Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1879-03-28

Slstlble. Mr.. DubourR stood convicted
of having been in the field at the time
when the murder was committed; of
having, by his own admission, had q
quarrel with the murdered man not long
before, terminating in an assault and a
threat on his side, and, lastly, of hav-
ing attempted to set up an alibi by a
false statement OF the question of time.
There was no alternative but to commit
him to take his trial at the assizes,
charged with the murder of the builder
in Pardon's Piece.
The trial occupied two days.
No new faeks of Importance were dis
covered in the interval. The evidence
followed the course which it had taken
at the preliminary examinations-with
this difference only, that it was more
carefully sifted. Mr.. Dubourg had the
double advantage of securing the ser
vices of the leading barrister of the cir
cult, and of moving the irrepressible
sympathies of the jury, shocked at his
position, and eager for proof of his in
nocence. By the 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, =" The clock will
hang him."
It 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 to 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 pris-
oner had paid his visit to the lady she
was in that lady's service as housemaid.
The day after she had been permitted
(by previous arrangement with her mis-
tress) to take a weeks holiday, and to
go on a visit to her parents in the west
of Cornwall. While there she had fallen
i'll, and had not been strong enough
since to return to her employment. 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..
Dubourg had called at the house she
had been cleaning the mantelpiece,
She had rubbed the part OF it which
was under the clock with her duster,
had accidentally struck the pendulum,
and had stopped it. Having once be .
fore done this, she had been severely
reproved. Fearing that a 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, if
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 q shake. 1t was set in 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 few inches and drop it again on
the mantelpiece as to set it going once
more.
The next necessity was, of course, to
move the hands on. Here again she
was met by an obsticle. There was q
difficulty in opening the glass case
which protected the dial. After useless
ly searching for some instrument to
help her, she got from the footman
without telling him what she wanted it
for) small chisel. With this she
opened the case - after aceidently
scratching the brass frame Of it-and
set the hands OF the clock by guess.
Size was furried ct the time, fearing
that her mistress would discover her.
Later in the day she found that she had
over-estimated the interval OF time that
had passed while she was attempting to
put the clock right. She had, in fact,
set it exactly quarter OF an hour too
fast.
No safe opportunity of secretly put
ting the clock right again, had occurred
until the last thing at night. She had
moved the hands back to the right time.
At the hour of the evening when Mr..
Dubourg had called on her mistress she
positively swore that the clock was q
quarter of an hour too fast. It had
pointed, as her mistress had declared, to
twenty-f five minutes TO nine-the right
time then being, as Mr.. Dubourg had
asserted, twenty minutes past eight.
Questioned as to why she had refrain
cd from giving this extraordinary evi
dence at the inquiry before the magis.
trate, she declared that in the distant
Cornish village to which she had gone
next day, and in which her illness bad
detained her from that time, nobody
had heard of the inquiry or the trial.
She would not have been then present
to state the vitality important circum.
stances 10 which she had Just sworn il
the prisoners twin brother had moi
found her out on the previous day, hac
not questioned her if she knew any
thing about the clock, and had mo-
Clearing what she had to telD insisted
on her taking the journey with him tt
the court the next morning.
The evidence virtually decided the
trial. There was great burst of relic
in the crowded assembly when the wo
mans statement had come to an end.
She was closely cross-examined as 6
matter of course. Her character wal
inquired into f; corroborative evidences
(relative to the chisel and the scratches
on the france was sought for, and wa
obtained. Tho end of it was that, nt