Beadle's Dime Novels No. 38: The Wrong Man — page 80: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

82 THE WRONG MAN. CHAPTER XI. THE TRIAL. T an a wretch, most wretched in rag And still more wretched in the pain I give. Oh, curse that villain, that detested villain ! _ He has spread misery o’er my fated life; He will undo us all.—Joanna Baru. THE administration of justice, in the community of Adrian. opolis at the time of our narrative, was far different from what it is at this day. It may well be a disputed question, whether the modern enginery of law is more effective and evenhanded than was the more ancient method. Justice and humanity were more often the actuating and controlling powers in th days of our forefathers than in the days of their wiser but no better sons; and, although they may have sometimes erred in their judgment and decisions, the error generally was on the bide of mercy. It happened that the court sat in Adrianopolis a few days after Dudley was arrested on the charge of murder, so that his trial came on almost immediately, while the horrible trag- edy was fresh in the minds of the villagers. The prosecuting attorney on the part of the government was a short, fierce-look- ing man, about thirty years of age, bald on the top of his head, with his sleek hair brushed so vigorously upward that each particular hair pointed in precisely the same direction as did his huge standing-collar. He had flitting, restless eyes, that ever seemed looking for something they could never find To the villagers, he was a man of profound attainments, extraordinary penetration, and “ prodigious erudition.” The manner in which he talked of the most famous men as his - “colleagues” was convincing in itself; and to hear nm laugh about some joke related to him by his “old friend Jue,” (refer- ring to Joe Daviess, who, just then, was becoming cerebrated) or “ Tom Jeffersyn,” or “ Jim Madison,” would have nlled any person with awe and reverence for him. Like Mr. Perkins he was much given to the use of high-sounding words, mort effective from their stunning iacomprehensibility, than their GORMEOOKSACORN