Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1871-10-26

Dubourg's friends. To satisfy
justice also it was necessary tc
call the lady as a witness. In the
meantime another purely formaI
question was put to Mr.. Dubourg
Did he know anything of the mur,
dered mani
With some appearance of con
fusion, Mr.. Dubourg admitted that
be had been induced 10y a friend)
to employ the man on some work,
Further Interrogation extracted
from him the following statement
of facts:
That the york had been very
badly done; that an exhorbitant
price had been charged for it;
that the man, on being remon.
strated with, had behaved in q
grossly impertinent manner; that
an alteration had taken place be.
tween them; that Mr.. Dubourg
had seized the man by the collar
of his coat, and had turned him
out Of the house; that he had
called the man an internal scoun-
arel (being in a passion at the
time,) and had threatened TO
"thrash him within an inch of his
life" Tor words to that Effect if
he ever presumed to come near
the house again; that he had sim
cerely regretted bis own violence
the moment be recovered his self
possession; and lastly, that, on
his oath, (the alteration having
occurred six weeks ago. he had
never spoken to the man, nor set
eyes on him since.
AS the matter then stood, these
circumstances were considered
as being unfortunate circumstances
for Mr.. Dubourg-nothing more.
He had his ''alibi' to appeal to,
and his character to appeal to; and
nobody doubted the result.
The lady appeared as witness.
Confronted with Mr.. Dubourg
on the question of time, and forced
TO answer, she absolutely contra
dicted him on the testimony of
the clock on her own mantlepiece.
In substance, her evidence was
simply this. She had looked at
her clock when Mr. Dubourg en-
tered the room, thinking it rather
a late hour for a visitor to call on
her. The clock regulated by the
maker only the day beiore) point
ed to twenty five minutes TO nine.
Practical experiment showed that
the time required to walk the dis
tance, at rapid pace, from the
stile to the lady's house, was just
FIVE minutes. Here, then, was
the statement Of the farm bailiff
(himself a respectable witness)
corroborated by another witness
Of excellent pt sition and charac
ter. The clock, on being exam
ined next, was found to be right
The evidence of the clock maker
proved that he kept the key, and
that there had been no necessity
to set the clock and wind it upi
since he had performed both
those acts on the day preceding
Mr.. Dubourg's visit. The accura-
cy Of the clock thus vcuched for;
the conclusion on the evidence
was Irresistible. Mr.. DubourgI
stood convicted Of having been
in the field at the time when
the murder was committed f; of
having, by his own admission,
had q quarrel with the murdered
man not long before, terminating
in an assault and a threat on his
side; and, lastly, of having at.
tempted to set up sn alibi by a
false statement of the question of |
time. There was no alternative
but to commit him to take his trial
at the Assizee, charged with, the
murder of the builder in Pal don's
PIECE. z -
The trial occupied two days.
No new FACTS of Importance
we're discovered in the interval.
The evidence followed the course
which it had taken at the prelim-
mary examinations-with this
difference only, that it was more
carefully sifted. Mr. Dubourg
had the double advantage of Sc
curing the servi es Of the leading
barrister in the circuit, and OF
moving the irrepressibls sympa-
thies of the jury, shocked at his
position, and eager for proof of
bis innocence. BY the end of
the first day the evidence had told
against him with such irresistible
force that his own counsel des-
paired of the result. When the
prisoner took bis place in the dock
on the second day, there was but
one conviction in the minds Of the
people in court; everybody said,
''The clock viii hang him."
+ IA