The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1879-07-17
A Fact Which Prevented an Awful
Judicial Crime.

1uO SCnSioA PuoiiS, MAh0 ASJoASin5
over the capture of Cox, despite the stu
pidity of our own police, whom he does
not seem to have feared in the least, as
he returned to this city after the murder,
has but little idea of the awful judicial
crime which his arrest and confession
have averted. The reporters of the dai-
ly papers who have been engaged in
writing about the Hull murder have been
.olerably we'll informed from the begin
ming of the nature of the chain of cir
cumstantial evidence which the police
were weaving about the aged DIR. Hull,
but they were pledged not to reveal the
more important links until the inquest
stamped them with an official seal. Now
that the murderer has been found and
confessed his guilt, those in the secret of
the operations of the police are fairly
appalled, at the possibility of the crime,
under the name of law, which the escape
of the negro Cox would certainly have
precipitated. The circumstantial evil
dence against DR.. Hull was apparently
of such conclusive nature that in these
days of hanging on suspicion it is diff.
cult to conceive of jury which would
not have felt bound to convict him. Let
ters of his dead wife were found proving
that the couple had been living for many
years on terms of almost open hostility,
and that DR.. Hull, aged as he is, was ac-
tually jealous of his wife. Here the mo-
tive for the murder was supplied. 1n'the
room of the Doctor half burned candle
was found. It was different from any
other candles in the house, and the drop
pings on Mrs. Hulls sleeve were of the
same material as that of this piece of
candle. In addition, the piece of candle
showed that it had not burned in the or
dinary way-standing upright; the ap-
peerance was exactly such as would have
been created by holding the candle down
to the eyes of the murdered woman.
This is fact which was not brought out
on the inquest for obvious reasons. The
police did not propose to "give away"
their theory until the proper time arriv-
ed.
It is terrible to think of the judicial
crime which would have been enacted in
this city had Cox not been captured as
he was and our theoretical police had
been allowed to place their "theory' in
the form of circumstantial evidence be-
fore jury. DIR. Hull would certainly
have been hanged for the murder of his
wife, and another victim to circumstantial
evidence would have been sacrificed.
The murderer, too, had it in his power,
but for his ignorance, to have escaped
Justice and offered up DR.. Hull as a sac
rifce. The "best police force in the
world" intent on gaining reputation
| for shrewdness which they do not pos
sess, allowed just enough to be printed in
| the newspapers to let the whole world
know that DR.. Hull was suspected, and
that the evidence against him was over
whelming, as indeed it was "theoreti-
cally." When the jewelry was found in
Boston they stupidity asserted that DIR.
Hull had sent it there to throw them of
the track. Fortunately for the ends OF
| Justice, Cox cannot read, and he knew
nothing of these wonderful "theories" OF
the police. Had he known of them he
could and probably would have said that
DR.. Hull gave him the jewelry to dispose
of. This would have vindicated our
police in their "theory," and the aged
doctor would have hanged, while the
murderer of his wife would have gone
free.
The lesson of all this is that circum.
stantial evidence, however conclusive
apparently, is not evidence upon which
it is safe to decide the fate of human
life. DR.. Hull has been saved from the
gallows simply because the murderer o.
his wife could not read, and, therefore
did not know the deep "theories" of the
"inest police force in the world" ."-Neu
York Star.