Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-09-20
THE LINCOLN MURDER.

No stranger story has ever been pub
lished in this State than that narrative oil
the discovery of the murder of JamesI
Singleton, which the RECORD UNION laid
before its readers yesterday morning. Thel
most remarkable feature Of the whole case,
however, appears to us to be the apathy
which allowed the murderer TO go for five:
years unpunished, notwithstanding the ex-
istence of widespread belief in his guilt,
based upon circumstantial evidence of the
most formidable character. Thus wei
find that the murdered man was known toi
have lent a large sum of money to Niles.
dtwas known that he was going to demand
the payment of this money. He went.
having previously made several appoint |
ments with neighbors. He was never seen
again. But few days after he had thusS
disappeared Niles had his well filed up,
and under circumstances which convinced
his hired man that he was telling series
OF falsehoods. Then he was seen in the
possession of SingIeton's watch. Subse
quently he told several discordant stories
about the whereabouts of his victim. Pres
entity he tried to get possession OF some oil
Singleton's property. And though all this
time his neighbors entertained the strong.
est suspicion that he had murdered the
missing man, it seems that they one
and all Suffered the matter to remain unde-I
Eeloped, and took no steps to have the
mystery cleared up. Niles was in fact al
lowed to sell his farm and leave that part
of the country before the tinlid people who,
had believed him to be murderer for four
years could summon up courage enough to-
dig up the old well and see what it con-
tanned. The capture of Niles after such a.
lapse Of time was simply a stroke Of luck
He had had ample time to get away, andl
those who had the strongest reasons for
suspecting him appear to have done the.
least towards bringing him TO justice. THIS
is the more remarkable because all the wit,
nesses at the inquest testified that SINGLE
ton was very good man, and well liked
by all who knew him. How much must a.
man be respected when those who know
him best wait five years after his disap
pearance before they take steps to ascertainI
whether or not he has been murdered Thel
circumstantial evidence which appears to-
have been known at the time of his dis.
appearance was of such character asl
to make the theory of foul play almost
impregnable. 1t was certainly such ass
should have put the machinery of the
law in motion st that time. Yet what was
everybody's business was, as usual, no.
body's business, and SO it turns out that
after all this time the murderer might
easily have escaped but for fortunates
conjunction of circumstances. It ia proba-S
BILE that he has not passed happy tives
years himself. His own confession, so far!
as it goes, shows that the suspicious OF the
neighbors were correct, though of course'
his version OF the homicide viii not be!
accepted. One part at least of his story
has been proved false by the finding Of the
body, namely his assertion that one of;
Singletons arms was broken. The lapses
of time since the commission of this crime, !
and the presumptive motive Of it, recalIl
the tragedy of Eugene Aram, SO power
fully idealized by Thomas Hood, and thisj
murderer may well have apprehended, asS
did the former, that his secret