INDICTMENT

At a term of the Circuit Court began and held at the Court House in the Town of Monroe in the County of Green and State of Wisconsin on the first Monday of March in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty six before the Honorable James R. Doolittle, Judge of said Court then and there presiding.

State of Wisconsin

Green County

The jurors of the Grand Jury, good and lawful men of the County of Green enquiring in and for the State of Wisconsin, duly elected, empaneled, tried, sworn, and charged, enquiring for and in the name of the state of Wisconsin and in and for the body of the County of Green aforesaid upon their oath present:

That heretofore to wit: on the twenty fourth day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty five at the Town of Albany in the County of Green aforesaid, Eben C. Foster, late of the said County of Green, came before Edward S. Gillies Esq., then and yet living, one of the Justices of the Peace in and for the Town of Albany aforesaid and then and there by his complaint then and there made upon his oath charged one Lorenzo Barns before the said Edward S. Gillies, the Justice of the Peace aforesaid, with having assaulted and beat him, the said Eben C. Foster, which complaint was reduced to writing, subscribed and sworn to by the said Eben C. Foster and is in the words and figures following viz:

Green County, Ss

Town of Albany

Eben C. Foster being duly sworn makes complaint and says that Lorenzo Barns did on the twenty fourth day of December, AD 1855, at the Town of Mt. Pleasant  in said county with force and arms violently assaulted and beat him, the said Eben C. Foster, against the peace and dignity of the State of Wisconsin, and prays that the said Lorenzo Barns may be arrested and dealt with according to law.

[Signed] E. C. Foster

Subscribed and Sworn

Before me the 24^th day

of Dec. AD 1855

[Signed] Edward S. Gillies, Justice of the Peace

And the jurors, aforesaid, on their oath, aforesaid, do further present that upon the examination of the sufficient and competent power and authority to administer an oath to the said Eben C. Foster in that behalf, and that the said Eben C. Foster, then and there before the said Edward S. Gillies, Justice of the Peace, as aforesaid, did then and there take his corporal oath and was by the said Justice of the Peace duly sworn before him, the said Edward S. Gillies, Justice of the Peace, having full power and authority to administer an oath to the said Eben C. Foster, and that the said Eben C. Foster then and there before the said Edward S. Gillies, Justice of the Peace as aforesaid, upon his said oath, as aforesaid, falsely, maliciously, wickedly, willfully, and corruptly did say, depose swear, give, and make complaint in writing in substance and to the effect following: that is to say “that Lorenzo Barns did on the twenty fourth day of December, AD 1855 at the Town of Mt. Pleasant in said County (meaning Green County) with force and arms violently assaulted and beat him, the said Eben C. Foster, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the State of Wisconsin,” whereas in truth and in fact the said Lorenzo Barns did not in any manner whatsoever assault or beat him, the said Eben C. Foster at the time and place, aforesaid, or at any other time or place, and whereas in truth and in fact no assault or battery or assault and battery was committed upon the said Eben C. Foster by the said Lorenzo Barns as charged in the complaint of the said Eben C. Foster in writing and under his oath as aforesaid. And so the jurors, aforesaid, upon their oath, aforesaid, do say that the said Eben C. Foster, on the twenty fourth day of December, aforesaid, at Albany in the County of Green, aforesaid, before the said Edward S. Gillies (so as aforesaid having sufficient and competent power and authority to administer the said oath to the said Eben C. Foster in that behalf) falsely, maliciously, wickedly, willfully, and corruptly in manner and form aforesaid did commit willful and ….. perjury to the great displeasure of Almighty God, to the great damage of the said Lorenzo Barns to the evil and perniciousness of the said Eben C. Foster before the said Edward S. Gillies upon his oath aforesaid, touching and conceiving the alleged assault and battery by the said Lorenzo Barns on and upon the said Eben C. Foster, the aforesaid complaint in writing then and there became and was material according to the Statute in such case made and provided, that is to say whether the said Lorenzo Barns did assault and beat him the said Eben C. Foster.

And the jurors, aforesaid, on oath, as aforesaid, do further present that the said Eben C. Foster wickedly devising and intending unjustly to ….. the said Lorenzo Barns and …. Him to be arrested and fined and imprisoned, and kept in prison for a long space of time on the aforesaid twenty fourth day of December in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty five at Albany in the County of Green, aforesaid, before the said Edward S. Gillies, Justice of the Peace of the aforesaid Town of Albany and in and for the County of Green, aforesaid, he, the said Edward S. Gillies, then and there having …. Of all others, against the form and statute in such case made and provided and against the peace and dignity of the state of Wisconsin.

H. Stevens

District Attorney