St. Landry democrat. (Opelousas, La.) 1878-1894, 1880-04-03
EiFcsssElss:sssts.ss Proof.

/ i t.,
but secretly. and often show great
acumen and foresight in covering the
bloody tracks OF their violence. 1t is
the work of the detective to track, as Il
hunter his game, the criminal through
all his Wanderings to his lair, and bring
him into the daylight OF justice. This
is hard work, which asks a keen scent
i'll the sleuth-hounds Of the law: ana a
careful Weighing by the coalt of
evidence adduced. The ease OF Dr.
Webster twenty-five years ago, is Il
monument OF detective and legal skill
which made a crime clear, by clrcum-
stantlal evidence, and punished il. The
late case OF Hayden for the murder Of
the Stannard woman, and the
| impending case of Abbott, for the
murder of Groton, and, IN fact. the daiiy
drift OF our criminal eases show how
large y justice is dependent on cream
stantlal evidence. In 1852, in England,
man and woman from within d
certain house gave the alarm that some
| one had entered and murdered AN
inmate. The dew on the grass outside
the house was found to be undisturbed.
| | he living inmates were convicted.
In 1916, in England, d man WAS tlicd for
the murder of another, Whelc the
struggle had been severe. Impressions
were found III the clay OF Il naG vino
wore brerc;irS OF striped con luIUy.
patched with the same fnaterIal; but
the patches We're not straight, the ribs
Of the patch meeting the hoIIows al the
original corduroy. The accused was
shown to have his breecIIrs patched
nus, and this greatly aided his convic-
non. Dew and snow have often Helped
to track the murderer, and many is man
has persisted on the galioNS the pecu-
iial1ty OF whose shoes, or the curious
Way III which nails are set iii Them,
aided conviction. 4 man arrested III
his bed, who claimed to have been there
all night, was found with wet, muddy
stockings on. The night WAS Wet and
the ground soft.
One of Kaulback's illustrations OF
Goethe,s Reineke Fuchs shows us the |
fox numbering the hare. 1t is ii SOLITARY |
place, a field, and close by shrine with |
Its cross: But curiously enough, the
artist had put eyes into every head OF |
full wheat, which bends in the breeze. !
and every flower at hand is made il,
likeness of a dim, human face, which |
behoifs the deed with horror. The
Tact thus symbolized is that nature, in
all Its attributes OF weight, size, color
and condition, is, after all, the head |
detective Of crime, and every secret
murder leaves its mark behind it, which
rightly interpreted of men, metes ont
detection and punishment Of the
criminal
Murder will outn because, in most
subtle ways, the circumstances of
murder, being accurate when wisely
confess and denote with
unerring finger, and dead men
tell no tales with a hundred tongues,
hat the pIIIttV Il
ton does not prove the contrary,
Perhaps the old story Of tie murderer,
Eugene Aram, whose horrors lave
passed into English literature, assisted
10y the genius OF Hoods shadowy poem
OF that name. best illustrates what has
been said OF the curiosities of cream
stantial evidence in criminal cases,
Aram was born at Ramsgili, YORKSHIRE.
1904, and, though the son of a gardener.
was OF ancient British family and
brilliant genius. With scant education
IN youth, and serving for u time as
oook-keeper ~ London, yet he managed
TO make such progress III learning, ,
especially I'D mathematics, that he sas
invited pack as schoolmaster to his
native village, and there married His
wife seems to have been a woman of {
easy virtue, and to have made bis home ,
unhappy. But he devoted himself to
The study OF the classics-Hebrew, /
Ghaldees and Arabic-and became so 5
much OF phliologist as to bestow much {
abof III comparing these languages |
With the ancient Celtic. While engaged
in such honorable undertake
ngs, he found time, February 8. f7I4,
With the help of confederate. Richard {
iouseman, to murder d. Clark, shoe :,
maker and conceal his body. His motive, :
Is Aram alleged after his trial, was Re- +
'enge on his Wlfe,s paramoar, but it was =
n evidence that he got from this crime l.
he Whole OF Clark's Wife's dowry, to the v
mount OF EGO. In fact, Aram looks, f.
when viewed III the most candid light, =
0 have been one Of those hypocritic1l >
nd cold blooded villains of ability WHO l.
ometiines appear to disgrace humanity. +,
ourteen years after the murder, a !,
easant, digging stones for Il limekiln =
4 the DeighbDrhood, found human =,
<eleton two feet below ground, with :.
he frame SO well kept together as to ;,
nable it to be seen that the body had p;
cen bent and buried double. AS Clar; :, :,
al never been seen alive since 1744. -
nd as Aranl's wife had formerly thrown -
ut dark hints that. he had been MUIR
cred, pubic suspicion was aroused and ~
D Inquest was held upon the bones. IT.
u tnio III utSt SIG WAS summoned, and L
'stltied that she thought Clark was
ufdered by. Aram and Houseman.
Ehen brought before the coroner
ouseman was in great confusion,
bled, changed color and faltered i'm
,eech under examination. The coro-
7r desired him to take up one of the a
ones before him, thinking to see what II
lrther results would follow Taking b
one OF the bones he said, "This is no n
ore Dan Clark's bones than it is n
Ine." These words were so pro- II
,unced as to convince those present. Y
1T that Honseman believed that Clark
as alive, but he knew very well where
S bones lay. (If the reader will read
ouseman's words aloud, with strong
aphasis on the word this, he will see a
tie what they might be made to
ean.) After some evasions he finally
oke down and confessed that Aram
"a he had murdered Clark, and though
ese We're not his bones they might be
nnd where they were buried, at dead s
night, in st. Roberts Cave, near d.
,ere the other bones were found, :"
ding that CIark's head lay to the
INT in the turn at the entrance of the
We, Upon search a skeleton was
md aYantlv &c 1aaor;,, .,I