The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1872-03-07
Curious Mistakes in Identity.

From the volumes of law reports, and from
the records of detectives offices, we might COM
pile page upon page of fascinating narrative
upon this single theme, but our limited space
permits us to give but few examples These
that we note, however, will be found upon ex-
| animation to throw shade even of ridlcule on
that sublime reasoning through consistency
upon that "unerring" calculus OF probabilities
through which Kepler arrived at the laws OF
matter. Newton dednced their formula, ana
without which we would be almost as ignorant
as in the time when Moses called the moon the
second in magnitude of the heavenly hgnts.
In 1881. CoItain John Buckson, master of a
sailing vessel, lived with his wife Nancy In q
beautiful little cottage in the village of Seek
onk, near Providence, Rhode Island. de was
man of spotless character, religious almost to
Puritapism, but also very passionate, and that
Nancy, being greatly younger than himself
and very fair to look upon, should have grown
fretful and unruly, did not add much quietness
to his. temper. They quarrelled often, and late
one evening neighbor passing the cottage saw
through the open window the husband standing
over the wife in threatening attitude, with
long whip-cord in his clinched hand, and heard
also an uncomfortable burst of rage, and many
threats of violence.
:. The next morning the cottage was closed and
deserted. This, however, excited no attention,
as John was supposed to have left on sailing
trip. and Nancy was accustomed to depart fire.
ouently, without announcement, to visit rela-
tires in neighboring town. But that after
noon little dog accompanying picnic party
in the adjacent woods, paved and howled at
heap of sand, until the merry party examined
it, and found there-the corpse of Nancy Buck
son. - =,
Tho people of the town focked around the
horror, recognizing the deceased her clothes
and her jewelry. She had been strangled with
cord. and chloride of lime had been sprinkled
over her body to hasten decomposition. The
cottage was searched, and q whip-cord was
found upon the floor which fitted exactly to the
mark on the victims neck, and in the cellar
was 6 box of chloride of lime like that scat
tered around the body.
Buckson was arrested, indicted, and on the
day of trial that would have sent him to the
gailows, Nancy Buckson, alive and well, though
cross as ever, walked into the village, fresh
from visit to distant relatives. The mystery
of the murder was never solved The articles
of dress and jewelry on the corpse were recog-
nized by Nancy as taken from the bureau ID
her cottage.
One morning in 1861, q New Jersey wharf
man complained to his "boss" that. barrel OF
pitch had been stolen from the pier. The same
morning the clerk of New York hotel COM
planned to his proprietor that Mrs. Ada Rlcard
-once well known in Cincinnati under another
name-a woman of marvellous beauty OF form
and no small charm of feature, but sensuous as
Lola Montez, and as frail of character-had
suddenly and inexplicably left without paying
her bill. The next day there was found Hoat5
ing in the North River barrel OF pitch, and
tied to it By rope around the waist was the
~.-.,o &c 4, boout,E,1 xuoroon clothed OnlV
night-dress and pair of stockings. A gag tas-
tened in the mouth was the only mark of vio-
lence, but that was sufficient to evidence MUIR
der. The form was Of wonderful beauty-such
voluptuous beauty as must have served for the
model to Titian's Venus. 1t was noticed,
though, the stockings were almost too large
for the foot. Upon one of the lower limbs was
the cicatrice of an old wound.
The body was inferred with recognition, but
the head preserved. A few days after, gen.
tleman intimately acquainted with Ada Ricard
recognized the face as hers beyond the shadow
of doubt The police then interviewed her
quasi husband, Charles Ricard, cautiously con-
cealing from him her supposed death: lie
freely entered into description OF her history
and person. spoke with some pride of her being
obliged to wear stockings too large tor her loot,
in order to fit the well-rounded limb, mentioned
gretted the injury to her beautiful teeth by the
loss of one on the left side, and laughed at her
having worn earrings so heavy as to cut her
ears and necessitate q second piercing, very
high up The stockings, the wound, the lost
tooth, and the marks on the ears, conceded ex-
actly with the corpse. Ricard was then shown
the preserved head, and fell back in utter hor-
ror of sudden recognition. The mystery was
solved-but only for day. Of sudden, Ada
Ricard, as beautiful as ever, returned from
month Is wandering among the soldiers at New
Orleans. No further discoveries have ever
been made.
Our third and last case occurred in the sum
mer of 1866 in Luzerne Valley, Ia. MARX
Wilson and Miss Wallace, lovely girl of eigh-
teen, had been engaged for some months, when
she suddenly Jilted him, and without e1H1lana-
ton forbade him to enter his house. Wilson
plunged into dissipation, and rapidly lost his
character, his business, and his small means.-
He was frequently heard, with fevered energy,
to lay his ruin at her door, and to VOW revenge
with most determined bitterness. Shortly after
he made preparations to leave for Europe, but
before doing So by some means persuaded the
girl to take drive with him. He gave out at
the livery stable that he was going to an occa-
sional picnic resort, in wild gorge among the
neighboring hills Neither of them returned,
and two days after the body of the girl, stabbed
to death with pocket-knife, sworn to as Will
sons, was found in the turbid waters of brook
that threaded "Picnic Gorge" She was buried
in an agony of sorrow by her loving parents,
and the day after asrnfd the nsra om Mrs Nsv w1sI Yo ys
her newly-wedded husband Who was the
murdered girl, and how knife like that of
Mark Wilson'S came in her heart, the most
rigid investigation never could discover.
THE LONGEST SPEECH EVER MADE IN THE
WoRLD.-The opening argument of the Attor-
ney-General of England, Sir John d. Cole
ridge, who appears for the defence in the celc-
h-aiad T;chhnrne case has nrnyed nerhaps the