Tales for Young and Old - Various
To dissipate the gloom which hung over the whole party, and beguile
the half hour they intended to rest in that sweet spot, Mrs Sparks
drew out a Philadelphia newspaper which somebody had given her upon
the road, and called their attention to the deaths and marriages,
that they might see what changes were taking place in a city that
still interested them, though they were banished for ever from its
borders. She had hardly opened the paper when her eye glanced on an
article which she was too much excited to read. Amos, wondering at
the emotion displayed, gently disengaged the paper, and read: 'Bank
robber--Sparks not the man.' His own feelings were as powerfully
interested as those of his wife, but his nerves were stronger; and he
read out, to an audience whose ears devoured every syllable of the
glad tidings, an account of the conviction and execution of a wretch
in Albany, and who had confessed, among other daring and heinous
crimes, the robbery of the Philadelphia bank, accounting for the
disappearance of the property, and exonerating Sparks, whose face he
had never seen. These were tidings of great joy to the weary
wayfarers beneath the sycamore; their resolution to return to their
native city was formed at once, and before a week had passed, they
were slowly journeying to the capital of the State.
Meanwhile, an extraordinary revulsion of feeling had taken place at
Philadelphia. Newspapers and other periodicals which had formerly
been loud in condemnation of the locksmith, now blazoned abroad the
robber's confession--wondered how any man could have been for a
moment suspected upon such evidence as was adduced on the
trial--drew pictures of the domestic felicity once enjoyed by the
Sparkses, and then painted--partly from what was known of the
reality, and partly from imagination--their sufferings, privations,
and wrongs in the pilgrimage they had performed in fleeing from an
unjust but damnatory accusation. The whole city rang with the story.
Old friends and neighbours, who had been the first to shun them, now
became the loud and vehement partisans of the family. The whole city
was anxious to know where they were. Some reported that they had
perished in the woods; others that they had been burned in a prairie,
which not a few believed; while another class averred that the
locksmith, driven to desperation, had first destroyed his family, and
then himself. All these stories of course created as much excitement
as the robbery of the bank had done before, only that this time the
tide set the other way; and when the poor locksmith and his family,
who had been driven like vagabonds from the city, approached its
suburbs, they were met, congratulated, and followed by thousands: in
fact, theirs was almost a triumphal entry. And as the public always
like to have a victim, Sparks was advised on all hands to bring an
action against the directors of the bank: large damages would, they
knew, be given, and the banker deserved to suffer for the causeless
ruin brought on a poor but industrious family.
Sparks was reluctant to engage in any such proceeding. His character
was vindicated, his business restored. He occupied his own shop, and
his family were comfortable and content. But the current of public
opinion was too strong for him. All Philadelphia had determined that
the banker should suffer. An eminent lawyer volunteered to conduct
the suit, and make no charge if a liberal verdict were not obtained.
The locksmith pondered the matter well. His own wrongs he freely
forgave, but he thought that there had been a readiness to secure the
interests of a wealthy corporation by blasting the prospects of a
humble mechanic, which, for the good of society, ought not to pass
unrebuked. He felt that the moral effect of such a prosecution would
be salutary, teaching the rich not to presume too far upon their
affluence, and cheering the hearts of the poor while suffering
unmerited persecution. The suit was commenced, and urged to trial,
notwithstanding several attempts at compromise on the part of the
banker. The pleadings on both sides were able and ingenious; but the
counsel for the plaintiff had a theme worthy of the fine powers he
possessed. At the close of a pathetic and powerful declamation, the
audience, who had formerly condemned Amos in their hearts without
evidence, were melted to tears by the recital of his sufferings; and
when the jury returned with a verdict of ten thousand dollars damages
against the banker, the locksmith was honoured by a ride home on
their shoulders amidst a hurricane of cheers.
THE END