The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1864-11-25
NEW SEKIES-NO. 573

A case is now under examination in
Albany which shows what trivial circum-
stances lead to the detection of the secret
murder. Owen Thompson, q cattle dealer
OF this city, accustomed to purchase in
the Albany market, usually carried on his
person $4,000 or $1,000 on his visits
there. On the 18th of September he had
been engaged all day in West Albany, but
had made no purchases. he went out in
the evening with a stranger to look at
some cattle that had come from SARATOGA.
and were placed 10 the most remote pens
in the market.
Next day at sunrise he was found dying,
head broken with slung-shot, bis money,
$1,000, and check for So, 200 gone.
Who had done the deed? Who. was the
stranger that had taken Thompson off to
show him the cattle2 A man with q
slouched hat had been seen with ThOmp-
son. He had bantered him about betting,
and offered to stake thousands upon Lin
coins election. Thompson offered to put
up any amount on the other side. He
produced his well-stuffed wallet, and It
was noticed the stranger stuck to him all
day after that
One of the drovers, Center of Tribes
Hill, recollected the man who had asked
him, "Didn't you keep bar somewhere?
Havn't seen you before?" And though
the magistrates of Albany offered re-
ward of $500, and the drovers added
$4,000 to it, there was no clue to the mur-
derer.
A month afterwards, as the drover Gen.
ter was riding in the cars to Schenectada,
he fell into accidental conversation with q
passenger, who, after a few brief words,
abruptly asked him, Haven't you kept
bar somewhere? Havn't seen you be-
fore2" eyes," he replied; 81 must
have seen you at West Albany" The
passenger denied this; but Center replied,
eyes, am sure, and l arrest you as the
| murderer of Thompson. The mans
slouched hat had been replaced by another,
his mustache had disappeared, his dress
| was different. 1t was the question, the
| accent, the tone of voice. that were the
marks of Identification.
After the arrest, other proofs came.
Gordon, arrested, had been spending
money recently with great freedom. He
had paid but two bills of one hundred dol
lars each on the Park Bank, at which
Thompson had dealings He was shift
less, dishonest man. He had carried q bad
character into the army, and made it
| worse there. He was traced to Schenec-
tada the night of the murder, and proba-
bly, ran down to the depot, after the crime,
and took the train. The servant girl, the
black barber, and others at the Drovers
Hotel, identify him with more or less pos
itiveness
All countries have their traditional sto-
ries Of murder detected by some such cas-
ual expression as that let fall in this case.
There is an old Irish story of a servant
maid who went to steal some linen from
her master to make her a shift, but her
heart misgiving her, she exclaimed, "bet-
ter go naked to bed with clean con-
science!" But that same night there was
robbery and murder in the house, which
remained undetected till one day, going
| to the well, she saw two men there, one
of whom exclaimed, "better 60 naked to
bed with a clean conscience" Conviction
and hanging end that story, of course. In
Auber's opera of ella Diavola the plot
turns upon this incident. Zerlina, un-
dressing for the night, before the glass,
unconscious of the presence of robbers,
| sings:
For a servant there's no denying
! Here shape that's not much amiss
There is no cause. fancy, for signing
When one boasts such figure as this {.
I'm sure there are some more amiss"
In the morning, at the fete, Beppo and
Matteo catch up the words, and mockingly
sing it as they meet her; and thereupon
follows the arrest and catastrophe, the ta-.
bleau of the robbers seized by the carbi-.
neers, and justice triumphant. ...-.
But not upon this single thread alone did
justice depend for its clue. There was
gathering about Gordon a web woven by
his own guilty hands, in which he soon
would have been involved. Many eyes
had watched him before bis crime, and not
few followed his traces atterward. There
is a moral to this tale of blood. This man,
dissolute, cowardly thief in his youth,
went to the wars, and came back with
lesson in blood to add to his evil knowl-
edge. How many such characters, tempt
ed into the ranks by bounties, are to return
to their former homes schooled in these
bloody instructions!