Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-10-01
aaily Yirginian.
Circumstantial Evidence

relation to thu fallihiliIy Of circumsta ntial and
medical testimony introduces the suiioined in
stances -.t.t
To begin Mt home. many Of our readers will re-
member the remarkable uf two brothers In
Vermont. They quarrellcd. and the clothes Of
one were found all bloody, concealed beneath the
toor OF a barn-but the body of the wearer could
not be discovered. The living brother was tried,
pronounced guilty of the murder aud sentenced to
death. But MS some doubt pervaded the mind uf
the Executive he was not hung. Several ycnrs
after, his alleged victim returned to Vermont from
New Jersey. where he had been living and con
tessed that he had placed the stained clothes
der the loor, through n caprice for which there
was no rational explanation. But here follows IA
singular instance Of perverscness and vindictive
contriyanc", that is probably without parallel in
the annals Of crime. A man named William
Shaw, an artisan OF Lcth. Scotland resided with
an only daughter. She had formed an unfortu-
nato attachment to young man, whom the father
nund to he OF licentlous character, and 80 his ad
dresses were dscountenanced. This caused con-
tnua dissension, until at last one day, it arose to
such height, that the tenant of un adjoining
room could not avoid overhcaring tic conversation
the voices Of father and daughter were recognised,
and the words cruelty" "barbarity," death"
were over and over again enunciatcd. The fathy
er at last left the chamber abruptly, locking the
DIOR behind him. and leaving his daughter pris-
oncr. After some little tRie deep means were
hoard from without, which gradually becoming
aihter, the alarmed neiyhhor procured tho assis-
anrc If II hnillf, and hurst open the DOR Ghnst.
~, indeed was the spectacle that presented itself
There lay the young woman ON the floor weltcring
in her hlood-a knife, the instrument Of her denth
beside her. To the question, neither her father
VAS the cause oi it. she made II faint affirmative
gesture and expired AT this moment the father
rr-appearcI Ills horror may he imagined, Es
crJ eye was fixed on him. and SIRE snccks Of
"a r.,
dreadful accusation. Nainly attempting t, ne
count for the stained sleeve by the rupture Of
some swntho with which he had bound his wrist,
he was hurried off to prison, tried, condemned:
mot man in Lcith.' says the report, having
doul as to his guilt. And yet that man was limo
cent, lie was murdered man. His Inst dying
yords"l ann innocent uf the murder of my
dnughtcr'-.wcre true IT, the very letter.
Alter Shaw had swung for weeks upon his glib
BET, his innocence was completely proven. a let
ter was discovered concealed in drawer, written
by the waywarI girl, announcing her intention Of
committing suicide and ending with these words:
--"My inhuman father is the cause of my DEATH"
thus explaining her expiring gesture, and up-
bradng her parent for having sought to avert
the misery Of his child hy preventing her mar
ringe with a reprobate, We suhjoin another. In
the year l142. gentlemen. travelling to Hull
was stopped, late in the evening by single high
wayman, who wore mask on his face and who
rnDDpt the tThNeIltr III twenty Rulnfa>. lneJnb
Der rode off by different path Mt full speed, and
the gentleman pursued his journey lie stopped
at the Bell Ian kept by Mr.. James Brunell. lie
went into the kitchen To give directions for his
supper where he related to several persons presen,
the fact ot his having heen robbrd; to which he
added this circumstance-that when he travelled
he always gave his gold peculiar mark, and that
every guinea in the purse taken from him
thus marked Hence he hoped that tho robher
would yet be detected. Supper heng ready. he
retired He had not long finished his supper,
when Mr.. Brunell came into the pnror where hs
was, and, after the usual inquiries of landlords as
to the guests satisfaction Of his meal, observed,
Sir. understand you have been robbed not far
from hence this evening-""l have sir" was the
reply. "And your money was marked2" con,in-
ued the landlord. ut was, said the traveller
"A circumstances has arisen,' resumed Mr.. Bru.
nell, which leads me think that can point tut
the robber. Pray at what time in the evening
were you stopped?' ?'-"It was Just setting in u be
dark" replied the traveller "'rhe time confirms
my suspicious" said the landlord and he then In
formed the gentleman that lac had waiter. nne
john Jennings. who had of late been very full
OF money, and 80 very extrnvagant. that he The
landlord) had been surprised ut it, and had@tIe-
ternined to part with him, his conduct being ev-
cry way suspicious; that long before dark that day
Jennings had been sent out TO procure change for
IL guinea for his master; that he had only come
back since the arrival If the tray Her, npd said
he could not get change. Mr.. Brunell continued
to say that when the guinea was brought back to
him it struck linn that it was not tho one sent out
lay him 10 he changed there beng on the return
ed one mark, which he was very was not
u,mn the other but thar he should probably have
thought no more Of the matter-Jennings having
frequently had gold in his pockets of lnte-hnd
not che people in the kitchen told him what the
traveller related respecting the robbery and the
circumstance If the guineas being mnrNd. lie
Mr.. Brunell was not present when this relation
was made, aud; unlurky before he heard u! il
from the people in the kitchen he had paid away
, the guinea t" IA who lived at some distance,
and who had now gone home. "Thccrcunstance
however" said the landlord in CONCLUSION, struck
me SO strongly, that could not refrain ns an hon
est man, from coming and giving you inlorma-
lion" The honest landlord was duly thanked
Jennings. who was last asleep, had his pockets
searched and the other nineteen marked guineas.
If which the traveller had been robbed, and the
identical purse in which they were confined,
found in one them! Why proong a story Whose
tragic catastrophe the reader must this have
anticipated? The waiter charged with the
robbery, and tried for his life. The concurrence
of circumstances set in strongly and irresistibly
against him. His size and bearing ibis face was
masked) corresponded with those Of the highway
man. He could not establish abb. Above all
the marked money and purse was found in his
pocket. He was found guilty and senteneed to
the gallows. He died. strongly asserting his in
nocence But for a time NO ono believed him. A
year after the death of Jennings, the honest land
iord-the respectable MIR. Brunel was surprised
in the very act of robbng sleeping man who
had put up at his house. He was now tried, con-
victed. and sentenced to die the death Of felon.
Previous to his execution, terror. rather than re-
morse, wrung from his guilty soul the secret of
the marked guineas The rubber was the land
lord himself who, no returned to his
own house. did actually pay away one of the gui-
.peas-not kno wing it to hava been marked. As