Wilder answered, that it did not yet appear that a confession had been made.  If it should be shown that one had, it would be then time to discuss its admissibility; and so the court ruled; and the witness answered that Myers did make a full confession.  Wilder directed him to state it, Bissell again objected, and although Wilder urged that he had a right to go through with his witness, and leave the other side to call out the inducement, if any, on cross-examination, the court ruled that the circumstances under which the confession was made was a preliminary matter that the defendant had a right to show.  When the witness answered to Bissell, that he told Myers after his arrest that they knew all about the larceny, but did not know who his accomplices were, and that if he would tell all about them he would undoubtedly be favored; and that then the defendant told his story.  Upon this statement, Wilder cross-examined the witness, and managed to extract several items of the confession, when the court held that the confession was inadmissible.

Myers drew a breath of relief, but Bissell’s brow did not clear.  He knew that the State had gained all it expected to; it had proved that a confession was made, which was about as bad as the confession itself.  Under this cloud, Wilder called his other evidence, which of itself, was very inconclusive, and which, with the added weight that a confession had been made, left much uncertainty as to the result, and Bissell was girding himself for the final struggle.  Wilder then called the name of John T. Greer—­when the head of Myers dropped, and midnight fell upon the brow of Bissell.

Placidly and serenely, that gentleman answered the call, and took the stand—­seemingly the only unconcerned gentleman present.  He said that he knew Myers well—­had known him for years; that on the morning after the larceny, he saw him and another man, at McMillan’s, near Youngstown; that they brought with them a pair of horses, which he described exactly as the stolen horses, and that Myers told him they got them the night before, at Conant’s barn in Troy; that he denounced Myers to his face as a horse thief, and threatened to expose him.

This evidence produced a prodigious sensation.  Bissell put the witness through a savage cross-examination.  In answer to the questions, he said that Myers and himself, and others, belonged to an association, of which Jim Brown was the head, for manufacturing paper currency and coin, and supplying it at various points; had never passed a dollar himself; that he broke with Myers because he was a thief, and no gentleman; that the association had never had any connection with running off horses, &c.

“To whom did you first disclose this act of Myers?”

“To a young lawyer at Jefferson, in his private room.”

“Who was he?”

“Barton Ridgeley.”  Great sensation, and men looked at one another.

“Did he belong to your financial association?”