The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1872-02-02

house; that he had called the man an in
fernal scoundrel (being in passion at thu
time) and had threatened to thrash him
within an inch of his life " or words to thai
effect if he ever presumed to come neal
the house again; that he had sincerely re-
GREETED his own violence the moment he
recovered his self-possession and lastly
that, on his oath, the alteration having
occurred six weeks ago. he had never spo-
ken to the man or set eyes on the man
since.
AS the matter then stood, these circum-
stances were considered as being unfortu-
nate circumstances for Mr.. Dubourg-noth-
ing more. He had his "alibi" to appeal
to, and his character to appeal to; and no.
body doubted tie result.
The lady appeared as witness.
Confronted with Mr.. Dubourg ON the
question of time, and forced to answer, she
absolutely contradicted him, on the testi
mony of the clock on her own mantel-piece
In substance, her evidence was simply this.
She had looked at her clock when Mr.. Du-
bourg entered the room, thinking it rather
late hour for visitor to call on her. The
clock regulated by the maker only the day
before pointed to twenty-five minutes to
nine. Practical experiment showed that
the time required to walk the distance, at
rapid pace, from the stile to the lady's
house, was just five minutes. Here, then,
was the statement of the farm bailif (him-
self a respectable witness) corroborated by
another witness of excellent. position and
character. The clock, on being examined
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 itup again, since
he had performed both these acts on the
day preceding Mr.. Dubourg's visit. The
accuracy of the clock thus vouched for, the
conclusion on the evidence was irresistible
Mr.. Dubourg stood convicted of having
been IN the field at the time when the muir
der was committed; of having, by his own
admission, had quarrel with the MUIR
dered man not long before, terminating in
an assault and threat on his side; and,
lastly, of having attempted to set up an
alibi by false statement of the question
of time. There was no alternative but to
commit him to take his trial at the ASST
yes, charged with the murder of the build
er in Pardon's Fleece.
The trial occupied two days.
No new facts ofimportance were discov-
cred in the interval. The evidence follow
ed the course which it had taken at the
preliminary examinations-with this diff
ference only, that it was more carefully sift-
ed. Mr.. Dubourg had the double advan-
tage of securing the services ofthe leading
barrister in the circuit, and Of moving the
irrepressible sympathies of the jury, shock
ed at his position, and eager for proof of
his innocence. By the end of the first day
the evidence had told against him with
such irresistible force, that his own coun-
sci despaired of the result. When the
prisoner took his place in the dock on the
second day there was but one conviction
in the minds of the people in court; every
body sail "The clock will hang him."
1t was nearly two in the afternoon; and
the proceedings were on the point Of being
adjourned for half an hour, when the attor-
ney for the prisoner was seen to hand pa
per to the counsel for the defense.
The counsel arose, showing signs Of agi-
tation which reused the curiosity of the
audience. He demanded the immediate
hearing of new witness, whose evidence
in the prisoners favor he declared to be too
important to be delayed for single mo-
ment. After short colloquy between the
judge and the barristers on either side, the
Court decided to continue the sitting.
The essappearing in the box proved
to be young woman in delicate health.
On the evening when the prisoner had paid
his visit to the lady she was in that lady's
service as housemaid. The day after she
had been permitted (by previous arrange
ment with her mistress) to take week IS
holiday, and to go on visit to her parents,
in the west of Cornwall While there she
had fallen ill, and had not been strong
enough since to return to her employment.
Having given this preliminary account of
hers l. the housemaid then narrated the
folio" ing extraordinary particulars in re-
latiun to her mistresss clock.
On the morning of the day when Mr. Du-
bourg had called at the house she had
been cleaning the mantel piece. She had
rubbed the part of it which was under the
clock with her duster, had accidentally
struck the pendulum, and stopped it. Hav-
ing once before done this, she had been Sc
verely reproved. Fearing that a repetition
of the offence, only day after the clock
had been regulated by the maker, might
lead perhaps to the withdrawal of her leave
of absence, she had determined to put mat
tiers right again, ifpossible, by herself.
After oking under the clock in the dark,
and failing to set the pendulum going
again properly in that way, she next at
tie pied to lift the clock, and gave it a
shake" 1t was set in marble case, with O
bronze figure on the top, and it was so
heavy that she was obliged to hunt for
something which she could use as lever.
The thing proved to be not easy to find on
the spur of the moment. Having at last
laid her hand on what she wanted, she con-
trived so to lift the clock few inches and
drop it again on the mantel-piece as to set
it going once more.
The next necessity was, of course, to
move the hands on. Here again she was
met by an obstacle. There was difficult
ty in opening the glass case which protect
ed the dial. After uselessly searching for
some instrument to help her, she got from
the footman without telling him what she
wanted it for( small chisel. With this
she opened the case-after accidentally
scratching the brass frame of it-and set
the hands of the clock by guess. She was
Hurried at the time, fearing that her mis-.
tress would discover her. Later in the
day she found that she had over estimated
the interval of time that had passed while
she was attempting to put the clock right
She had, in fact, set it exactly q quarter o.
an hour too fast.
No safe opportunity of secretly putting
the clock right again had occurred unit
the last thing at night She had ther
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