The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1872-01-26

ing statement of facts:
That the work had been very badly
done; that an exorbitant price had
been charged for it; that the man, on
being demonstrated with, had behaved
in grossly impertinent manner that
an alteration had taken place between
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.
drel, (being in 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 sin
cerely regretted his own violence the
moment he recovered his selfposses.
sion; and lastly, that, on his oath, (the
alteration having occurred six weeks
ago. he had never spoken to the man,
or set eyes on the man, since.
AS the matter then stood, these cir
cumstances were considered az being
unfortunate circumstances for Mr.. Du.
bourg more. He had his alibi
to appeal to- and his character to ap-
peal tC /; and nobody doubted the re-
suit.
The lady appeared as witness.
Confronted with Mr.. Dubourg, on the
question of time, and forced to answer,
she absolutely contradicted him on the
testimony of the clock on her own man.
telpiece. In substance, her evidence
was simply this: She looked at her
clock when Mr.. Dubourg entered the
room, thinking it rather late hour for
visitor to call on her. The clock (regu
lated by the maker only the day before)
pointing 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 wit.
ness) 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 neces-
sity to wind it,up again, since he had
ceding Mr.. Dubourg's visit. The accu.
racy of the clock thus vouched for, the
conclusion of the evidence was irresist-
ible. Mr.. Dubourg stood convicted of
having been in the field at the time
when the murder was committed; of
having, by his own admission, had a
quarrel with the murdered man not
long before, terminating in assault and
threat on his side; and, lastly, as
having attempted to set up an alibi by
, There was no alternative but to commit
him to take his trial at the Assizes,
, charged with the murder of the builder
in Pardon's Piece.
The trial occupied two days.
No new facts of Importance were dis
, covered in the interval. The evidence
:, followed the course which it had taken
at the preliminary examination, with
this difference only-that it was most
carefully sifted. Mr.. Dubourg had thf
q advantage of securing the Leading bar
=, rister of the circuit, and of moving the
irrepressible sympathies Of the jury
o shocked at his position, and eager fol
o proof of his innocence. BY the end o.
the first day the evidence had tolt
against him with such irrepressihlt
force that his own counsel despaired o
u. 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; everybody
' said: "The clock will hang him."
1t was nearly two O'Clock in the af
4 ternoon, and the proceedings were OF
u the point Of being adjourned for half al
hour, when the attorney for the defense
d was seen to hand paper to the counse
e for the defense.
. The. counsel arose showing signs o
s agitation, which aroused the curiosity
). of the audience. He demanded an i'm
h mediate hearing of new witness
d whose evidence in the prisoners favol
d he declared 20 be too important to bt
+ delayed for one single moment. Afte
$ a short colloquy between the Judge anC
!, barristers on either side, the Court de
T. cided to continue the sitting.
z The witness appearing in the boz
II proved to be a young womanin delicate
IL health. On the evening when the pri5
oner had paid his visit to the lady, sh
d was in that lady's service as housemaid
The day after she had been permitted
O (by previous arrangement with he
J. mistress) to take weeks holiday, an,
h go on a visit to her husband in tn
IT West of Cornwall. While there sh
J. had fallen i'll, and had not been stron
j. enough since to return to her employ
a ment. Having given this preliminar
-t account of herself, the housemaid the
h narrated the following extraordinar,
particulars in relation to her mistress
10 clock.
On the morning of the day when NJ
N Dubourg had called at the house sh
.o had been cleaning the mantelpiece. Sh
n had rubbed the part Of it which was III
# der the clock with her duster, had ace
1r dentally struck the pendulum and stol
ped it. Having once before done thi
she had been severely reproved. Fea
80 ing that a repetition of the offence onl
III the day after the clock had been regl
. . lated by the maker might lead perhaI
u to withdrawal of her leave of absence
10 she had determined to put matters rigi
A. again, ifpossible.
% After poking under the clock in IL
io dark, and failing to set the pendulum
ie going again properly in that way, 81
le next attempted to lift the clock an
~ " give 1t a shake. 1t was set in a marb
W case, with a bronze figure on the to
90 and it was so heavy that she was obli
u. " ed to hunt for something which 81
Il