The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1866-02-08
A Romantic Murder Trial.


...f ...n .H I.
AEfcw weeks since we. noticed the
fact Of the finding of a human skele.
ton in the woods about two miles east
of this place, by Mr.. benjamin Will
liams, and of the verdict of the, Jury
of inquest, designating the skeleton
as the remains Of a young man by the
name of Henry Mahorn and implicit
ing David Williams, u son of Bcuja.
min Williams, as the murderer. The
circumstances surrounding the case,
were strongly against the accused, as
the missing man was last seen, in this
community, about year ago, in
company with Williams. ON their way
to enlist in the army as substitutes.
The accused, after an absence Of a
few weeks returned home alone, stat
ing that his comradc, Henry Maho N.
had enlisted in the 10th Regiment of
Missouri Infantry. This appeared
plausible at the time, aud Henry Ma
horn was s,almost entirely forgotten by
our citizens, until the finding of the
skeleton in the woods. The suspic.
ions of our citizens were at once
aroused, from the fact that the cloth.
ing was identified as the same worn
by Mahorn when last seen---their sus.
picions that he had been foully mur
dcrod by Williams were much inten-
a.. sihed by learning that his father aud
+ family, living in Tennessee, had never
heard from him from the time he left
this neighborhood, in company with
Williams, to join the army, although
diligent inquiry had been made to as
, certain, if possible, his whereabouts.
/, The supposed murderer wis imme.
, diately arrested upon the rendering
of the verdict OF the jury of inquest,
aud lodged in the county Jail to await
his trial. On Monday, the 10th ul-
timo, the prisoner was brought into
court, before his Honor Judge Duff
!, ON the writ of hdbeaUs corpus. The
0aurt proceeded with the trial The
clroumstahces, a- revealed by the evi.
dencc, pointed directly To the P.i-...r
las the murderer of Mahorn, as the
lcloth,ng found wero identified as his
IS and that certain teeth which he wss
/. known to have had extracted in hi,
J.. lifetime were the identical ones tha
Il were found wanting in the jaws of tn,
!. skeleton. " .
- In fact the circumstances pointiu,
= to the guilt of the accused were s,
/, strong that nine, of the citizen
Is Of this community were fully satisfe,
of his guilt '''
n In the midst of the trial. imagin
the utter astonishment of the Cour
r, council, witnesses, the eager aud eX
r cited spectators, as well as the over
rs whelmingjcy of the prisoner in tn
IS dock, by the sudden appearance q
HenrysMahorn, "a propria person ., i
at the court room, in full vigor OF lifi
hale aud hearty. giving the most uu
n. mistakable evidence that ho had nc
beeu murdered, aud that the accuse
rs was innocent of the heinous Grim
Il with which he was charged Th
n. prisoner was sd overcome with joy a
thisunoxpee,ed, aud apparently Prov
n dental doliverance from suspicion
at circumstances that surrounded hin
ed hat he wept Ikea child. The Judy
At once ordered the release of the a,
IS Icused. ~ r..
no 1t seems that Mahorn had ioine
Ii the army under an assumed nam
ed aud in consequences was uusblo 4
ay hold correspondence with his friend
he aud being discharged but a few da,
previous TO the trial Of the your
,r- man Williams as his murderer,
in fortunately arrived in Benton the vel
N. day the trial commenced. .I...
,or This case should serve as less,
to juries 10 be slow in convieting
ed purely oiroumstsntial evidence.
*. would be more in accordance wi
i've the dictates Of humanity that ninet
pine guilty persons should escape /
sis punishment of the law, than that o
on innocent person should suffer ignol
he liaious death.
ore This singularly romantic ca,
he (which appears more like fiction tn
p. reality, has produced a profound Sc
FL sation in this community. for /
ALMOST universal opinion was that I
accused was guilty. Indeed we tLi
Us: had not Mahorn returned or been q
pa. counted for that il would heys be
ng. very doubtful whether a jury ceu
the have Keen obtained in the county II
nty would have acquitted him. 10 view
mud the strong circumstances that poin,
ma to his guilt~-BeatoR (m) .Standal