of wrong and the fear of punishment. His
life soon became reckless and abandoned, and the first sign of his
degradation was his neglect of his household. For days together Margaret
saw nothing of him; his only companions were the worthless and outlawed;
and, when intoxicating liquors could be procured, which was,
fortunately, not often, he indulged in fearful excesses.

Of evil company, there was, unhappily, but too much; for the settlement
was cursed with a band of desperadoes, exiles from organized society,
who had sought the frontier to obtain impunity for their misdeeds. The
leaders of this band were three brothers, whom no law could control, no
obligation restrain; and with these men Cutler soon formed a close and
suspicious intimacy. The eyes of the citizens had been for some time
directed toward the companions, by circumstances attending various
depredations; and, though unknown to themselves, they were constantly
watched by many of their neighbors. It is uncertain whether Cutler was
acquainted with the character of the men when his association with them
first commenced, for in none of the places where he had lived, had he
hitherto been suspected of crime. It is most probable that he sought
their company because they were "dissipated" like himself; and that, in
the inception of their acquaintance, there was no other bond between
them than the habit of intoxication.

Had we time and space, we would fain pause here to reflect upon the
position and feelings of the false wife--deserted, in her turn, by him
for whom she had given up truth and honor--alone in the wilderness with
her children, whose birth she could not but regret, and harassed by
thoughts which could not but be painfully self-condemning. But we must
hasten on.

In the autumn of eighteen hundred and twenty, information was brought to
the settlement, that a store at Springfield (as it is now called), had
been entered and robbed--that the leaders of the desperadoes above
alluded to, were suspected--and that the goods stolen were believed to
be concealed in Cutler's grove, where they lived. Warrants were issued,
and the three were arrested; but the magistrate before whom they were
taken for examination, was a timid and ignorant man; and by the
interference of Cutler, who assumed to be a lawyer, they were examined
separately, and allowed to testify, each for the other! An officer who
knew no more than to permit this, of course could do no less than
di