Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1859-11-01
MISCELL A n Y.
Eugene Aram, the learned Criminal %
KnareSbOrough.

MIS- LII A n Y.
Eugene Aram, the learned Criminal %
KnareSbOrough.
An English critic, in condemnng large COM
pilation on the subject of British biography,
complained that it commemorated too many IN
significant Names Among these, he said, was
that of Eugene Aram, an obscure man, who had
no claim to be remembered by the world. Inc
critic was answered by Mr.. Paley, the lecturer
on Moral Philosophy, and the sohoomasters
right to place in the Biographia Brittanica
was established. Mr.. Paley said "a man who
had been hanged had some claim to notorlety!
especially when it was remembered that IN
Eugene Aram's case his deeds and their punish
ment were alike the work of his own genius
In more recent times the pen of the novelist has
transmitted the name Of Aram to immortality {;
perhaps we may find bref condensation OF his
real history equally instructive.
Eugene Aram was born in the West kldlng
of York, in 1904, and was connected by birth
with some of the families of gentry OF that coun-
ty. Having obtained good education, he COM
rnenced life as poor scholar, and adopted the
business of teaching, and devoted himself with
great ardor to the acquisition and teaching OF
various languages. At the age OF thirty, he
arrived at Knaresborough in embarrassed cir
cu,nstances, but already distinguished by his
knowledge of the Hebrew, Arabic and Celtic
languages, with many branches of modern sci
ence he was already engaged in compiling
polyplot lexicon, which promised large ad-
dition to his fame and had written some tracts
upon British Antiquities. In the immediate
vicinity of Knaresborough he had examined
MANY ruins of the earlier centuries; among these
were dwellings excayated from the clitfs OF the
river Nidd, aud the chapel which the hermit st.
Robert, of the thirteenth century, had cut out OF
the solid rock, and in which he performed some
of his greatest miracles, as attested by the old
traditions of the country people. A mile further
down the river is ST. Roberts Cave, which was
the usual residence of the saint. For eleven
wears Aram pursued his ayoeation as teacher,
and the world was snxiously expecting his great
literary labor to be completed. In l745, shoe,
maker named Clarke, borrowed quantity OF
plate. with some other articles, from bis friends
under different pretexts, and soon atterwaro ois-
appeared. 1t was supposed that he had carried
off the plate, and the houses OF Richard House :
man and Eugene Aram were searched Tor eVl-
dence of participation in the fraud. No plate
was found, the investigation was abandoned, ana
the subject was nearly forgotten. thirteen
years passed away, in the course OF which time
the learned schoolmsstsr lett Knares6orough,
and became usher of large school at Lynn, ~
Norfolk. Among his pupils were some boys
who afterward rose TO position far higher than
their teacher was ever to reach. One Of these
was OolinQwood, the future admiral, and sharer
with Nelson in the glory of Trafalgar. The
Youthful hero often told the lessons of Eugene
Aram. in which the stories of great criminals
harip mir "a far hack the Tuna
of the first murderer:
"Apd long since them Of bloody men,
Whose deeds tradition saves
OF lovely folk cut off unseen,
And hid in sudden graves;
OF horrid deaths in groves forlorn,
And murders done in caves;
And how the spirits of injured men
Shrek upward from the sod,
Aye, how the ghostly hand will point
To show the buried clod,
And unknown facts Of guilty acts
Revealed in dreams from God
He told how murderers walked the earth
Beneath the curse of Cain,
Wi.h crimson clouds before their eyes,
And fame about their brain;
For blood has left upon their souls
Its everlasting stain"
The mind of the teacher was not at rest, for
he perpetually feared that the Angel of Justice
was watching over him still and his old friend
Houseman still continued to be the prey OF
gloomy terrors In 1853 human skeleton was
dug up in field near Knaresborough, and the
excited people endesvored to identify the dis
covered body with some lost individual, whose
fate had never been known. An inquest was
held by the coroner, and many remembered the
disappearance of the shoemaker, Daniel Olarko.
Houseman was brought before the coroDer's ju-
ry, and he displayed in his countenance and
voice every mark of fear and CONSERVATION; but
he attempted to disguise his feelings as he ap-
preached the decaying skeleton, and, with an
air of levity, took up bone, saying at the same
time. .'this is no more Dan Clarke's bone than
il is mine" The effect was different from that
which the witness expected. The jury was
convinced that he knew more than he had ever
revealed about Clarke's death. He was told
that he had as good as confessed that he could
tell something more, and wac at length induced
to disclose the story of the murder. "Go," said
he. "to St. Roberts Gave, and you will find the
bones of Clarke, just by the entrance, and with
the head turned towards the right"
Houseman now knew there was no way to
save himself but to turn "king's evidence" and
bring to justice his acoomplice. Eugene Aram
was named as the principal perpetrator of the
crime; and officers fastened to Lynn, arrested
the learned usher, and brought him before the
court to confront the cowardly Houseman
The trial of Aram took place at the York
Assizes, August Sd, 1869, and Houseman was
admitted to testify against him. Houseman's
story was that Daniel Clarke had received bis
wife's fortune, amounting to 2l60, the night
before he was murdered. He called at Aram's
with this sum in his pocket, and carrying also
the plate which he had borrowed among his
friends. Aram requested Clarke and Houseman
to walk out toward st. Roberts cave, where
Aram speedily knocked down and murdered
Clarke. With the aid of Honseman, the body
was buried in the cave, where the bones bad
now been found, and the clothes were brought
to Aram's house and burned
The skull of the murdered man was now pro-
duced iu court, "a ghestly witness against the
prisoner" On the left side was a fracture
which could only have been made by the stroke
of blunt instrument; the piece of bone was
driven inward, and could only have been re-
placed from within. The only medical testi-
mony was that of Mr.. Looock, who said that
"no such breach as that pointed out in the skull
could have proceeded from natural decay; that
it was not recent fracture by the instrument
by which it had been dug up, but seemed to be
of many years standing" The prosecution
proved nothing further, and Aram called no