Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-10-13
POWER OF CONSCIENCE.
Murderers Driven to Confession Years
After Their Crimes.
New York World.l

New York World.l
A curious instance of the power Of
conscience is reported from England.
A few days ago a rough h-looking labor
ing man Of forty-nine years of age,
Jonathan Geydon by name, the son of
farmer who resided at Waltham-
stow, presented himself at the Hor-
sham police station, and after giving
his name stated that some twenty
years before he had gone into the
house of Mr.. Small, at a place
called Chingford, in Essex, and as the
family were away.at church, it being
Sunday morning, had murdered the
woman who was keeping the house,
and who was Mr.. Small's sister. The
officers, thinking him crazy or drunk,
locked him up over night, and next
morning the prisoner was asked
whether he still adhered to his con-
fession of the preceding night. He
replied that he did, and wished to
have the particulars of the murder
investigated. He was accordingly sent
on to Chingford, and an officer was
detailed to make inquiries, when it
was found that Miss Mary White,
aged seventy-two, had indeed been
murdered on Sunday morning, the
2lst of June, 1851. She was the sis
ter-in-law of Mr.. John Small, farmer
residing at Chingford. While Mr..
Small and his wife were at Chingford
church, Geydon entered the house.
eyidently for the purpose of plunder,
knocked the old lady down with a
stick and cut her throat and succeed
ed in getting away from the house.
At an inquest a verdict of willful
murder was returned against some
party or parties unknown, and
reward Of el00 was offered by the gov
ernment for the apprehension of Gey-
don, who had just been released from
prison where he had served term for
horse stealing, and who had been seen
near the place. Geydon, when asked
what prompted him to commit tie
murder, replied that he supposed it
was the devil. He said that he knew
the time Mr.. Small and his family
went to church, and so went to the
back gate and knocked at the back
door, and when Miss White opened it
attacked her, and knocked her down,
| took out a pocket knife, the blade of
which he drew across her throat. She
died instantly. He pulled the BODY
INSIDE, which he closed, and then took
what property he wanted. He had
been in constant fear of being taken,
and he had since wandered thousands
: of miles, having tramped every county
: in England, and sailed to various
quarters of the globe, once as far as
India Since his Imprisonment he has
expressed satisfaction at the rest he al
: last feels. The English authorities
have arranged for his prosecution in
due form upon his confession, the evil
> dence taken at the inquest, and the
e testimony of survivors who have fully
identified him, and who recollect ali
. the circumstances of the murder.
Another case of the power of con-
science not less striking is recorded in
modern criminal annals. On the Dist
! of June, 1851, while lad was walk
f ing in a lane near Norwich, his dog came
, running out of a plantation with a
! human hand in its mouth. Upon
search a foot, pieces of the backbone
and body of woman and other ghast.
ly fragments were found in the fields.
making it evident that a horrible
crime had been perpetrated, but the
keenest investigation failed to obtain
any clue as to the identity either oI
, the murderer or the victim. No one
! was known to be missing and finally
the magistrates gave up the search
ordering pieces of the body to be pre-
4 served to await possible further de-
{ velopments. Eighteen years after.
, ward, on New Years day, 1869, on,
William Steward gave himself up a
Lambeth as the murderer He sale
a he could keep the secret no longer
y he had on several days past left HON,
= intending to destroy himself. 81 wen
= last night" he continued, to tn,
house in Richmond street, Walworth
4 where | first saw my first wife, anC
f that so brought it to my mind that
v was obliged to come and give mysel
=. up" Inquiry soon showed that tn,
. man had been living in Norwich il
1851 with his wife, and that she haC
d disappeared, his explanation at tn,
4 time being that she had gone Il
her friends in Australia. He married
again, his second wife bearing hin
several children, and remained i
t Norwich in business as a pawnbrokel
Steward was fully committed an,
came up for trial March 20, 1865
Some difficulty was made because h
p declared that his wife was ffty-fou
q years old, while the hand bills Z
G 1851 said the fragments found wer
\ those of the body OF a woman "be
tween sixteen and twenty-six," bu
the examination at that time wa
IS found to have been very oursory an
|. made upon fragments which gave br
, little clue as to the true age of til
: subject, and Steward was convicte,
g He was hanged April 20, 1869, havin
a confessed the method of the murder
d how in a quarrel about money he ha
70 killed his wife with razor, cut ava
! pieces from the body day by day
~ scatter them abroad, and finally boile
70 it in the hope of reducing it to
h shapeless mass. The memory of Il
il deed could not be thus disposed
and haunted him till it drove him
the gallows, OF course such cases
these suggest the question wheth,
society ought to infict upon sci
confessed criminal the full penalty
D. his nrime- In nnr timn rnanu snnt