The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1864-11-09
WHOLE NO. 42l.
Romance OF Crime.

wich aSSiSeS. Jt Is that Of acriminaI en-
deavoring, by mode rather elaborate thar
ingenious, to overreach justice, and end
ing by overreaching himself. A crime com
rnitted nearly three years ago, of which the
English police had long since abandoned
all hope of detecting the pcrpetrator, be
comes revealed through the inStramentaity
Of the author Of it, who is already lying in
Jail for subs, quent offence. The discovery
arose as follows:
One Solomon Hills, the prisoner in
question, a young laborer Of twenty two,
was convicted in January, 1868, of an as
/, sault upon gamckeeper, and sentenced
| to eighteen months imprisonment. This
sentence has just expired but in the inter.
val he made acquaintance with fellow.
criminal, named Humphrey. a rich farmer,
who had been sentenced to penal servitude
for life, on the charge Of shooting a man
named Reed, with intent to murder. Hum.
phrcy persuaded Hills to avow himself the
real author of the crime for which the for.
mer was about to suffer, promising a large
reward for doing so. Humphrey was then
to get his release, and regain his property:
Hills was to be formally ,ried and convicted
in his place; and, while the one was to ge, out
the cheat, obtain his own liberation, and
the promised recompcnss from Humphrey
Hills made false confession to the gov.
ernor and visiting justices, declared him
self the perpetratOr Of the crime charged
upon Humphrey, and promised to find at
the bottom Of a certain pond the gun with
which Reed was shot. The governor un
dertook to make the investigation and took
Hills to the pond We must now 90 back
to Hills previous crime, OF which he has
been just convicted. Quite unconcerned
in the attempt to murder Reed, which was
entirely the work Of Humphrey, though
Hills was hmself at large at the time, he
had committed a murderols attack upon
an old man, jointly with an accomplice, so
long ago as November, 1861. He had
broken into the old mans house, braten
him, and, among other things, had carried
of ID gun belonging to him. This gun he
had thrown into the pond, into which he
pretended to have thrown the gun that he
mad falsely alleged himself to have shot
Reed with, and there it had renlaiRed, i'm
bedded in the mud, from November, 1861.
until the search made at Hills own instance
a month or two ago.
In the meantime, Humphrey had shot
Reed, and Hills himself had his affray with
the gamekeeper towards the end of 1862 ::
and Tor these two offences the two crini
nails have been in the sane paol at Bury
prior to Humphrey being despatched to q
permanent depot Of felons. We now re-
turn to the story Of the mock confession
made by Hills to the governor Of the gaoI
month or two ago. The pond was first
dragged, then emptied, and at the bottom
was found the gun which Hills had thrown
there in November. 1861, after riflins the
old mans cottage, but which h. pretended
to be the gun that he had shot Reed with
year later.
No doubt he thought his story was be
lieved, and his and Humphreys j,int stra.
tagem successful. The gun, however. was
| identified as the property of the old man
who had been robbed Of it in the winter Of
1861. Of course, therefore, there was an
end Of the scheme for Humphreys liberia.
ton and Hills reward. But i: being clear.
b.yond this, that ho one would have known
where to find the gun but the person who
threw 1t there, there was at once clue to
The identification Of Hills with the author
OF the assault and robbery on the old man
in 1861. Thus, therefore, Hills found that,
just at the moment that he was about to be
Liberated from gaol Cat the close of the
eighteen months for which he had been
sentenced on account Of his attack upon
the gamekeeper in January, 1889 he was
about to be put on his trial for the previous
crime, which would have remained a secret
but for his own greedlnesS in trying to get
the reward out Of the prisoner Humphrey.
The mock confession having broken down,
there was, luckily for the decorum Of JUS.
lice, no mock trial Of Hills for Humph: ey s
offence. Humphrey went to his doom,
and found no rescue from his sentence OF
penal servitude for life. But Hills was
detained on the true charge Of robhing the
old man, and has ow got five years penal
servitude on the top of his now expired
eighteen months Imprisonment. So Hills
and Humphrey may, after all, meet again,
TO lament over the miscarriage of their
little game. ..... ..