American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-05-25

| yet several witnesses of undOubted We
racity testified that they saw him walking
about the street at time when it is abso-
lutcly certain he was lying dead in the
Medical College.
One of the most remarkable instances
of mistaken identity on record was the
Hackney Wick case, in which a person
was alleged to be no less than four differ
ent men ut one time. AT an inquest held
in April, 1868, on dead body found in a
half finished house near the Hackney
Wick station of the North London Rail
way, carpenter identified it as that of a
demented gentleman whom he had seen
whiting in the neighborhood two months
before. Then a lady. on seeing the body,
which was in a good state of preserva
ton, declared it to be her brother, who
had been missing for several months.
Another lady comes forward, with gen
tleman, to produce photograph striking
ly resembling the deceased. They stated
it to be that of Il man who had deserted
his wife and family about eighteen months
previously, taking away two thousand
pounds worth of property with him. DR..
Ellis, physician to ST. Luke's Hospital. on
seeing the body, pronounced it to be that
of lunatic named Heasman, who had
escaped from the hospital two months be-
fore. He also identified the clothes as
those worn by Heasman when in con-
finement. An old boot found near the
body had the name of Harnett written
on the lining. DR.. Ellis said there was
man named Harnett lodged in one of the
six rooms, with locked doors, through
which the lunatic must have passed in
making his escape. Notwithstanding the
doctors testimony, n lady who heard it
insisted that the deceased was her hus-
band, who had been missing for some
time; she especially identified a peculiar
mark on one of the fingers.
A brother of Heasman next appeared
to corroborate the doctors view. He was
followed by Mrs. Mary Anne Banks, a
new witness, who swore that the deceased
was her husband, commercial traveller,
who had been missing for some time.
Before seeing the body, she described a
very peculiar mark which her husband
had on one of his fingers; and the de-
ceased had exactly such a mark. Her
statement that there was general resem-
blance both in form and features, was
confirmed by her two married sisters, who
also pointed out particular similarities.
While this evidence was being considered
by the bewildered jury, ano her lady APP
peared with a photograph of a missing
gentleman, much more resembling the de
ceased than that of the escaped lunatic
Additional evidence, however, was forth
coming in support of the st. Luke's theory.
man, not only corroborated the identity,
but recognized his name on some of the
deceaseds under-clothing as having been
written by herself, and the dark-blue
trousers as those which she had stitched
with a sewing machine. Moreover, DR..
Ellis found that the deceased had lost a
tooth exactly corresponding in position
with one lost by Heasman. The Coroner,
in giving the different witnesses credit for
sincerity, decided that the deceased was
the lunatic Heasman, and the jury, after
a patient investigation, agreed with this
opinion. They could not however, as
certain the cause of his death, though
they believed he had poisoned himself,
as an empty phial, labelled laudanum,
poison" was found near the body, and
his brother testified that he had for many
years been under an hallucination that he
had died by this means.
Strange as the Hackney Wick case
seems, still more remarkable one has
lately occurred in England. Last sum-
mer a man named Diligence Kerry re-
turned from India, where he had ac-
cumulated fortune, to the little village
of Kirk Langley, near Derby, which he
had left twenty years before. Just before
starting fer India, he had married Il lovely
girl of the village, who was to have Joined
him soon afterward in his new home
Not long after his arrival out, the news
came of his wife's death from gastric
fever. When he returned to his native
village, after his long absence, he was
seen by Mrs. Rucktuck, of Liverpool,
who informed her friends that he was the
husband of neighbor of hers, he having
left the country some years before. The
deserted wife, on hearing from Mrs. Ruck-
tuck, FASTENED to Kirk Langley, and, as
soon as she saw Kerry, claimed him, in
spite of his protestations, rs her husband.
While the village was excited by these
developments, and the two parties were
preparing their proofs, a second woman,
Mrs. Spass, came forward and declared
that Kerry had married and deserted her
Subsequently four other women presented
themselves, each of whom claimed Kerry
as her own lawful husband These
charges naturally suggested the suspicion
that Kerry had played the part of
bigamist, and had really married all these
women; but this hypothesis has been dis
proved by the aflidavits attached to com
mission sent out from England, which
show conclusvely that at the times the
women swear the marriages took place
there, the alleged bridegroom was actually
in India.-Aleralder Young, in Appleton's
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