The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1876-03-17

'Don't you know anything about
them?" they asked,
"No-no, You say murder was COM
mittedl"
"Come, come, jack" they replied,
''you can't fool any body by pleading
ignorance What did you do with your
capY"
He looked about the room.
'Some one must have taken it away"
he said at last.
"You left it near the corpse of the
murdered man."
Was it found there? Great Heaven
great Heaven"
He buried his face in his hands and
began to cry. Then he followed the
men who also took old Sim Brooks along
willingly, to the Ohio Tavern, where the
Coroner had meanwhile arrived. The
Sheriff appeared soon afterward with
some men who were carrying the CORY,
frozen corpse of the victim. Jack Capon
was conducted to the corpse. As he
caught sight of it he recoiled with hor-
ror. 'It's Mr.. Sammis," he gasped out.
''Poor Sammis, who could have murder
ed him."
.'You were the last seen in his compa-
n.y." said the Sheriff; ''your cap was
found near the corpse; your clothes are
blood-stained; who but you can be the
murderer"
81 am innocent~ cried Capon, desper
ately. II got drunk at Brooks. don't
know how got this blood on my clothes,
nor how my cap got near the corpse. /
have even forgotten was with this poor
gentleman"
The Coroner inpaneled jury, and in
the first place took them to the spot in
the woods where the murder had been
committed. Jack Capon, who had been
heavily ironed, was also conveyed thith-
er. The footprints near the point where
the corpse of the murdered man had lain
were not very distinct, but they seemed
to correspond exactly with the soles of
Capon's shoes.
Returning to the Ohio Tavern the Cor
oner swore Sim Brooks, who by this time
had become perfectly sober, and who
stated that last night, about half past
ten O'Clock, Jack Capon had come to his
cabin and asked him if he had any whis-
ky. He had given him half dozen
drinks, whereupon Capon had wanted
still more, but he had no more. Capon
had then shown him ten-dollar gold
piece, and had asked him if he knew
where any whisky could be bought
He had answered if he would go to
Mike Perry's he might get some. There
Capon had gone and returned with
whisky, bat without his cap, and with
his shirt and the front part of his coat
all bloody. Brooks added that he ask
ed Capon how he got tine blsod on him.
Capon was so drunk thai - could not
give very intelligi5'ess G.Sount of what
had happened to him. but lie said some
thing about having had a fall and hurt
himself.
Upon hearing this evidence the prison.
er exclaimed:
"Yes-yes, that's true-I do remember
it now. | made short cut through the
woods to Mike Perry's house, where l
got the whisky, and returned by pretty
much the same route, when l stumbled
over something and fell"
The jury rendered verdict against
him, and he was committed for trial
His pockets wer then examined, and the
ten dollar gold-piece which Sim Brooks
had mentioned was found. Capon said
that SamInis, who li;,d taken an interest
in him, and had gwen it to him. This
was considered very tiimsy falsehood,
and everybody was convinced that Jack
Capon was guilty.
A messenger with news of Sammis's
murder was dispatched to Pittsburgh,
where it created a profound sensation.
1t turned out that the murdered man
had nearly $50, 600 i'll large bank bills on
his person. Mr.. Sammis' brother Mark,
a wholesale grocer, and very energetic
man, accompanied the messenger back
to Steubenviile, and engaged special
counsel to assist in the prosecution of
Capcn. The latter was tried and con-
victed, but, the jury having to fix his
punishment, he was not sentenced to
death, but to imprisonment at hard labor
for life.
The prisoner was overwhelmed with
grief because of his conviction. He
never tired of protesting his innocence
and his eyes were constantly red and
swollen from weeping. He was taken
to the Penitentiary at Columbus, where
he was at first rather harshly treated;
but his amiable disposition was not long
in making SO agreeable an impression Oh
the keepers that many privileges were
granted to him These he never abused,
on the contrary he proved an efficient
assistant to the prison authorities on
more than one occasion, so that they
wondered how this good natured man
could have been capable OF committing
so heinous a crime.
Five years passed by, when an event
occurred which proved beyond doubt
that Capon was after all an entirely in
nocent man.
A cotton broker named Wilson. at Sa-
vannah, Ga, had long been on bad
terms with his wife. Finally he sued for
a divorce. The wife thereupon accused
him of having murdered man on the
10th Of November, 1S41 on the day after
leaving Pittsburg, Pa, and of having