Lewistown gazette. [volume] (Lewistown, Pa.) 1843-1944, 1861-03-14
M1393AAAGlVa
A Dying Man Confesses to a Murder
for which Another was Executed.

for which Another was Executed.
On the night of the third day of Sep
tember, 1858 when bloodshed and murder
were rife and Of common occurrence in
Baltimore, colored man, named William
King, was stabbed and killed, opposite to
his residence, on Wagon alley, near Schroe-
der street. At the time police was at fault,
and though several parties were arrested,
there was no testimony sufficiently strong
to warrant the holding of any of them for
trial. On the twenty seventh day of the
same month, however, upon information
which was thought correct, John Stevens,
alias, Cyphus, was arrested, and the grand
jury indicted him for the murder of King.
The party who committed the murder was
with female, but when the case was call
ed for trial she swore positively that Cy-
phus was not the man who was with her.
The trial proceeded, and after three DAYS
of investigation, the jury rendered YER
dict of murder in the first degree, and the
sentence Of death was pronounced, and the
Governor Of the State ordered the execu-
ton on the 18th day Of February follow
ing. Some persons, who doubted the guilt
of the condemned, obtained three several
respites, with the hope of being able to lay
before the Executive some reason why his
sentence should be committed, or for his
entire pardon All their efforts failed, and
on the 7th day of April, 1859, he was ex-
ecuted to satisfy the law Throughout his
whole imprisonment he protested his inno-
cence, and upon the scaffold declared that
he was to die for an offence be had not COM
mitted.
All efforts to produce some evidence of
the innocence of Cyphus having failed, af.
ter his execution there was no longer any
doubt of his guilt until within the past
three days. 1t now appears that man
named George Orem, not unlike Gyphus in
appearance, died on Sunday afternoon last,
in Wagon alley, near the scene of the muir
der of King, and before his death confess
ed to a number of persons that he, and not
Cyphus, was the author Of the death of
King. He also confessed having cherish
ed an aninosity against King, because the
latter married a woman whose hand he had
himself sought. After the marriage of
King, who was engaged in the oyster busi-
ness, Orem declared that he should not live,
and engaged as hireling to peddle oysters
through the streets to afford better oppor-
tunity to accomplish his object He also
confessed to having been the first who init
ated that Cyphus was the guilty party. On
the day before the night when the murder
was committed, Orem and King had a diff
Gculty about belt, in which was carried
butcher knife, both of the parties having
been previously engaged in the slaughter
of hogs, at place near the residence of
King.
The matter has been communicated to
the police, and an effort is now being made
to discover the truth of the statement Of
the lying man, and to further learn wheth-
er he had any accomplice in the transac-
ton, but it seems difficult to find anything
more than the confession which was made
but two hours before the man died, in the
presence of some eight or ten persons.
Food of the Japanese.-The japanese
are abupdantly supplied with the means of
subsistence. By planting new crops be-
fore the old is harvested, they get three or
four courses a year from the same field,
while the soil is constantly fed with man
ure to meet this heavy tax upon It's fertiIi-
ty. Their waters abound in fish Among
the different animals killed for game are
the wild boar deer, monkey, jackal, rabbit,
squirrel, bear, porcupine, &c. The birds
for food are geese, ducks, pheasants, par
tridges and many others. Beef and rat
flesh are eaten not as food, but as medicine
for the cure of diseases. We are daily find
ing out something new or strange about
this people, and very probably we shall
find several years residence necessary to
make US acquainted with all their habits
-CoTespondence Alta Californian.