Delaware Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1843-1874, 1874-06-22
APPEARANCES AGAINST HIM

| The history Of English law contains C.w
more startling Judicial tragedies than that ia
| Which the statute against murder owed such I'm.
ihaiie amendment as to make the finding an
positive identification of thu body ot lhr SHIN
| person essential TO the conviction Of tlc ,uur.
uerei anu as ille S ime remarkable case had a
peculiar moral and social significance fu ,y4
| young lovers of all times, who in their u,ssinn.
| ave devotion to each other. are altOraiIirr ton
| apt ~ disregard the fortunes of everybody els,
| W the world, il may be recalled Approximately
| tor public reading. -
pom the death of Mr. George Perkins. a
Wluower OF considerable property in London it
W., "a' , iot.iiu mat ms VIII appointed brother of
nus, living hear Epping FoWst the sole u,r,r-
ulan OF MS only daughter, and directed that
sdiu guardian should inherit the whole fortune
ue'iseu, III case his young ward should die ri,i
er unmarried or without children. lnIirit
confidence in his brother, who was a miidln.
ised bachelor of limited means. inspired the ,ly
ing man to make such a will but a nlnbe, of
laihllv relatives pronounced the document an
extraordinary piece Of scryile fltulty, and dark,
y nihted that harm would enslle from 1t. TLiS
ieeiiiig caused an alienation between the ocer,-
pants OF the Epping Forest residence and the
aforesaid prophets, and made the latter become
tile Dltterest prosecutors Of the dead mans
brother in the strange and tragic events yvIIrI,
have been described as follows.
uncle and niece were bo.h seen one ,l,v
walking together in the forest, but the Young
iauy suddenly disappeared, and the uncle de-
elared that he had sought her as soon MS he
lhisseu her, AMI knew not whittier She had
sohe, OF wiat had become of herfSrhs account
was considered improbable, and appelrlncas
Deibg clearly suspicious, he was arrested and
,aheii oeiofe magistrate. Other circumstances
h"uriy coming to light, rendered his position
serious. A young gentleman in tie neigbbor
nooa I had been paying his addresses TO Mis-,
iefk,hs; IL was stated, and generally believed.
tnat he had gone, few days before she was
missed, on journey to the north, and that size
hau declared that she would marry him on lis
return. The uncle had repeatedly expressed
ms dlsapprobation of the match, and Miss Per-
klns had loudly reproaelled him with ms IN !
kihdness and abuse of his authority over h,ras
his ward. "'' -
a woman named Margare Dukes was rra.
uuccd, who swore that about o'cl ick ON if At !
day on which Miss Perkins was missed She " f.. .
passing through the forest, aud heard The voice.
OF Il young lady earnestly eXposulatiug with 4 |
gentleman. On drawing nearer II su, !
whence the sound came, Margaret Oaks tesii- !
ieu that She heard the lady eSclaim: Don't |
kill me, uncle, don't kill me ~ The wunrn
was greatly terrified and ran away from the
spot. As she was doing so she heard the report
oi traarms. On tins combination Of circtum- |
stantial and positive evidence coupled with The |
suspicion of interest, the uncle was convicted |
OF murder, and almost immeliltcly afjerwar,i |
according TO the custom OF those ,.a\s WAS |
hanged.
About ten days after the execution of II - /
sentence upon the uncle, the niece reIpp,irrd, |
aud stranger still, showed the testimony given |
on the trial was strictly true. Miss Perkins
said that, having resolved to clope with
her loverthey had given out that he had gone ON
a journey north, whereas lie had merely waited
on the skirts OF the forest until the time appoin-
ted for the elopement, which was the yriy day
ON which she disappeared, Her lover ha,l
horses ready sadded Tor them both, anl two
servants in attendance ON horseback While
waiting with her uncle he reproacled her with
her resolution To marry a man Of whom lic dis
and after some rtmnnst tr.turrs .iia !
passionatey exclaimed
"a have set my heart upon him. II don't
marry him it will be death To me amt don't
Kill me, uncle, don't kill me ~
Just as she proclaimed those words she hrlrI
a gun fired, at which She started, ami she after
ward saw man come from among the Trees
with wood-pigeon in his hand which he had
.hot on approaching the spot appointed for the
meeting with her lover. She formed IA prctpuCe
% induce her uncle to go on before her She
hen flew To the arms Of her lover, who had
been waiting for her, and they both mounted
heir horses and rode Immediately on. Instead,
however, of going to the nolth they retired to
" fihdsor, anu about week afterwarl went ON I
tour oil pleasure TO Frauce. There tley passed
ome months so happily that in those days when
newspapers were scarce, when there was no I
cry regular postal commu nication, and no tel !
graphs, they never heard of their uuclrs sad 4
ate until their return TO England |