Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1873-08-14

Mr. Thorold, and nothing could induce him
to change his story. Difficult as it was to
doubt Of Durand's guilt this persistency was
not without its usual effect and in the end
there was not wanting those who petitioned
that his life might be spared on the ground
suggested by his counsel. His good mein was
another recommendation in his favor and it
was generally felt that if Miss Thorold had
come forward and acknowledged that he had
ascended to her room with her consent, the
convicted man might have escaped with a
comparatively light punishment. The SYM
pathy which would have been felt for him
was, however, checked by the suspicion that
Miss Thorold had met with the same fate as
her father Nevertheless some efforts were
made in his behalf to procure mitigation of
punishment, on the ground that he had not
intended to do more than reduce Mr.. Horold
to insensibility while he made his escape with
his daughter; the ultimate effect Of which
portation for life.
1t so happened, that in this particular in
stance discovery was actually made few
months after the trial, which established his
innocence as regarded Miss Thorold. The
heir of Laverstock Grange did not come to
live there until after he had made long tour
on the continent with his family and in the
meantime the place was shut up. Before his
return, the junior partner of the firm who
managed the estate was requested to 60 down
and superintend the renovations, and to see
that everything was put into proper order.
Things were restored to their old footing; that
is to say, men who we're sent to do other work,
were brought back to work in the garden, the
strawberries, and so forth; and among them
was one whose duty it had been to take care
of the ice-house. This was cave in the thick
est part Of the shrubbery, excavated deep in
the earth, the entrance to which was reached
by descending long ladder. Taking Ian
tern with him, the man entered the cave to
ascertain what quantity of ice remained in it,
and directly afterward he began to cry out
for help Some men working in the shrubbe-
ry heard his cries, and hastened to the spot
They found him making frantic efforts to
climb the ladder; but so great was his terror
that he had not strength to ascend it. 10
their inquiries of what was the matter, he kept
repeating, "Miss Thorold Miss Thorold !"
The men being in sufficient number to give
each other courage, went down to his assis-
tance and on entering the ice-house they saw
Miss Thorold crouching on the ice in one cor
ner, her eyes wide open, and her appearance
so much like that of living being, that they
called to her by name several times before
they ventured to touch her. The medical
man who saw her, before she was removed
from this place, was of opinion that her death
was caused by excitement, or by The extreme
cold of the ice-house, and not by starvation.
The supposition was, that in the frenzy of
horror and terror she had lost her intellect,
and had descended the ladder by which Du-
rand had mounted to her room, and in trying
to bury herself in the shrubbery she had Ia
ken the path which led to the ice-house, and
had either fallen down the hole, or got down
the ladder, and, thinking only of concealing
herself, had scrambled over the fern-covered
ice to the furthest corner of the cave, where
she had been frozen to DEATH
All this came to our knowledge the next
time we travelled the circuit, but Durand was,
by that time, as we supposed, making his way
in Australia, and nobody seemed to think it
worth while to make any enquiries about him,
with view to procure further mitigation of
his punishment.
Very soon after this, conceiving that my
success at the English bar was not in proper
tion to my merits, I determined on going to
practice in New South Wales, at that time
not overstocked with workmen in our profess
sion.
Having one day seen a paragraph in an
English newspaper which related that Du.
rand, the murderer of Mr.. Thorold, had dis
appeared from the penal settlement to which
he had been consigned in perfectly unac-
countable manner, took it into my head one
morning to ask an old convict who was en-
ployed about the court house, if he knew of
the arrival of such person in the colony.
The question was asked without the remotest
idea he could answer it; in fact, it was from
mere idleness at the moment, and almost in
voluntarily. TO my utter surprise, before the
old man had time to ransack his memory for
an answer, saw man rising from seat
near my right hand whom recognized as
Jesse Durand. His appearance was so much
altered by the concealment of great part of
his face with thick mass of hair, that if my
mind had not been occupied at the moment
with the recollection of him, I do not think l
should have recognized him. I beckoned to
him as he was leaving the court, and he stood
still till joined him. The thing was alto:
gether so sudden in its occurrence that l had
not time to think, and my first question was,
"Have you heard that Miss Thorold was dis
covered 2"
He seemed to expect some such question,
for he answered as readily as though he had
been waiting for it, eyes, but you must mis-
take me for my brother" The reply was
scarcely uttered when he began to stammer
out an unintelligible explanation, which was
so contradictory that my inability to compre-
hend his meaning, which was the real cause
Of my silence, seemed to convince him that |
must be acquainted with all the facts, which,
at that moment l certainly was not By
throwing out a remark calculated to strength
en- this impression, he made other admissions,
which led me to the conclusion that Durands
counsel was right in his conjecture as to the
partly accidental death Of Mr.. Thorold, but
wrong as to the person who caused it.
This narrative has already extended to too
great length to allow of my giving full
statement of what | learned respecting this re-
markable case of mistaken Identification.
Jesse Durand was the twin brother Of James
Durand, and the resemblance between them
was so extraordinary, that even persons init
mately acquainted with the family were una
BILE TO distinguish them apart. Their charac-
ters, however bore little similarity with each
other. Jesse was well-conducted, and alto
gether superior to the average of young men,
including his brother James. The attach
ment of the brothers was remarkably strong,
but Jesse's love for his brother was Of that
manly, selfsacrifcing character, which would
induce him to bear any amount of suffering