Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-04-17
Tho ladv appeared AZ witness.

| was amply this: She looked az her
| clock when Dubourg entered the room,
thinking il rather late hour for q
visitor 10 call on her. The clock (regu-
lated by the maker only the day befofe)
pointed TO twenty-five minutes to nine.
Practical experiment showed that the
time required to walk the distance, Mt
rapid pace. from the stile TO the lady's
house, was Just five minutes. Here,
then, was the farm bailiff (himself a
respectable witness) corrohorated by
another witness of excellent position
and character. Tho clock on being ex.
amined next, waa found to be right.
| The evidence OF the clock maker proved
that no kept the key, and that thcro
al been no necessity to set the clock
and wind ii up again, since he had per
| formed both those acts on the day pre-
ceding Mr.. Dubourg's visit. The
accuracy OF the clock thus vouched for,
the conclusion on the evidence was irre-
sistible. Mr.. Dubourg stood convicted
of having been in the field nj the time
when the murder was committees; OF
| having, by his own admission. had a
quarrel with the murdered man not long
| before, terminating in an assault and n
threat on his aide, and, lastly, of hav-
| ing attempted to set up an nlibi by q
| false statement Of the question of time.
There was no alternative but to commit
him to take his trial at tho assizes,
charged with the murder OF tue builder
in Pardons Piece.
The trial occupied two days.
No new facts Of importance were dis
covered in the interval. The evidence
F,1lnxva1 tha o,uraa rvlsaH - haI fal
at the preliminary examinations-with
this difference only, that it was more
carefully siited. Mr.. Dubourg had the
double advantage Of securing the ser
vices OF the leading bnrrister Of the cir
cult, and Of moving the irrepressible
sympathies OF the jury, ahocked at his
position, and eager for proof OF his in-
ocence. BY tho end OF the first day
the evidence had told against him with
such irresistible force that his own coun.
sci despaired Of the result. When the
prisoner took his place in the dock on
the second day there was but one con-
viction in the minds OF the people in
court; everybody said, Z" The clock will
hang him."
II was nearly two in the afternoon,
and the proceedings were on the point
of being adjourned for half an hour.
when the attorney for the people was
seen to hand paper TO the counsel for
the defence.
The counsel rose. showing signs OF
agitation which reused the curiosity OF
the audience. He demanded the i'm.
mediate hearing of the new witness.
whose evidence in the prisoners favor
he declared to be too important 10 be de-
layed for a single moment. After short
colloquy between the Judge and barris-
ters on either side, the court decided to
continue the sitting.
The witness, appearing in the box,
proved TO be young woman in delicate
health. On the evening when the priH-
oner had paid his visit 20 tho lady abe
was in that la1y's service as houpemnid.
The day after she had been permitted
(by previous arrangement with her mis-
tress) to take n weeks holiday, and 10
go on avlsit TO her parents in the west
OF Cornwall. While there she had fallen
ID, and had not been strong enough
since TO return to her employm, ut. Hav.
ing given this preliminary account Of
herself, the housemaid than narrated the
following extraordinary particulars In
relation TO her mistress clock:
On the morning Of the day when Mr.,
Dnbourg had called az the house she
had been cleaning the mantelpiece.
She had rubbed the part OF IL which
was under the clock with her duster,
had accidentally struck tho pendulum,
and had stopped IL. Having once be
fore done this, she had been severely
reproved Fearing tha. n repetition Of
the offence. only the day after the clock
had been regulated by the maker.
might lead perhaps TO the Withdrawal
of her leave Of absence, she had deter.
mined to put matters right again, il
possible by herself.
After poking under the clock in the
dark, and failing to set the pendulum
going again properly in that way, she
next attempted TO lift the clock and give
it shake. IL was set in o marble case.
with bronze figure on the top. and it
was so heavy that she was obliged to
hunt for something which she could use
as lever. The thing proved to be not
easy to find on the spur of the moment.
Having at last laid her hand on what
she wanted, she contrived so to lift the
clock a few inches and drop il again on
the mantelpicce as to set II going once
more.
The next necessity was, of course, to
move the hands on. Here again she
was met by an obsticle. There was n
difficulty in opening the glass case
which protected the dial. After useless
ly searching for some instrument 10
help her, she got from the footman
without telling him what che wanted it
for) q small chisel. With this abe
opened the case - after accidenily
scratching the brass frame OF it-and
set the hands Of the clock by guess.
6he was Hurried at the time, fearing
that her mistress would discover her.
Later in the day she found that she had
over. r.estimated the interval Of time that
had passed while she was attempting TO
put the clock right. She Ind, in fact,
set 10 exactly quarter of an hour too
fast.
No safe opportunity of secretly mt