Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1859-11-01

witness for the defence. Relying solely on his
own eloquenoe and ingenuity, he delivered a
written speech of great power, which strongly
impressed many present in his favor. 1t is q
grand principle in English law, that no man
can be condemned for murder unless the body
of the person supposed TO have been murdered
be found and identified. In this case, no proof
that would be satisfactory 10 q court of the
present day was presented. The skeleton was
not proved to be that of Clarke neither the age,
the SEX nor any of the many points of identity
which, in the present age, would be elected
were brought out Aram denied any knowledge
OF the bones exhibited, and presented powerful
arguments to prove that they must belong to
some hermit who had, in former times, dwelt
in the cave, as the holy Saint Robert himself
was known to have done,
But all the eoquence and learning displayed
by the prisoner, in his extraordinary Speech
failed to convince the jury of his innocence
1t wac even believed that the astonishing abili-
ties lie exhibited contributed only to the clearer
establishment of his guilt. The celebrated DR..
Paley, who was present at the trial, was after
ward heard to say, that Eugene Aram had 'got
himself hanged" by his own ingenuity. He
was found guilty by the jury, and sentenced to
DEATH Despair seized upon his mind in the
prison in which he awaited the hour of execu
tion. He confessed his guilt to the clergyman
who conversed with him and afterward wrote
feeblej justification of suicide. On the morning
appointed for his execution, he was found 10 u
dying state in his bed. He had inflicted large
wound on bis arm with razor, and his written
apology for the deed was lying on the table be-
side his bed. Painting from loss of blood, he
was, at the appointed hour, suspended from the
scaffold, and his body was then exposed in chains
at St. Roberts cave, the scene of his crime, COM
mitted fourteen years before. The secret OF bis
life ''was one that earth refused to keep"
Since the trial and execution of Aram, the
scientific discoveries of century have added
largely to the resources of human society in the
detection and punishment of guilt. Within the
present century, science has unraveled many q
complicated web of crimes, and startled the
guilty by fearful revelations. In many instances,
the Wondering dust OF the silent grave has been
called forward to give evidence against the
murderer; and the poison that terminated the
mortal life of the innocent, has been rendered
up, grain for grain, after years of delay bad
oalmed the fears OF the criminal. In Lyons, in
France, woman was charged with poisoning
her father seven years before, and chemical
analysis of the shapeless tissues found in the
coffin revealed the whole truth. IL was a voice
from the grave, against which no defence could
be made. A few years ago, q more remarkable
case occurred in France. A heap of bones, with
little else, was found in a tomb, which had been
closed for ele0en years, and the ends of justice
required that their history should be ascertained.
The questions which law and justice had asked
of chemical science were answered by N. Orhla
and his associates. The dead body was identi :
fed by series of minute particulars, with that
of an aged person who had, eleven years before,
disappeared. The perpetrators OF the murder
were arrested and condemned to the galleys for
lfe Innumerable other instances might be
given, in which the various medical sciences
have unveiled the mysteries of the tomb.