The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1875-05-06

"Push that bottle nearer-there, that
will do-this is capital. Heidsick, can
you get me some of the same? All! now
give mt a cigar, and I'm ready"
"You have not forgotten, l suppose"
began the lawyer, the case of Roberts,
who, in the year 1856, was tried for
murder on circumstantial evidence, of
the strongest character, and acquitted
too? You doctors never take much in
terest in such matters, 1 know, unless
you have a hand in them, and fat fees
for medical examinations and testimony.
Well the case was this:
ga man named Hamilton, a boarder
in a house in Perry street, was found
dead In his room one morning. There
were several wounds upon his person,
some of which he might have inflicted
upon himself, But there were two, at
least, which it was impossible could have
been made by a weapon held in his own
hand, as their situation and direction
made evident.
cat first it had been supposed that he
had committed suicide, as he was a man
of intemperate habits, addicted to gaming
and low company, and had of late been
much depressed in consequence of losing
his business situation, and by a long run
of Ill luck. He was a morose, sullen man,
and had no friend among his fellow
boarders, who were all of a class superior
in morals, if not in position, to himself.
Still, he had never quarreled with any
one in the house up to the night of his
death, nor did it at first appear, as far as
its inmates were concerned, that he had
given any one there p%rovocation for the
crime.
Nevertheless, in the course of the
investigation by the coroner, it was elic-
tied that Hamilton had, on n or two
occasions, when considerably intoxicated,
addressed provoking and insulting re-
marks to q fellow boarder, named Lob
erts, who occupied the room adjoining
his. And Roberts had been heard to
complain that Hamilton annoyed him al
most beyond endurance by the noise he
made on coming In late of nights, that he
had threatened to leave the house If
Hamilton was allowed to continue, and
that, finding his complaints to the land
lord, who was a relative of the deceased,
produced no effect, hehad been heard to
declare that he would himself find a way
of quoting his disagreeable neighbor.
CHOW all this amounted to nothing
more than the impatient ebullitions of a
nervous, excitable man, who had been
subjected to q long course of annoyance
from a drunken fellow inmate. But it
served to point out one individual, whose
relations with the dead man had been IN
friendly beyond those of others with
whom he was associated in his own
home.
"And when it was further discovered
that Hamilton, on his return home at a
late hour on the night of the murder,
knocked at Roberts door, and demanded
matches for the purpose of procuring a
light, arousing him from his sleep, and
that pretty high words had followed on
Roberts refusing the accommodation,
suspicion fixed firmly upon this man.
And this was changed to certainty when
another boarder testified that during the
quarrel Roberts had threatened Hamil-
toms life, and had risen from his bed, and
by main force thurst his prosecutor into
his W rSem, where he had been heard
to fall heavily upon the floor. Another
boarder who occupied a oom beneath
Hamilton had heard a trampEng over
head at a still later hour, but nom of
these things, though now serving to fix
suspicion on Roberts, had been treated
at the time as other than matters of ordi-
nary occurrence.
"Roberts' statement was that Hamil-
ton was very drunk when he came home.
That when pushed into his own room he
fell violently upon the floor, and that,
leaving him there, he returned to his OWL
room, retired again to rest, and presently
fell asleep. That, at the expiration of
perhaps an hour, or it might have been
even less, he had been again awakened
by a sound of struggling in Hamilton's
room, and some smothered ejaculation,
but supposing that the man had reused
from Ills stupor and was preparing for
bed, he had not needed the sounds,
which soon ceased, when he fell asleep
again.
Sin the face of this was the fact that
the man was dead, with the evidence of a
severe struggle. And it was argued that
one so near as Roberts, and hearing these
sounds, could not have failed to detect in
them something more than the aimless
trampling of a drunkard seeking his
couch. The assassin, whoever he might
DC. d 1C1U liz CN1lC1SS VI hho P1CoC1S
In the room. Nor was there any appar-
ent means of exit. Suspicion fell heavier
upon Roberts. He was arrested, and
search made in his room and among his
effects. Nothing was found there tend
ing to criminate him, except several large
smears of blood upon q dressing-gown,
which he acknowledged he had hastily
thrown on when he rose to put Hamilton
away from his door. But between his
, own door and Hamilton's, upon the mat
tingof the passage, blood was also found,
, and a distinct spot upon the threshold of
, his own DON
"This was accounted for by Roberts,
| who said he had slightly lacerated q
finger upon a nail in his struggle with
Hamilton, and that before lying down
. he had wrapped a pocket handkerchief
: about it, which finding saturated with
blood in the morning, he had thrust into
e the stove. The wound upon his finger
e still appeared, but was so slight that his
story gained no credence, particularly as
d popular excitement already ran high
+ And when, during the afternoon that fol
Y lowed his arrest, a poinard was found il
his desk in his Office, which precisely
Y nUVeQ une pecuIar nclSeQ WOunuS upon
/ Hamilton's person, there were few per
e sons who still had hardihood enough t.
stem the current of popular opinion anc
declare their belief of his innocence.
"To pass over all preliminary steps
u In order that my story may not be too
e long, I will come to the time when the
r indictment had been found, and Robert.
was about to be arraigned for trial fol
o the murder of Hamilton. The evidence
s of course, was entirely circumstantial, bu
I felt assured that Roberts was the guilt,
man, and was going on without thu
slightest hesitation or doubt in the nee
o essary preparation for the part L was t.
take in his trial. There had been an at
e tempt to indict him only for manslaugh
n ter, but the provocation was so slight il
G comparison with the crime, and the cas-,
y remedy of removal from the annoyanc
so obviously in his power, that these con
. siderations, taken in connection with tn
n supposed fact of his having arisen iron
s his bed after an hour or more of refec