Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-06-21
THE SENSATION On THE DAY.
CluveriuS Has a Witness TO Prove
an Alibi.
COURT GIVES HIN 4 WEEK TO Do IT.
Meanwhile His Witness Comes to
Complete Grief.
ODD PHASE OF THE CASE.
PrOef that The Alibi.Man Was at Clifton
Forge March 18th. -.
ODD PHASE OF THE CASE.


and Mr.. Evans, of counsel for defence,
and Mr.. Meredith, representing the
Commonwealth, were on yesterday en-
gagged in work on the bills Of excep-
tions in the Cluverius case. In the al
ternoon the condemned man was sent
for, and after his arrival Judge Atkins
opened court. Mr.. Brown Evans, adj
dressing the Court, said that since SEN
tence had been passed upon the ac-
cused important information had come
into their possession, and he now asked
for a new trial on the grounds of after
discovered evidence. He then pro-
ceeded to read the following afida-
Wits /:
State Of J'irginia-C City Of Richmond,
TO Wn:
This day Thomas J. Cluverius per-
sonally appeared before the under
signed, a notary public in and for the
city of Richmond, in the State of Vir-
ginia, and made oath that since the
sentence of the Hastings Court Of the
city of Richmond was rendered in the
prosecution Of the Commonwealth
against the afiiant, in which the afiant
was sentenced to be executed on the
Goth Of November, 1885, that the
aiiiant has discovered new evidence
which he deems Of vital Importance in
showing his innocence Of the crime with
which he was charged in the in
dictment in said prosecution, which
new evidence consists Of the state
ment of -- Savage, a witness
of lawful age and competent to testify.
and who was unknown TO the ailiant
until this day, and whose statement
was likewise unknown to the afliant I;
that the said Savage was in the city Of
Richmond on the 18th Of March last.
and left the said city on the 10th of
March for Clifton Forge, a village in
the State Of Virginia at the junction of
the Allegheny railroad with the Chesa-
peake and Ohio railroad, and who has
not been in the city of Richmond since
the 10th Of March last until he arrived
in the city Of Richmond on the after
noon Of yesterday, on the 10Th Of June,
1883, and this new evidence was not
attainable during the progress of the
trial, nor until the sentence aforesaid
against the ailiant, and that reason
able diligence on the part Of the aiiiant
could not have secured it at the former
trial; that the evidence of this witness
corresponds with and corrobOrates the
statements made by him all the time
since his arrest to the officers who ar
rested him and to his counsel, as to his
movements in the city Of Richmond on
the 18th of March last, which negatives
the idea Of his guilt, and that he be-
lieves that it would be decisive and
productive on another trial of an OPP
pOsite result on the merit.
THOMAS j. CLUVERIUs.
Subscribed and sworn to by said
Thomas }. Cluverius before me this
Goth day Of June, 1855.
WALTER CHRISTIAN.
JOHNsON'S PROPOSED AFFIDAVIT.
Mr.. Evans then read the draft Of an
affidavit Of Mr.. johnson, the night
clerk at Ford's Hotel, in which John
son said that late on the evening of the
10Th Of June, lSSj-to wit, about the
hour Of -. the afiiant met with
Savage, who had just arrived in the
city of Richmond from Clifton Forge,
and who is well known to afliant and
after the exchange Of the usual saluta-
tions the conversation turned upon the
sentence of the Hastings Court of the
city of Richmond pronounced against
Thomas j. Cluverius during the morn
ing, and the general subject of his trial,
in which conversation the said Saw
age stated that few minutes after 8
o'clock p. NJ. on the 18th Of March,
1885, he was standing in the Office,
near the register, at Ford 5 Hotel, when
a young man approached said Office
and looked over the arrivals on said
register, and after doing 50 inquired Of
the clerk in the office at the time as to
the time of departure Of the York
River train for West Point in the morn
ing; that the said young man was Of
stature lower than said Savage. and
that he had on an oyercoat that was
of color or shade a little darker
than the Confederate gray uniform,
either dove or steel-colored that the
said young man then left the
hotel, and that shortly thereafter
the said Savage left the hotel
and went to the Dime Museum, on
Eighth street. On entering the Museum
he saw and recognized the same person
whom he had just seen at the hotel, as
above stated, seated in the audience on
the left-hand side of the middle aisle :;
that said Savage arrived at the Dime
Museum and saw and recognized the
young man at about twenty minutes
past o'clock, and that he saw him
off and on in his seat during the per-
formance (the play being the - Chimes
Of Normandy y which closed about
l0l O'Clock or thereabouts. The said
Savage states that during the pro-
gress Of the trial he saw photographs
Of the deceased, F. L. Madison, and
the accused, Thomas j. Cluverius, both
in the Richmond Dispatch and in card
form, and that upon seeing the photo
graph Of said Thomas j. Cluverius ne
at once recognized it as that Of the same
person whom he had seen at Ford's
Hotel and at the Dime Museum on the
night of the 18th of March, 1885.
Savage stated that he had been at Cliff
ton Forge since March 10th, engaged as
a night-clerk in hotel there, and that
he came to Richmond yesterday on
business Of private character. The
afiiant communicated the character Of
the conversation to the counsel for
Thomas j. Cluverius shortly after the
same was had.
Mr.. Evans said that the affidavit Of
Johnson was not signed, but that it
would be as soon as he could be found.
The Court decided that there was
nothing for him to 90 upon, as the
matter was simply hearsay testimony.
When it was signed, then it might be
proper for him to consider the motion.
TO BE HEARD FRIDAY.
II was subsequently, agreed that the