Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1869-04-30

! iponded with the size of Welcomes boots, il wa
f no sign they were his, as how many boot heel
f measured by such measurement as could be give
lby stick would be alike. There was buta sma
: difference in boot heels any how. They nigh
, have been made by his boot, and they might no
have been The result is that when that fact
t considered to bring home guilt TO Welcome yoI
have many things to contend with. You dom
know anything about it, and should pass by tina
testimony as suspicious, as not proven at all.
Admitting that the boy was the person tn
4 witnesses saw on the road between Shelburn anC
IIinesburgh, it proves nothing; he might hav'
done so because he was in the community
The fact weighs with equal force against every
one there. lie may have been off the main road
and gone across lots 1t does not follow that h,
was guilty of the murder.
! In respect to his whereabouts that night Flan-
agan and Russell went to the jail to get a state
ment from him. They told the boy they would
put it in writing; they did put it in
writing, vet they have testified to what
they have not in writing. All persons under
such circumstances were liable, by promises, to
make statements seeking to clear themselves
when they were already innocent, and what
( better could be expected from boy II years
| old, yet the only deviation he makes from the
.
Stewart and Arms. Arms told him if he could
prove where he was Saturday night it would be
all right. What stronger, more torturing in
ducements could be given him to confess. There
was reason enough for a II year Old boy to look
for some way to escape from being charged with
such a crime, yet all his statements were true
except as to where he staid Saturday night, and
in this particular Arms and Stewards testimony
hardly comes up to the point. That he slept
in Mr.. Russell's barn there is conclusive proof,
as when the officers 90 there they find the coat
which he said he took and other evidences to
corroborate his statements. 1t is human nature
to make strange statements, and 80 much the
more so for boy, as let a man be charged with
crime and every one says he is guilty and is
ready to cruelty him \ yigilant, sharp eyed de-
tectiye, with 500 to stimulate him could easily
pick up evidence enough to convict the boy, and
implore you not 10 convict him on the testi-
mony Of an officer As regards his identifca-
ton, the boys brought to the jail for that pur-
pose by flanagan didn't know HIM They re-
membered something that did not take place and
remembered to forget the rest.
When an officer goes so far as to remember
what never took place, be careful with his testi-
mouy. A drop Of blood under a shirt plat had
been maguifed to three or four times its size.
leaving but one fourth or less Of the statement
true. Take the rest in the same proportion aud
little would be left. Stewart had his eye on the
reward from the first, and with all his state
ments had neglected to tell that the boy had
protested his innocence The declarations made
by the prisoner after the first day s examination.
| have asked the court to rule out The slight
ert hope held out to the prisoner makes his dec
laratioHs inadmissabe, and constant experience
shows that such statements should not be con-
silerel by jury.
Mr.. Ballard here quoted from Russell on
Crimes, TO the effect that confessions must not be
extortel 10y any influence, and from 81 lckstone
who says confessions are the weakest and most
suspicious of ali testimony The experience of.
every lawyer is, that the last thing You can get
from a criminal even in the confidential relation
Of counsel and client, is an Acknowledgement Of
guilt. /, in all my experience, have ueSer OBJ
tliuel such an acknowledgement from prison
err. Nothing VIII extort 1t but the grave or the
glll0Ws. That Is human nature the world over
" hen, then, You tell me that a prisoner has
been voluntarily disclosing his guilt, don't BEL
lieye it, and the law does not believe IT, Yet "a
prisoner viii 10 anything 20 get clear. You en-
hire or influence him 90 d disclosure, au1 il may
BE true or not true The books contain case after
case where innocent persons have been convicted
- '-.- , "a a.. ' - wv" o'' v Inc
here described rs an instance If the Kind B,o4l
has been found on the boy shirt and coat II
's S'rii-'el, e.iia 'iAee' nut no" ilr does II
IN '-oG .. .i !, WI, ' - IA n ..,I
relates. with spatters of blood al ab0ut even on
lie ceiling, h3w happens II that no blood Is flul
.u DIS clothes below as well as aboye-on theI
80 .'ii' 1N 'i7 l'' !.
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