The Republican journal., 1872-01-11
Condemned by a Clock
BY WITkIE COLLINS.

/ BY WITkIE COLLINS.
On n summer evening, some years ago.
a man was found murdered in field neai
a certain town i'll the West of England.
The name ot the field was "Pardon'
Piece"
The man was a small carpenter and
! builder in the town, who bore an indltter-
ent character. On the evening in question
distant relative of his, employed as a
farm bailiif by Il gentleman in the neigh
, borhood, happened to be passing on a
stle which led from field into a road,
and saw a gentleman leaving the field by
this sule rather in 4 hurry He recog-
nized the gentleman (who he knew by
sight onlv) rs a Mr Dubourg.
7 The two passed each other on the road
in opposite directions. After a certain
lapse of time-estimated rs being half an
hour-the farm haiif had occasion to
pass along the same road. On reaching
the stie. he heard an alarm raised, and
entered the field to see what was the mat =
ter. He found several persons running
from the further side OF Pardon's Piece
toward a boy who was standing 1t the
back OF a cattle-Shed. in a remote part of
the enclosure, screaming with terror. At
the boys feet lay. face downward, the
dead body of a man. with his head horri-
bly, beaten in. His watch was under him.
hanging out of hIS pocket by the chain.
II had stopped evidently in consequence
Ot the conclusion OF the owners fall on it
1t half past eight. The body was still
warm. All the other valuables like the
watch Were left on it. The farm bailitf'
instantly recognized the man as the car
pcnter and builder mentioned above
Al the preliminary inquiry, the stop
page OF the watch at half past eight WAS
taken as offering good circumStantial
evidence thai the blow which had killed
the man had been struck at that time
The next question was il any one had
been seen near the body at half past
light.
The farm bailitf declared that he had
met Mr.. Duhourg hastily leaving the field
by the style a, that very time. When
asked if he had looked at his watch. he
replied that he bad not. Certain previous
circumstances, which he mentioned as
having impressed themselves on his mem
orv, enabled him to feel sure OF the truth
of this assertion without having consulted
his watch. He was pressed on this point,
but be held to his declaration At half
past eight he had seen Mr. Dubourg hur-
liedly leave the field. At half-past eight
the watch of the murdered man had stop
ped.
Had any other person been observed in
or near the field at that time ,
No witness could be discovered who
had seen anv body else near the place.
Had the weapon turned up with which
the blow had been struck 1t had not
been found Was any one known (rob-
berry having plainly not been the motive
of the crime) to have entertained a grudge
against the murdered man 1t was no
secret that he associated with doubtful
characters, male and female; but suSpi-
cion tailed to point to any one OF them in
particular
In this state OF things there was no al
tentative but to request Mr.. Dubourg-
we'll known, in and out of the town. as IA
Young gentleman of Independent fortune,
bearing an excellent character-to give
some account of himself
He Immediately admitted that he had
passed through the field But, in contra
diction to the farm balitf, he declared
that he had looked at his watch the mo-
ment before he had crossed the stile; and
that the time by il was exactly quarter
past eight. Five minutes later-that is to
say ten minutes before the murdee had
been committed, on the evidence OF the
dead mans watch-he had paid visit to
lady living near Pardon's Piece, and
had remained with her until his watch
consulted once more on leaving the lady's
house, informed him that ii was a quarter
/ to nine.
| Here was the defense called an alihi
| 1t entirely satisfied Mr.. Dubourg's friends
( To satisfy justice it was necessary to
call the lady as a witness. In the mean
time another purely formal question was
! put to Mr.. Dubourg. Did he know anv
thing of the murdered man ?
| With some appearance of confusion,
Mr.. Dubourg admitted that he had been
induced (Dy a triend) to employ the man
on some work. Further interrogation ex-
| tracted from him the following 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 a
! grossly impertinent manner; that an al
| tercation had taken place between them ::
!
the collar of his coat, and had turned him
out Of the house; that he had called the
man an internal scoundrel, (being in a
passion at the time,) and had threatened
to "thrash him within an inch of his lfe''
Cor words to that effecD ifhe ever presum-
ed to come near the house again; that he
had sincerely regretted his own violence
the moment he recovered his self f-posses-
| IcIn ~
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 circum-
stances were considered as being unfortu-
nate circumstances for Mr.. Dubourg-
nothing more. He had his alibi to ap-
peal to, and his character to appeal to ;
and nobody doubted the 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
| 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 CIRCULATED 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 a rapid pace.
from the stile to the lady's house, was lust
five minutes. Here, then, was the state
ment OF the farm bailiff (himself a respect
able 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 fo
set the clock and wind it up again, since
he had performed both those acts the day