The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1876-05-10
SOME ENIGMAs OF JUSTICE
DEATH BED ACCUSATIONS.

DEATH BED ACCUSATIONS.
INSTANCES OF FATAL MIsTAKEs-TBE CASE
OF SARAH GREEN-THE sHAws OF KEITH
A FAMOUS GERMAN PUZzLE-wHICH
SCHMIDT WAS IT?
George NJ. Towle, in Appleton's Journal,
tells of some remarkable judicial plumbers
or perplexities, the following among
others: In the elements of evidence
weighed by the courts, none is more grave
and conclusive than that of the death ned
accusation of a victim of foul play. One
naturally supposes that such q person,
with the near prospect of eternity before
hin, will not fssten the crime upon an
innOcens man; and his deposition is &C
corded weight which is rarely given TO
credible eye witnesses of crime ESpec-
tally strong does this sort of evidence be-
come when the accused is brought face to
face with his supposed victim at the bed
side, and is then and there sworn to as the
real criminal. Yet judicial annals abound
with instances in which persons have been
thus accu Led, and have suffered the dread
results OF such accusation, who have alter
wsrd been proved clearly Ruiltless. 1t
need scarcely be remarked that innocent
persons often confess TO having committed
crimes sometimes for the sake Ofnotoriety,
they think certain to be inflicted upon
them. AS to death bed accusations, the
case OF Sarah Green, in London, is to the
point. One night the CIR. was attacked by
three men, who had the appearance of be-
ing brewers apprentices. She was taken
to the hospital, and while she was lying
there she was confronted by man named
Coleman, a brewers assistant, whom a
stranger, in quarrel at an ale house, had
charged with being concerned in the as
sault. She at first declined 20 swear that
he was one OF her assailants, though she
expressed a decided opinion that he was.
Being brought to her q second time, how
ever, she swore positively that Coleman
was one of her ssssssips. Coleman was,
however, set tree on bail: whereupon he
fastened 10 conceal himself. Soon after
the girls death be was found. He was in
dicej, convicted and executed. Two
years after i5 was discovered that he was
wholly innocent, the real criminal6 being
spprehended, and confessing that they did
Lot 80 much as know Coleman by sight.
a similar though yet more tragic instance
of condemnation on account of an sccusa-
ton in articulO mortis was that OF the
Shaws of Keith. William Shaw, a laborer,
had daughter who was in love with a
ycung m-a of whom the father strenu-
Cusly disapproYed. Ole day loud words
were heard in the room where they lived.
Aftsr quarrel between father and dsugh-
ter, Shaw LETT the house, locking the girl
in the room. Not long after, the sound of
grCans caused the neighbors TO break open
tie door, when the girl was found
WRITING IN AGONY
on the floor, bloody knife lying at her
side. When asked if her father had done
the deed, she nodded family, and immedi-
ately drew her last breath. Shaw Just then
returned, and seemed overcome at the
sight of his dead child. He was arrested;
blood was found on his shirt sleeves which
he accounted for as caused by his having
bled himself several days before; but cir
cumstances weighed too heavily against
him, and he was condemned and executed.
Some time after, a letter written by the
girl was found in the chimney of the
room, stating that she was about to COM
NIT suicide, and also containing the words,
"My cruel father is the cause of my DEATH"
This gave the c'ew TO the fatal gesture she
had made at the moment of expiring, and
clsarly proved her own guilt and her
fathers Innocence. The judges of a certain
old German town were sadly perplexed
owl q case which it b,came their duty to
solve, and which st first glance seemed
simple enough. A rich but i'll tempered
and truculent fellow named Ruprecht, a
goldsmith, on going one night to low
grog shop, was assailed at the door, and
feli at the foot of the stairs with loud
grosn. The cronies of the den hsstsned
down, to find him in great distress from a
deep wound on his head. He stammered
cut, "The villain with the axei My
daughter, my daughterw This was his
only child, who, being married to one
Berenger, lived in the suburbs Of thetown.
Ruprecht was taken to the hospital. and
the next day revived suffi GENTLY TO answer
the questions put to him, though very
briefly, and with evident difficulty. He
was asked who dealt him the blow. He
said it was Schmidt. What Schmidt was
Ii? The one who resided in the Most
Strasse. With what weapon2 A small
axe. How did Ruprecht know him? By
his voice. What was the motive of the
assault? An old quarrel. What was
Schmidt's occupation? A wood cutter.
simple. He had only TO find man named
Schmidt, who lived in the Most Strasse,
anu was a wood cutter, to accomplish the
ends of justice. The difficulty began when,
on the Most-Strasse being reached, two
Schmidts, brothers, and both wood cutters,
were found dwelling there. Yet third
Schmidt, a wood cutter, was discovered,
bat he lived in another street, the Hohen-
Plaster,
THE BROTHERS SCHMIDT
In the Most-S.rasse proved TO have long
known Ruprschs. They were called "Big"
and "Little" Schmidt. Big Schmidt had
not long before been a witness against
Ruprecht in a civil suit. In the dilemma
between these Schmidts, IL became import
ant to ply the wounded man with new
gus ions. fortunately he was stih alive