Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1883-09-22
MlisrelIaneuus.
Remarkable Case OF CIrcumstantial Evi.
dence.

Cases exhibiting the precarious nature
OF circumstaniial evidence. independently
of the deep interest which generally at
taehes TO them as mere narratives. are
calculated 10 work 50 beneficial an effect
on the public mind. that they can not. it
seems 10 u. be too frequently or too prom
[ inently brought forward in pages adapted
for popular reading. By no other means
can mankind be so strongly impressed
with a -alutary conviction OF the necessity
( Of making the strictest and most minute
! investigations. ere the life OF fellow
creature be arbitrarily shortened. or guilt
of whatever kind be decisively laid to any
ones charge. The following cases of cir
cumstantial evidence are collected from
various sources. The first we find in the
able notes to Scotch edition of Bentham's
Works, and the authority adduced is one
Of the collections of French criminal
causes that have been published at various
times The case is given in the original
French. of which the following is Il liberal
! translation -
( Previously to the rebuilding of that
/ long range OF houses which line the Place
| ST. Michel. at Paris. IN front of the Rue
st Hyacinth, an aged widow lived near
! that spot being the occupant OF small
shop. to which was attached back parlor
where she slept. She was believed by
the neiohbors 10 have amassed a consider
able amount of money. One young lad
constituted. for Il long time, her entire
household. He slept on the fourth floor
Of the same building, but the stairway
| leading To his apartment had no commun
cation with the dwelling of his mistress.
| The lad was obliged to 20 round by the
street. when he had to enter the shop, and
when he left it to go 10 bed. he shut the
outer door, and carried away the key. OF
which he was the sole depository. One
morning the shop door was noticed to be
earlier open than usual. while at the same
time no movement indicated that either
! the old shopkeeper or assistant had arisen.
! This quietness harmed some Of the neigh
bors. On entering they perceived no
marks of violence about the door. but
they found bloody knife lying in the
middle of the shop, and on her bed.
in the back apartment. lay the
shopmistress, dead-stabbed. to all APP
pearance, with the weapon mentioned.
The corpse held in one hand small
handful of hair. and in the other 4
cravat or neckcipth. Near the bed was
the money-box, which had been forced and
pillaged. The young shop-assistant was
Immediately seized, and he admitted that
the bloody knife belonged to him. The
cravat which the murdered woman held
in her hand was his. They com
pared his hair with that grasped in the
other hand the two were the same. in
color and in every other respect. Finally.
the key of the shop was in his possession;
he alone had the power, by the means of
that key, OF entering the shop without re-
sorting to force. On the strength of this
accumulation of evidence he was put to
the torture under its agonies, he admitted
the crime and was broken on the wheel.
Shortly afterwards, Il tavern boy was
taken up for some crime of a different ma
ture. In the declaration emitted by him
after conviction and condemnation, he con-
iessed that he was the sole actor in the
assassination of the old woman in the
Place ST Michel. The tavern where he
served adioined her shop, and he was on
familiar terms with her shop boy. To
the latter he acted as hair-dresser. so tar
as regarded the periodical arrangement
Of the lads hair en- queue; and always
when he used the comb. he carefully gath
cred those hairs which the instrument de-
tached. By little and little he had thus
collected the handful which was found in
the grasp of the murderer woman. The
knife, and one of the cravatS of the lad, he
had procured without difficulty, and the
terms of intimacy on which they were,
| enabled him with equal ease to take an
impression i'll WAX OF the shop-key, for
the fabrication of false one. BY these
means he ntered and committed the deed
leaving things in the state which has been
related.
Such is the story as told by the French
writer. Seldom has there been piece of
yillainy SO coolly planned and so ruthless
less executed, at the torseen and expected
cost of existence to two unfortunate be-
ing>.