Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1879-03-28
CONDEMNED BY A CLOCK.
By wILKIR COLLINS.

| Sh a cuuiAhCA OFOhluBy years ago,
man was found murdered in field nea,
certain town, in the west of England
The name of the field was "Pardont
Piece"
The man wes a small carpenter anC
builder in tie town who bore an in
different character. On the evening il
question distant relative of his, EN-
ployed as farm bailiff by gentleman il
the neighborhood, happened to be pass
ing stile which led from the field int
the road, and saw a gentleman leaving
the field by way of this stile rather in 8
hurry. He recognized the gentleman
| lwhom he knew by sight only as a Mr.
DUbourg.
They passed each other on the road
1 in opposite directions. After certain
lapse of time-estimated as being 9
half hour-the farm bailiff had occasion
to pass back along the same road. On
reaching the stile he heard an alarm
raised and entered the field to see what
was the matter. He found several per.
sons running from the further side Of
Pardon's Piece toward boy who was
standing at the back of O cattle shed, in
a remote part of the enclosure, scream.
ing with terror. At the boys feet lay,
face downward, the dead body of a man
with his bead horribly beaten in. His
watch wGs under him hanging out of his
pocket by the chain. It had stopped
evidently in consequence of the concus-
sion of its owners fall on it-at $50. The
BODY was still warm. All the other
valuables, like the watch, was left on it.
The farm bailiff instantly recognized
the man as the carpenter and builder
mentioned above.
At the preliminary inquiry, the stop
page Of the watch at 80 was taken as
offering good circumstantial evidence
that the blow which had killed the man
had been struck at that time.
The next question was, if any one had
been near the body at 1902 The farm
bailiff declared that he had met Mr..
Dubourg hastily leaving the field by
the stile at that very time. Asked if
he had looked at his watch, he owned
that he had not done so. Certain pre-
viods circumstances, which he men
toned as having impressed themselves
on his memory, enabled him to feel
sure Of the truth of this assertion without
having consulted his watch. He was
pressed on this important point, but he
held to his declaration. At $50 he had
seen Mr.. Dubourg hurriedly leave the
| field. At $50 the watch of the muir
dered man had stopped.
Had any other person been observed
in or near the field at that time9
No witness had been discovered who
had seen anybody else near the place.
| Had the weapon turned up with which
| the blow had been struck It had not
been found. Was any one known (rob-
berry having plainly not been The mo-
tive of the crime) to have entertained a
grudge against the murdered man Tt
was no secret that he associated with
doubtful charal ters, male and female;
but suspicion failed to point to any one
of them in particular.
In this state of things there was no
alternative but to request Mr.. Dubourg
we'll known in ando of the town as
a young gentleman of independent for
tune, bearing an excellent character
to give some account OF himself.
He Immediately admitted that he had
passed through the field. But, in con-
tradiction to the farm bailiff, he declared
that he had looked at his watch at the
moment before he crossed the stile, and
that the time by it was exactly 8.15.
Five minutes later, that is to say, ten
minutes before the murder had been
committed, on the evidence of the dead
mans watch-he had paid visit to a
lady living near Pardon's Piece, and had
remained with her until his watch, con-
suited once more on leaving the lady g
house, informed him that it was 8.45.
Here was what the defence called an
"alibi." It entirely satisfied Mr.. Du-
bourg's friends. To satisfy justice also
it was necessary to call the lady as 9
witness. In the meantime another purely
formal question was put to Mr.. Du.
bourg. Did he know anything Of the
murdered man9
With some appearance of confusion,
Mr.. Dubourg admitted that he had been
induced by friend to employ the man
| on some work. Further Interrogation
extracted from him the following state.
ment OF facts .-.E
| That the work had been very badly
done that an exorbitant price had been
charged for it; that the man, on being
demonstrated with, had behaved in a
grossly impertinent manner; that an al
tercation had taken place between them
that Mr.. Dubourg bad seized the man
| by the collar of his coat, and had turned
him out of the house; that he had called
the man an internal scoundrel (being in
passion at the time) and threatened to
"thrash him within an inch of his life -
(or words to that effect), if he ever pre-.
sumed to come near the house again
that he had sincerely regretted his owr
violence the moment he recovered hif
self-possession and lastly, that, on hii
oath (the alteration having occurred
six weeks ago), he had never spoken tc
the man, or set eyes on the man since
As the matter there stood, these cir
cumstances were considered as being
unfortunate circumstances for Mr.. Du
boug-nothing more. He had hi
"alibi to appeal to, and his characte
to appeal to; and nobody doubted th,
result. ..
The lady appeared as witness.
Confronted with Mr.. Dubourg on th
question of time, and forced to answer
she absolutely contradicted him, on tn
testimony of the clock on her own man
telpiece. In substance, her evidenc
was simply this: She looked at he
clock when Dubourg entered the room
thinking it rather a late hour for
visitor to call on her. The clock (regu
lated by the maker only the day before
9 pointed to twenty-five minutes to nine
Practical experiment showed that ,th
time required to walk the distance, a
rapid pace, from the stile to the lady
house, was just five minutes. Here
p then, was the farm bailiff (himself
respectable witness) corroborated b