New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-11-09
POACHING ON THE CRAZE.

The result of the SOutar trial in Edinburgh
will excite the liveliest feelings of satisfaction
in N"w- York, where the gbouls sulty OF the
hldeous outrage in st. Marks churchyard
have never been punished. The jury convicted
SOutar of completely in the robbery of the Earl of
Crawford's remains and the Court imposed sem
tence of five years penal servitude. This was
as severe penalty as could be enforced under
the Scotch laws. Technically, the prisoner
could not be charged with robbery, inasmuch
as dead body was not in the strict sense CT
the term personal property, and therefore
could Nc have been stolen by those who in
vaded the vault. The offence for which he
was prosecuted was sacrilege, and the sentence
was as heavy a one as the magistrate felt at
liberty To impose. 1t can scarcely fail to have
wholesome effect in preventing the recurrence
OF this revolving crime in Great Britain.
From the evidence published in the foreign
files SOutar seems from the outset to have
convicted himself. He excited suspicion last
July by Boosting to p0t-hOnse companion
that he could point out the spot where the
Earfs body had been buried by those who
had plaged the vault. Wnrn he was arrested
he offered to tell the local authorities all he
knew if he could have an assurance of pro-
lection from the vengeance of his companions.
His story was that while pOaching by night in
the woods near the 3alcarres vault he ran
upon several meu who were burying some
mysterious object They seized him, threat
ened To kill him, and only spared his life after
he had vowed absolute Sc recy. subsequently,
wien the discovery was made that the Bal
cares vault was empty, he suspected that the
object which his midnight acquaintance had
buried ont OF sight was the missing body. The
story seemed grossly improbable, but the au-
thCrities searched the woods in the quarter
indicated by the poacher and a foot under
ground discovered the body wrapped in a
blanket. He virtually admitted having
written two anonymous letters t the Craw
ford family apprisng them of the fact that the
vault had been despoiled, and sought to Justify
his conduct on the ground that lie wanted to
have the relatives know what had happened
without exposing himself to the vengeance of
the grave robbers. The jury brushed aside
this flimsy tale as unworthy of credence, and
convicted him on his own testimony. The
unenviable reputation which the poacher
bore IN the neighborhOod of the Bacarres
mansion justified the verdict. The only source
of regret was the failure of the authorities to
impllcate his confederates, of whom there
must have been several, as the vault had twice
been entered, once when the coffin lad been
opened and emptled, and again when the en-
trance-stone had been thrust ash and the rail
ing broken down in order to convince the family
that the assertions made in the anonymous
letters were true.
The poachers motive in stealing the body
with the aid of his associates mast have been
the same which actuated the midnight ma
RAIDERS of st. Marks churchyard III ey ex-
pected to extOTt money from the widow of
Lord Crawford. They rihed the vault, buried
the remains a quarter OF a mile away, and
few months afterward opened negotiations by
means of anonymous letters. Then perceying
that no attention was paid to their warnings,
they invaded the vault second time and in
this way proclaimed the robbery. But in their
mercenary aims they were batlied by the good
sense and philosophical conduct of the Earls
family. As soon as the crime was discovered
his widow announced that not a shilling would
be paid for the return of the remains. The
grave-robbers were not given the slightest
encouragement to make terms with the family.
They were bluntly told that they could not
make money III that way. As the months went
by the poacher and his associates we're forced
to admit that they had had their hdeous work
for their pains. Even if the family had not
stoutly refused to ransom the body, it would
have been impossible for the despcable ma
RAIDERS to reopen negotiations without expos
ing themselves to arrest. A single unguarded
expression from the er-fuddled poacher led
to his detection, and before he could collect
his senses he was hOpelessly entanged in his
own talk. The thieves were ingenious enough
to plunder the vault and to conceal their crime
for many months, but they could not devise
any inca IS of bargaining for a ransom without
placing themselves in the hands of the author
tiles. There WAS no money to be made by
robbing IL Scotch noblemans grave and playing
fast and loose with his widows anguish.
Soutar could find no ma rket fOT his game after
poaching in the grave of his former patron
and employer His failure embittered him and
his disappointment finally found vent. The
secret he had kept locked in his own heart
took the guse of a silly lie, and he stood self
convicted of n crime as Improbable in any
sordld sense as it it had been revolving to his