Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1876-05-18
said that the failures
often resulted frow = I

which he regularly locke
One mosni.g tke shep
ssr. ssr.sd = = - zs -
The curious nsiekkcvs pssred y
seeing nobody stir1ines ftey finally pene-
trated to the old womaat bsdroom. There
they found her lying 0sad n hsr bed.
She had been stabbed several times,
and bloody knife lay on the hoor in
the shop. This knife, il was easily
proved, belonged to the hired boy
Not only that, but in one Of the dead
woman's hands was clasped lock Of
hair and in the other . necktie. The
necktie was also fully proved to belong
to the boy; the hair. a. far a. could be
judged, was exactly like his. It was
found, moreover, that the front door
had not been broken open, but quietly
unlocked. Now the boy, and be alopea -
far as anybody knew, had . key that fitted
the lock. He suffered the penalty Of
death. Not long after . boy Who was
employed in . neighboring shop fell
i'll. Being told that he was on his
death bed. he declared that he muir
dered the woman for her money. He
had been in the habit of dressing the
hair of the boy who was executed; had
collected locks of it as he had an oppor-
tunity; had put the hair and the cravat
into the dead woman's hands; had ia
ken a wax impression of the lock, and
thus procured another key; and, hav.
ing got possession of the other boys
knife, had with it inflicted the fatal
wounds.
In this case there seems, indeed, to
have been a complete chain of circum-
stantial evidence, sufficient to iudentify
the hired boy as the assassin. Motive
was present in the boys supposition
that his mistress had boarded money.
Opportunity was present in the fact
that he held the key of the shop. An
instrument belonging to him, which
had undoubtedly been used for the
crime, was at hand. Yet justice was
deluded and the innocent suffered.
A very singular case Of judiei rror,
" ~h;1-s he.s Saesa . &z nxicx ri
deuce similxf TO thai NJ !,
occurred in England a6ouIf s,sSe Pei
ago. It was in the romanti1 - h !
gerous days of masked highwaynen,
when many moor aud heath, and even
many high road leading from English
towns, was infested by these maraud-
ing gentry. A gentleman was travel.
ing to Hull. Within few miles of
the town he was stopped by q man in
a mask, and politely but firmly deprived
of bag of twenty guineas which he
was carrying with him. Receiving no
other injury from the encounter, he
proceeded on his way, and in due time
safely reached cosy inn outside Of the
town. He loitered in the kitchen while
his supper was being prepared, and
there related to group of curious
listeners the story of his adventure, ad.
ding that be had, for precautions sake,
taken care to put upon each guinea q
peculiar mark. Supper was soon rea-
dy, aud he sat down to it with q relish.
While be was satisfying his hunger,
the landlord came into the diBing room,
and begun to make rather eager inqui-
ries about the robbery. On learning
the facts, and especially that the guin-
cas- were marked, the landlord ut once
declared that he could give clew to
the robber. 81 have awaiter, one John
Jennings" said he, "who has latterly
been very flush of money and recklessly
extravagant in his expenditures. This
evening about dusk l sent him out to
change q guinea for me. He has only
just returned and says he could not
get it changed. On returning me the
guinea l observed with surprise . mark
upon it which was not upon that which
Ientrusted him. I should have thought
no more Uf it, however, had I not
been told of the circumstance of your
robbery and your marked guinea pieces.
Uuluckily, before hearing of it, paid
away the guinea to man who lives at
q distance
The landlord had sent Jennings, who
was drunk, of to bed. It was now
agreed between him aud his guest that
the mans room should be searched
In his pocket was found purse with
exactly nineteen guineas, which the
guest recognized as those Of which he
had been robbed. Jennings was, of
course, arrested aud accused of the
crime. Denial was useless, every fact
fitted to the charge against him. Tried
at the assizes, the jury found him gull
~ without leaving their seats, and be
was executed.
Yet Jennings was as innocent of the
robbery a. . babe. A year had not
elapsed before the landlord was arres-
ted for . robbery committed on a guest
at the inn. The proof in this case, at
least, was too clear for doubt. The
landlord was convicted and sentenced.
While awaiting the doom of death, he
confessed that be himself had commit.
ted the robbery for which Jennings
had suffered. He bad hurried home
after getting the guineas. had heard
soon after With alarm Of the arrival oi
his victim. He bad been forced 20 psrs
with one oftbe guineas topay Q bill; % he
invented the story Of sending Jeuninzs