Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-05-10
a REMARKABLY CASE,

n A BILE CANE,
Which Goes to Shov that ie Is not Af,vaus
Best to Convict a Nan Purely Upon Cir
cuntStantiat Evidence.
A rather remarkable criminal case,
showing the danger of conviction on Cir
cumstantial evidence, has recently devel-
oped in Mt. Vernon, Posey county, Ind.
On January %, 1881, the town was very
much excited by the robbery of DR.. Spen-
Ger, we'll known physician, and an at
tempt to murder him. The particulars
of the robbery, which are still fresh in
the minds of every one in that portion Of
the state, are as follows:
DR.. Spencer had collected $1,000 on
that day from one of his tenants, and the
supppsition was that he had the money
On his person. About s o'clock that
night, as he was going from his office to
his home, which is only short distance
off, he was followed, and, when within a
few feet of his door, set upon, knocked
in the head and robbed. He had, how
ever, deposited the money in bank, and
the robbers obtained only small sum
and a case of instruments. The town
was terribly excited over the affair,
and soon every one was on the
alert to catch the slightest clue as to who
the parties were. Quitea number of per-
sons were arrested on suspicion, and
among the number were three men
named Francis Moore, Ben Kemper and
John Reed. A man named VIM. Nor
gan, who had acquired pretty hard
character, having been one of the IA
NOUS "cow- boys" In the west,
was known to be in the town the
night of the robbery, but left the
next day. Suspicion rested upon
him and he was tracked out of the city
and finally arrested on "Devil's island"
in the Mississippi, and brought back He
remained in Mt. Vernon about a week,
and was finally put upon the stand to
give his testimony, and to the surprise Of
all he gave clear account of the robbery.
Moore was then on trial, and was convict
ed on his evidence, coupled with that of
other very responsible parties. He
stated that he was in town the
night the robbery was committed,
and was on his way to church. He passed
the doctors house, and became unwll-
lingly witness to the whole affair. He
stated that four men committed the rob-
UGLY dlICI uiN luS hIlOShSO I1O OOOtOI Ill
the head with Ratchet Three of the
men he identified as Moore, Reed and
Kemper, the three men who were arrest
ed on suspicion; the other one he could
not identify. The other evidence
against Moore was very strong,
but entirely circumstantial. Re-
liable persons testified that he knew the
doctor had collected the money. He wa
seen to follow him around all day, and
when he left the office to 60 home that
night man had seen Moore dog his foot
steps, with a Ratchet in his hand and
both of them disappeared. Upon this
combined evidence Moore was convicted
at the November term Of court and sem
fenced to fourteen years in the peniten-
tiary at Jacksonville. He was sent
up q short time afterward and is
there now. The two men, Reed
and Kemper, were tried separately and
on the evidence of Morgan, who testified
that one of the men was Reed, he was on
last Friday sentenced to eight years in
the penitentiary. The trial Of Kemper,
the remaining man, commenced last Sat
urday, and it was then that the whole
story was found out to be a fallacy. Nor
gan had never been subjected to severe
cross examination, but on his trial Maj
Menzies, who assisted for the de-
Tense, determined to test his
story He was taken into private
room and there cross examined by Mai
Menzies land Judge Edison until he was
tangled up and forced to make an open
confession He stated that he and man
named VIM. Phenix had followed the
doctor from his office, thinking that he
had the money on his person, knocked
him in the head with Ratchet, and then
robbed him. In the construction of his
testimony against Moore and the others
Morgan had shown remarkable cunning.
He was in town for about a week before
the trial, and had found out what all the
witnesses summoned knew about the
matter, and then constructed his story to
correspond with theirs. For instance,
one man heard, or thought he heard,
signal whistles, and another heard four
men run by his house. In his testimony
Morgan described the signal whistles and
the four men running, thus cunningly
weaving chain of circumstantlal evil
dence strong enough to convict any man.
After his confession, however, an en-
tlrely new face was put on the matter.
The men who had sworn they saw Moore
followed by DIR. Spencer home, then
testified that it was case of mistaken
identity, and the whole chain was COM
pletely broken. Motions have been made
to give both the men convicted new trials
and it is probable that all save the guilty
parties will be released. The unexpected
ending of the trial has created much COM
ment and a great deal of excitement,
while no little satisfaction is felt at the
turn affairs have taken.