day of trial,— Our Mutual <and highly esteemed> friend Lieut. Gen Smith has dispatched a messenger to , to inform, of ’s situation, and engage him for the defence.— Query whether the trial shall be before the [p. [1]]