Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1871-09-07
The ludlow Murder.

Edjt0r Rutland Herald although a
Counsel for Francisco Creboni lately com
mitted to Woodstock Jail upon a eharg
of numbering his friend and partner Bal
lin, my sympathy for the unfortunate
man il no less than that of any in Thu
community, who condemn tie decision
of the magistrate as grossly unjust.
have hitherto been restrained from any
public expression of my sentiments upon
a subject which has been very freely dis
cussed through the press, partly because
good taste sc ms ordinarily to counsel 81
lence on the part of those personally en-
gagged in such matters, and partly because
| know that nothing can now be done TO
save the prisoner from the four or five
months imprisonment which he muat en-
dure before the case can be disposed Of ;
but an article in Your Issue of August
18th, has been shown me, which coming,
as Judge by its style of composition and
the writer's unf0rttnute use Of French,
from che connected with the trial here,
and containing an unproyoked slur at the
prisoners attorney, appears to require re-
ply, and I therefore ask the privilege of
saying something about the matter
through your columns.
The hearing before the magistrate occu-
pied two full weeks, and was attended by
unusual difficulty on account Of Creboni's
inability to understand one word of the
counsel during most of the trial, no in
terpreter being provided by the State, and
needlessly prolonged by the respondents
witnesses being subjected to a sharp cross
examination upon points which the coun-
sci for the prosecution Afterwards stated
that they did not controvert, and the re-
fusal of the prosecution to admit as evil
dence, written testimony taken by the
magistrate holding this court while sit
ting as coroner in an inquest upon the
body of the murdered man before any ar
rests were made, which, in my judgment,
with the other testimony of the prosecu-
ton, would have been sufficient to acquit
Creboni tefore any intelligent court or
jury.
When the body of Balm was found, on
Monday, August 7th, no other opinion
was expressed than that of the two ply
sicians who made the post norton exami-
nation, and testified on the part of the
prosecution. that, IN their judgment, the
man, when found, had been dead from for
ty-eight to sixty or seventy hours; and
no other theory was thought of until it
w4a found that CrebOni had been away
more than Eve days before the discovery
of the murder; and the first witness of
the prosecution, Mecale, testified that on
Thursday night, August Sd, he slept
within ten feet of the spot where the body
was subsequently found, remaining there
until six o'clock on Friday morning, at
which time, il the theory of the prose-
cution that the man was killed Tuesday
night, were trne, the body must have
lain there in place which the thermom-
eter shows to be as hot as any shady one
on our streets, between two and three
days, without either seeing the mound or
smelling the ofluvium Of the body.
When this testimony OF the prosecution
is considered in connection with that of
the defense, by which it was clearly shown
by many witnesses that the murdered
man, or one mach like him, with an or
gan had been seen and heard in this vii
lage as late az Friday, Au gust 4th, while
Creboni vas not in town after Wednes-
day, August I'd, at 3 o'clock p. m, until
his arrest on Monday, August 7th, at
which time he had gone only thirteen
miles fEom the place OF the murder, evil
IDENTIFY proceeding thps slowly that his
partner might overtake himj that the
nun ,1ered man was about six inches tall
err and correspondingly larger and strong
err than Creboni, and bore upon His person
evidences of desperate struggle for life,
in the shape OF numerous bruises and
scratches upon the back of both hands, in
dicative of heavy blows, with his skull
crushed in front and rear, and severe
confusion on the side OF his head, while
Creboni was without suspicious SCI dEct,
blood stain, scratch or mark, of any kind !;
that the murder could not have been com.
nitted near the spot vhare the body was
found, there being no blood stain. or in
dications of struggle upon the ground,
while the bloody coat, evidently wrapped
around the head, and the absence OF the
hat, showed that the body must have
been brough from distance, after death,
which Creboni was physically incapable
of and without any motive for. When