Dayton daily empire. [volume] (Dayton [Ohio]) 1850-1865, 1865-05-31
Sd9aIlg Gmpire,
Nonstamce Kant.

LUG vase Wuith nus ItSeulll bb-
tracted so much attention In England demands
more than a passing notice, for it involves
many very interesting topics connected with |
testimony in cases of murder. Some of our
readers will remember the circumstances OF
the murder 10 question. 1t is now some five
years since it occurred Mr.. Kent esided at
Roadhll House He had living seven child |
lren-Constance and her two sisters, and
brother, children of his fret wife, aud another
son and two two daughters by his second wife,
who was also living. On the night of the |
mnrder the nurse was sleeping in the room
with the younger son, "A boy of four years old,
who lay ia crib When the nurse woke in
the morning the child was missing. Search |
was made, and his body was found IN the !
privy, at some distance from the house, stab |
10 the side; the throat cut from ear TO ear, |
deep cut in the spinal column, and black !
marks abaut the face indicating suaocation.
Here was u mystery indeed. The two questions
who did it, and how it was done, were equally |
puzzlipg. Was the child suffocated or not 2
II not, how was the murder committed with
out noise of any kind2 Tue surgeon said the
stab in the side was made with long, sharp
pointed instrument, and the throat was cut
with a sharp razor What stock OF murder
GUS intess,-as well as@keapons, was required
! IpE tue btNtEhl ulbtuOu5 lhuS suRRtdbcu Dy
which life was taken Every attempt to trace
the murderer failed Suspicion fell on various
persons in succession, but all alike were dis
charged by public opinion, as we'll as by the
officers Of law. No clue was obtained to the
terrible mystery, aud though suspicion was
directed toward Constance, then a school girl
of sixteen, at home for her vacation, yet the
idea was soon abandoned as preposterous, nor
was there circumstance elected which justly
cast suspicion on her A missing nightdress
| belonging to her was never accounted for, but
it was proved that it had been sent TO the wash,
and had no blood on 1t, when it was SO sent
These were the only facts in the case. The
child was murdered and that was all.
Years passed, and public feeling seemed to
settle down against Mr. Kent. the father, so
that at length be was obliged to remove to
distant part of the country, still followed by
the dark suspicion, which rested on no foun
dation, and was perhaps all the more bitter
for that very fact. ~
Now comes Cons aace Kent, in 1865 a
yourg lady of twenty.one and makes con-
fession in lew words, brief but full, and thea
seals her lips, Htre are her words.
II, Constance Emile Kent alone and un.
aided on the night ofthe 29th June, 1860,
murdered at Roadhil House, Wiltshire, one
Francis Saville Kent. Before The deed no
one knew Of my intention, nor after it of my
guilt No one assisted me in the crime, nor
in the evasion Of discovery.
u This she wrote out and signed, and, accom-.
panied by a religious adviser, went to a magis.
traie and voluntarily handed it 10 him. She
gives no other explanation, but goes to prison
silent and apparently satisfied The mystery,
instead OF being cleared by this startling
confession, becomes darker than ever In
poin It Of fact there seems now TO be just rea-
! son for very grave doubt whether she is guilty,
or whether she is not yielding herself to a
mental delusion: There is no help gwen by
the circumstances under which she makes the
confession. Rev MIR. Wagner, the clergy
man who accompanied her, belongs to the
Church Of England, and is one of the new
order of imitators OF the Catholic customs
In his parish be has established the confess
ional system rs practiced in the Roman
church. Miss Kent WAS member of a
"House for Religions Ladies'" known as ST.
Mary's Home, at Brighton, which Is also, we
believe, one OF the new inventions of some
> persons in the Church OF England. She has
been leading religious life" there for some
time, and on the formal examination before
the magistrates in the country to whom she
was transferred after her confession
she was accompanied by lady call
ing herself the Superior OF this House. Both
this lady and the Rev. Mr.. Wagner claim
that their communications with Miss Kent
have been under the seal Of secrecy, and Mr..
Wagner declines testifying, on the ground
that the seal of the confessional protects him
With very great propriety, courts in England
and America recognize this protection in the
case OF a Catholic clergyman, where the con-
tessional is part of the established order in
the church Bot the question seems to excite
I doubt in England whether a clergyman Of the
established church can claim any such ex-
emplion from duty to communicate the truth
and the whole truth. These facts, however,
eDvelop the case in doubt Here are two per
sons who have had charge OF this young
lady In retreat from the world, and who now
;. accompany her to the magistrate, where she
lays down this written confession, and the
public are left to imagine the Influences that
have surrounded her, aud the effects produced
on her mind during her seclusion. The fact
that there has been insanity in her family has
had its importance too. Her grandmother
and an uncle are knowH to have been insane,
and she herself, when quite young, once ran
away from home dressed in boys clothes. But
il insane, to which act shall the insanity be
applied as explanatory, the murder or the
confession Is it any the less likely that this
confession is the result of diseased mind, q
delusion cherished in convent life, and en-
eouraged by foolish people like thu Rev Mr..
7, Wagner, than that il led girl Of sixteen 10
murder boy of four. and remain cool calm
= and free from suspicion for years afterR On
the whole, the case is one of the most remark
able on record, and great interest will attach
a. al oh 4. lauun fae mi