Connecticut western news., 1871-09-22
CONDEMNED BY A CLOCK.
BY wILKIE COLLINS. ff aaf r#F s,a

t. .tf ,sa. 0nla summer eyening, some years ago, a man was found murdered in field near a certain town in the West of England. The name of the field Mas ,iPardon's Piece"
 The man was Q small carpenter and builder in, the town, who bore an indiffer- ent character. On the evening in ques- tion, distant relative of his, employed as farm bailiff by gentleman in the neigh borheod, happened to be passing stile which led from the field into road, and saw agentleman leaving the field by, way of this ssile rather in hurry. He recog
 nized the gentleman (Yhom he knew by sight only) as a Mr. 'Dubourg. ''4'f' 't .' The two passed each other on the road in opposite directions. After certain lapse of time-estimated as being half an hour the; farm bailif had occasion to pass back along the same road On reaching the stile he heard an alarm raised, and en- tered the field to see what was the mat ter. He found several persons running from the farther side of Pardon's Piece toward a boy who was standing at the back of cattle-shed, in a remote part of the inclosure, screaming with terror At the boys feet lay, face downward, the dead body of a man, with his head horribly tu. 0, hanging out of his! s!poeket by the chain.} It had stopped-evidently in consequence. of tue, concussion of its owners fall on it-at half past eight. The boay was still warm. All the other valuables, like the watch, were left on it. The farm bailiff instantly recognized the man as the carpenter and builder mentioned above. ;up 'siis;. 'I-
 At the preliminary inquiry, the stoppage of the watch. at half-past e,ght twas taken as offering good circumstantial evidence that the blow which had killed the man had been struck at that time. s
 The next question was-if any one had been eennearthe body at half past eight The farm baiGfi declared that he had met Mir. Dubourg hastily leaving the field by the stile at that very time. Asked ii, he had looked at his watch, he owned that he had not done so.a Certain previous cir cumssanees, which be mentioned as having impressed themselves on his memory en- abied hun to feel sure of the truth of this assertion without having consulted his watch. He was pressed on this important point, but he held to his declaration. At half past eight he had seen Mr. Dubourg hufriedly leave the field. h7A At half past eight the watch of the murdered man had topped g.sri s54,4s / -.sf.ag
 lad any other person been observed in or near inc field at that time ''
 No witness could be discovered who had seen any body else near the place. Had the weapon turned up with which the blow hadsbeene struck T 1t had,not been found. Was any one known (robbery hay ing plainly, not been the motive of the crime) to have entertained grudge against the murdered man. It was no secret that he associated with adodbtful characters male and female; but suspicion .tniled'tc point to any one of them in. particular. t7
 In this state of things there was no al
 ternative but to request Mr. Dubourg- young gentleman of independent fortune
 bearing an excellent charactef-to give some account of himself. 1T .JH2 .riG zri
 He immediately admitted tbat he had passed through the field. But, in contra. he had looked at his watch at the moment before he crossed the stile, and that tho time by it was exactly a quarter past eight. Five minutes later-that is to say ten minutes before the murder had beer committed, on the evidence of the deae mans watch-he had paid visit to lady living near Pardon'sT Piece, and had re mained with her until his watch, consulted once more on leaving the lsdy's house, in formed him, that it was quarter to nine.
 Here was, the defense called an sallhi. , It entirely satisfied Mr. Dubourg's friends To satisfy justice also it was necessary t, call the fady-asa witness-f the mean time another purely formal question put to Mir. Dubourg. Did he know any fhiuo of the aI1rfl6r oa rISaTIs s2dSgW .l8fICAt'
 With some appearance of confusion, MT Dubourg admitted that he had been in duced (by a. friend) to employ the man oI some work Further interrogation ex tracted from him the following statemep
 of facts: 2.
 That the work had been very badl, done that an exorbitant. price had beer charged for it; that the man, on being re monstrated with, had behaved ina grossl, imperrinentl manner that an altercatiOl had taken place between them; that Mir Dubourg had seized the man by the cola of his coat, sud had turned him out of tn
 house; that he had calledthe man an in ternal scoundrel (being in passion at tn
 time), and had threatened to .sthrash hin within ,,an inch of his life' tor words t
 that effect) if he ever presumed to com
 near the house again that he had sincere ly regretted his own violence the momen he recovered his selt-possession and lastly that, on his oath, {the altercation havin occurred six weeks ago), he had never spc ken to the man, or set eyes on the mar since. +t s,.se .s.Einslr od .a.a .t'i sr
 As the matter then stood, these circun stances were considered sss being unfortr nate circumstances for MT. Dubourg
 nothing more,a Be had his aaibir to. al peal to- and his character to appeal to an nobody doubted sresult U n@al 'l-S .