New-York daily tribune., 1857-08-25

the mo.t strocious circumstances and palpably for
the sake Of robbery, has just taken place in Dub
Lin. james Spollen, servant at the Broadstoue
Railway Tern mus, was put 10 the bar charged
with the murder Of Mr.. George ;. Little in
November last. The case il particularly curl
Gus, because it was founded upon exceedingly
strong circumstantial evidence, and because the
swif,e.t witnesses against the prisoner were his
own children Of tender years Dir. Little was
found murdered in his own Office at the station,
wounded about the head apparently by hammer,
the occpial bone being fractured, the jugular
veins severed, and the carotid artery wounded, ap-
parently by a razor. A number of soyeregns were
found secrcted in place to which the prisoner had
access, wrapped in piece of calico, which it was
sworn was part Of discarded hood belonging to
his daughter.
1t should here DE noticed that the facilities for
ccncealment about the premises were great, and
that lat November and part Of December passed
without anything having been discovered to fix gus.
picion upon any person as the murderer. But upon
the 18th Of December, in carpenters shed adjoin
ing the paint shop in which Spouen worked, was
accidentally found canvas bag containing about
G4O in silver. The bag was wet, and was supposed
to have been removed from neighboring canal, in
which vigorous search wss going on. SpoleR
was arrested seven months after the perpetraton
Of the MURDER 1t was proved that he had an init.
mate knowledge of every part of the building in
which Little was killed, and that he had unusual
facilities for entering the Office of the deceased. 1t
should be stated also that Spollen lived upon the
premises.
When be was examined as witness upon the
Coroner's inquest he testified that upon the night
of the murder he quilted his work at half-past five,
that he went home, and that he remained reading
until past nine, when he went into town to make
some purchases with bis wife and eldest son. Sus-
pcit Ii pointing at Spollen, search was made OF
place upon his premises in which large accumula.
ton Of stones was noticed, and about { 13O were
discovered. The testimony showed that this was
unquestonaby money stolen after the murder of
Mr.. Little. 1t was here that portions Of the suu-
bonnet of Spollens little girl were also discovered
About f67 were also found secreted in q ca,k of
red lead. In the center of this mass of red lead
was found paddock and key fitting this was dis
covered in drawer in Spollens house, together
with duplicate of the lock.
Lucy SpoleD, the daughter of the accused, tss-
tilted that her father did not come home at "a
o clock upon the evening of the murder; that she
saw her father get small ladder and 60 to the roof
of what was called the grease house." and that
she also saw him after he had, by the aid Of the
same ladder, ascended another roof, stufing some
thing down chimney. The theory of the prose-
cution was, that the plunder obtained from Mr..
Lttle's ofice was temporarily secreted BY SpOlen
in the chimney The girl also testified that soon
afterwsrd her father came into the house. She
swore distinctly to the piece Of sum- bonnet in which
the money was found wrapped. In the canal was
found peculiar kind Of hammer, we'll fitted to infict
the injuries found upon Mr. Littles head andspecks
of red lead were found adherng to the handle of this
implement A similar hammer was found in the
prisoners workshop, and the theory of the prose
cuticn was, that this hammer belonged to the chill
drn of the prisoner and that be had smeared it
with putty and placed it in lis workshop to divert
suspicion from the fact that bis own was missing.
A razor was also found in the canal which was not
Spollens. Afttrward a second razor was found,
marked "Spollin," aud the name was found to be
so engraved upon several articles in the prisoners
house. A cutler testified to marking the razor,
although he did not recognize the respondent as
the person for whom be marked it.
This testimony certainly afforded strong case
for the Government Without going at detail into
the testimony for the defense, we may mention
that the prisoners counsel, Mr.. Curran, made an
admirable argument, in which he urged that the
testimony of the children was not to be believed,
that "cbidren were often liars, and sharp ones,
too, ard that these children had been instructed
by their mother to accomplish the most unnatural
erd. The prisoner was much affected whenever
any au.ion was made by the learned counsel to his
social relations. 1t was very clearly in evidence
that the murder might have been committed and
the money concealed by other persons in the
employ of the Railway Company. The Chief
Justice summed up elaboratey, eviGechyy leaning to
the side of the priioner. Tie Jury were out for
only an hour, and returned verdict Of "Not
guilty" Upon hearing it the prisoner swooned,
exclaimipg, "My children" He expressed him.
self very strongly against bis wife, characterlzing
Ter as ga tgress,' and hoping that she would
retire to some distant colony.
The verdict strikes us as, in many respects, re-
msrkable one, considering the present tendency Of
Jurors to find prisoners guilty upon crcumstantial
evidence. Many unfortunate persons have been
hung upon sliehter testimony than that adduced
against Spollen and the whole case will reward the
careful examination of the legal profession in this
country.
Our articles upon the incompetence Of public