The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-03-24
INNooKNT PuNIsHEp.
Pardon OF a Convict After Twenty-seven
Years ImprisOnmenh


Years ImprisOnmenh
I One OF the most remarkable cases ever
reeOrded-that Of the pardon Of a man on
the ground of his innocence after an i'm
prisOnment for more than quarter of
centnry-is now reported from Michi-
gan:
In November, 1853, an elderly bachelor
| from Vermont named EstabrOOk arrived
at Burr Oak, Michigan, on his way to st.
JOsephs county, where he was to be
married to Miss Wood. Before leaving
the east he had sold his property, and he
took the money with him. The next
day the stranger drove to LeOnidas, q
town within few miles from the resi-
dence Of his intended bride. There he
took dinner and was to go lin the
afternoon, but for some reason dismissed
the vehicle. The next morning the
taVern-keeper paid a teRmster to carry
EstabrOOk's trunk to Miss Woods with
a message that the VermOnter would
follow in q few days. -tD
EstabrOOk, however, did not appear,
and nothing was heard about him until
long time after, when a man named
Giles Harding, who was In Jail for steal.
ing, made pretended confession to the
effect that EstabrOOk had been murder
ed, and that he was privy to the crime.
He said that he saw the stranger at the
tavern at LeOnidas, but did not speak to
him. Afterward, when E5tabrOOk was
on the road two miles from LeOnldas,
wagon In which were two men named
Ulum and White approached the YER
mOnter, and they offered to give him a
lift to Miss Woods house, which they
said they would pass. He accordingly
got in the vehicle, and two or three
miles further on the wagon was turned
of from the proper road and driven into
the woods, where the stranger was
murdered. Harding, who had followed,
then jumped into the wagon with Ulum
and White.
That was the story told by Giles Hard
Ing, and In consequence OF IT, Harding,
Ulum and White were indicted for the
murder of EstabrOOk. Harding, of course,
was the principal witness for the State,
and the tavern keeper testified that Es-
tabrOOk left his house about dark on
foot, with a stranger who was to show
him the way. Harding was proved to
be notorious liar, and 1t was shown
that he had grudge against Ulum and
White. Neither the body nor clothing
of EstabTOOk could be found, and none
of the testimony except HaTding's really
implicated the accused.
Yet Harding, White and Ulum were
convicted, and all three sentenced for |
his innocence of the crime |
on his death-bed, and Harding made an |
affidavit before the agent of the prison |
that neither White OF Ulum had any
thing to do with the murder; that his |
pretended confession was an entire |
falsehood, and that the real murderer |
was the tavern keeper. On his death
bed Harding again declared the innO- |
cence of Ulum and White. He died |
several years ago, but nothing was done |
in behalf of the only survivor of the |
three, Ulum, until the sixth Of this |
month, when he was pardOned by Cover |
nor BegOle, Of Michigan.
Samuel Ulum now leaves prison after |
a confinement Of twenty-seven years, a |
broken down man. The inference from |
the Governors pardon is that he never |
ought to have been punished al all, but |
is an innocent victim of perjury and |
malice and the carelessness of the jury |
which found him guilty on evidence
which, so far as 1t Is now recalled, was |
not entitled to eredenee, or at least ought |
not to have done more than raise a sus- |
piciOn in the minds Of an intelligent |
and fair minded jury.-N. Y. Sun.