The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1874-06-21
CIRCUMSTANTlAL EVIDENCE.
A COUPLE OF CURIOUS TRIALS FOR MURDER

A COUPLE OF CURIOUS TRIALS FOR MURDER.
There lived in Paris, more than century
ago, and old dame, who kept shop In
house not very far distant from the Place
st. Michael She was reputed rich, and was
supposed to keep her money i'll fhe house.
Her only servl mt was boy, who had lived
with her several years. He slept Ill the
house, but high up in the fourth story, or
rather lott, which could only be reached by
a staircase such as was common in those
days, outside the house wall, the old lady
sleeping on the ground floor at the back OF
the shop. 1t was the boys duty to lock the
shop door at night, and to retain possession
of the key. One morning the neighbors
found the shop door open much earlier than
usual, and as there was no one to be seen i'll
the shop, some of them suspected that all
was not right, and went in. There were no
marks betokening violent entry OF the
premises, but the >old lady was discovered
dead in her bed, having received many
wounds, such wounds, to all appearances,
having been inflicted with knife, and
knife covered with blood was found lying
in the middle of the shop floor. One hand
| OF the corpse yet grasped thick lock OF
hair, and in the other was handkerchief.
1t was proved beyond doubt that
the knife and neck-handkerchief belonged
i to the boy Wit had Sc long been her servant,
and the lock of hair matched his exactly.
He was arrested charged with the crime,
and (probably under torture) confessed it,
and suffered capital punishment as muir
derer. He was innocent, however. Not
very long after his execution, another boy,
a servant in neighboring wine-shop, being
taken in custody for another Offense, and
seized with the pangs of remorse, confessed
| the murder of the old woman. He had long
| been familiarly acquainted with the shop
boy who had suffered innocently, and had
been in the habit Of dressing his hair. He
had managed by degrees to save up enough
of the lads hair to make into a tolerably
stout lock, and this he had put into the
hands of the dead woman. He had stolen
one of the boys Observation-Disclosures, and had
also his knife, and by taking an impression
in the wax of the key, had been able to con-
struct another with which to gain entrance
to the shop. At the first glance the evidence
in the case seems at once clear, natural and
spontaneous; but the very completeness OF
the evidential facts ought to have aroused
suspicion, and there is no doubt that had a
right investigation been set on foot the in
nocence of the accused would have been |
established
James Harris kept public house within
eighteen miles of York, having in his |
service a man named Morgan, who to his |
other occupation added that of gardener |
1t happened that one Grey, blacksmith |
journeying on fo.t to Edinburgh, supped |
and slept at this public house. Next morn
ing Morgan deposed before magistrate
that his master strangled Grey in his bed
that he actually saw him commit the muir
der-that he in vain endeavored to prevent
it, his master insisting that the man was in
a tit, and that he was merely endeavOring
to assist him. Morgan further swore, affect
ing to believe this, he left the room but
after retiring looked through the key-hole,
and saw the murderer rifle the pockets OF
the deceased. Harris as well as he might,
vehemently denied the accusation, and hap
less for himself threatened prosecution for
perjury. As no mark of violence was found
to be visible on the body, Harris was on the
point of being discharged, when the maid
servant demanded to be heard.
She swore that from wash-house window
as she was descending the stairs, she saw
her master take some gold from his pocket
and, having wrapped it up, bury it under a
tree in the garden, the position of which
she indicated. Upon this Harris turned
pale; and the earth under the tree having
been searched by a able, ESQ in gold
were found wrapped up in a paper. Harris
then admitted that he had buried the money
for security's sake, but answered in so con
fused and hesitating manner that he was
He was tried at York for the
murder. The man, the maid, the constable
and the magistrate were all examined, and
no suspicion attaching to this testimony, a ,,
verdict of guilty was at once pronounced. i,
He died protesting bis innocence, and ere u,
long his innocence became manifest to all =,
men. The real facts were as follows: In a. ,
quarrel between Harris and his servant,
Morgan received blow and vowed revenge.
Soon afterward, Grey's arrival furnished the
The part which the servant 9
maid played in the business is explained by !
the fact that she and the gardener were I
sweethearts.
Seeing her master one day apparently q
hiding something under tree, she :pprized
Morgan, who, on digging, found five guineas
concealed there. On this they agreed to \
sum sufficient to enable them to set up in
business. But Harris threat of prosecu- ?
ion for perjury so terrified the girl that she re-
olved to save her lover by the sacrifice both :
# the money and her masters life. A sub q
equent quarrel-the not unusual cOnse- u
Iuence of guilt like theirs-betrayed the
ruth. They died of Jail fever on the day j.
previous to that appointed for their trial. a a
t was afterwards ascertaned that Grey had :.
ad two apoplectic fits aud had never been
n possession of Is at time in his life =
In this melancholy case it will be observed =
hat the victim of circumstaltial evidence, -
imself unconsciously prepared the princi -
al fact which told against him.
MORMoNIsM RUNNING INTO COMMUNISM &
n interesting correspondence from Salt
AXE City, published in the New York Her.
Id, throws light upon new movement II
f Brigham Young, or rather the revival of
n old one, calculated to give this "pro-
hetic" man more power and wealth. A m
rand conference had been held, lasting four n,
avs, in the Tabernacle, to consider the
Order of Enoch," an organization pur-
orting to have all temporal things in COM u,
IONA system of Communism, pure and nj
which will, OF course, give the m
cad of the. Mormon Church, Brigham al
Dung, absolute power over the property CO
nd labor of his deluded followers. ia
A singular computation has been made of 81
le receipts of the Paris theatres in 1869, in
q hafnr %Hn ~ rhnv, |