Wisconsin herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1846-1849, 1846-04-11
CircuamstaratiaE Evidence.
FIRST CASE.

Tn The reign of Queen Elizabeth, a
person was arraigned before Sir John
Dyer, Lord Chief Justice of the Court
of Common Pleas, upon an Indictment
for the murder of man who dwelt in
the same parish with the prisoner
The first witness deposed, that on a
certain day mentioned by the witness,
in the morning, as he was going thro'
close which he particularly described,
at some distance from the path, he saw
a person lying, seeming to be either
dead or drunk that he went and found
him actually dead, two wounds appear
ing in his breast, and his shirt and
clothes much stained with blood that
the wounds appeared to have been
given by the puncture of a fork or
some such instrument and looking
about he discovered fork, apparently
a hay fork, lying near the corpse, which
he took up and observed it to be mark
ed with the initial letters of the prison
er's name. The witness at the same
time produced the fork in court, which
the prisoner owned to be his.
4 second witness deposed, that on
the morning of the day on which tie
deceased was killed, he had risen early
with an intention to go to a neighbor-
ing market-town and as he was stand
ing in his house, the door being open,
he saw the prisoner go by, dressed in
suit Of clothes, the color and fashion
of which he described that he (the
witness) was prevented from going to
market, and afterwards the first witness
brought notice to the town of the death
and wounds Of the deceased, and Of
the prisoners fork being found near
the corpse ; that upon this report tho
prisoner was apprehended and carried
before justice of the peace, who was
then present in court that he Uhe
witness) followed the prisoner to the
JUSTICES house and attended his exam
ination, during which he observed the
change of raiment which the prisoner
had made since the time he had seen
him 10 the morning; that at the time
of the examination, the prisoner was
dressed in the same clothes which he
had on at the trial and that on the
witnesses charging him with having
changed his clothes, he gave several
evasive answers, and would have de-
MED it; that upon his mentioning this
circumstance Of the change Of dress,
the justice granted warrant to search
the prisoners house for the clothes de-
scribed by the witness as having been
put off since the morning that after
dlllgent search the very clothes de-
scribed by the witness were discovered
all bloody, concealed in a straw bed
He then produced the bloody clothes
in court, which the prisoner owned to
be his, and to have been thrust into the
straw bed, with an intention TO con-
ceal them on account of their being
bloody.
The prisoner, called upon to make
his defence, gave the following narra-
tive to the court as containing all he
knew concerning the manner and cir
cumstance OF the death of the de-
ceased, namely =" That be rented a
close in the same parish with the de-
ceased, and that the deceased rented
another close adjoining to it that the
only way to his close was through that
of the deceased, and on that day when
the murder was committed. he rose
early in the morning to go to work ii
his close. with fork in his hand. and
passing through the ground OF the de-