Litchfield enquirer., 1836-04-21

"a puoishment, by the decisiOU Of The court
before which they were indicted, on Ihe
ground Of want Of Jurisdiction. A few weeks
since we recorded the death of the elder
Smith, who was shot down in Gsl~na BY Hen
nv L. Massey, brother of w. Massey. And
now we learn from the last Galena Advert
ser. that. week or two previous. Miss Mas
seq, a sister, shot VIM. Smith, ~ Dubuque,
aud that the wound will probably prove NOR.
tai. The ball entered Smiths right side, lust
above the third rib, and lodged.
Murder and ArsOn.-A murder under cir
eumsiances Of the most atr0ciOus nature, Oc-
Cured at house OfiIl-fame. No. ~ Thomas
street, yesterday morning. From the depo-
sliOns made before the COronpr's Jury, we
learn the following particulars :-Betwern the
hours Of 10 and u on Saturday night. young
man called at the above house, and inquired
for female residing there by the name Of
HrleO Jpwctt. to whom he was shown, and
they Immediately retired tOa room on the
second story. About half pact II, the latter
called for bottle Of Champaign wine, and
shortly afterwards the house was closed. and
the remainder Of the inmates retired to their
rooms. At three O'Clock, one Of the Occu-
pants 10 the room adjoining, discovered that
the room Of Helen jeweit was on Gre, raped
| at the deUr. and.nOt receiving an answer, and
the smoke increasing. she ran into the street
and called in a Waterman to assist in extin-
| gushing the flames. The door was broken
! open, when they at once perceived the bed
! to be on fire. and stretched upon it the maug-
led corpse of the unfortunate female above
named, weIterng in her blood, and her right
temple lite, ally beaten through To the brain.
The FIRE was soon extinguished. when i'm
! mediate search Of the promises took place,
but the perpetrator had fed, and the only clue
to his discovery was by means Of "A cloak
which, in his hurry to escape he had dropped
in the adjoining yard, which was at once re-
cognizpd as belonging 10 the individual VIII"
had visited her few hours previous. In an
other ward was found hatchRt, Goa cred with
blood, TO the handle of which was tied piece
Of Irvine, and to the cords of the cloak there
was also tied a piece Of Irvine exactly cores
pcnding with that on the handle the hatch
ct, and had evidently been recently cut a.
sunder. Suspicion Immediately fell upon the
owner Of the cloak, who was knOwn at the
house by the name Of " Frank" and Mr..
Brink, of the Police Office, was despatched
10 pursuit Of the fugitive, who he succeeded in
arresting at his boarding house 10 D+y street,
before he had risen. He was taken back ~
the scene Of murder, and attended at the cor
name is Richard p. Robinson. is a clerk TO
respectable house 10 Maiden lane. aud that
his connexions reside in Connecticut, (Dnr-
ham.) He denied having been 10 the house
the previous night, and also statrd that the
cloak did not belong to him. A young gen
t!eman who lodged in the same bed with him
deposed that he was asleep when Robinson
came home, and thinks that it must have been
very late-couid not say positively who the
cloak belonged to, and gave very excellent
character of the accused. The following is
the verdict Of the CUroner's jury -
at is the OpiniOH at 'i'r jury, from the ~v-
idence before them, that the said Helen Jew.
EFT came to her death by blow or blows in
nicied on the head with hatchet By the hand
Of Richard P. Robinson"
A post tnortem examination 1T the body
took place yesterday by DR.. Nissan. by which
it was ascrrtained that there were three
wounds ON the right temple, the frst Of " bch
must have t,rnsed fatal. From the position
in which the body MAS found. together with
the fact that On noise or struggling had been
heard at the time Of the murder. it WAS con-
jeciured that The deceased upon the 6rst blow
must have Instantly passed froaa sleep to death.
The deceased had been a public girl fur the
last S or 6 years 10 this city. and the prota-
bile cause of her assassinstieo originated in
jealousy. The prisoner is just 10 years Of
age. Of highly respectable family. has noth-
ing in his appearance or manner that indicates
propensity to the awful crime laid to his
charge, and evinced throughout the whole 10
yestigation the utmost compOsure.
From the Courier we add these particulars
1.-The he the murderer, the mind naturally
re,erss To the circumstances which led him
"a FL. A..xA has
none of the common Incentives TO il are 10 be
found. 1t is trme the deceased had told the
mistress Of the house on Tuesday night '.that
Frank Rivers was going TO be married. that
he had returned ia her the letters she had
written 10 him. and wanted her Ia return to
him the letters he had written TO her." II is
also said that he had sometimes expressed dis
satisfaction at calling and finding her in com
pany with other men. But on the other hand.
the deceased was said to be much attached
to him, and was exhibiting his portrait (" some
Of her companions, on the day before that
she was murdered. This portrait was found
ut the prisoners lodgings. as we're also among
the clothes Of the deceased the letters he had
written to her, " ith those she had written To
him. From these letters it was ascertained
who Frank Rivers really was, they being ad-
dressed to Robinson outside, and inside TO
aer "Dear Frank as4E4s t..a"s
The murder is supposed to have been com.
mitted at about 2 o'clock 10 the morning, and
that the murderer set FIRE TO the bed. in the
expectation that his victim would he cOnsnm-
ed with every thing belonging to her. That
"n making his escape, he was alarmed by the
mistress Of the house being called up. and
coming down stairs, in consequence Of the
ringing Of the house bell. by a person in the
habit of visiting there. That III. murderer