Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-06-12

only forty minutes. The evidence was
purely circumstantlal. but there can
hardly be doubt as to the guilt of the
accused. 1t is question yet whether
Cluverlus will be hanged, but the indica-
tions are that he richly deserves to be-
Neao York World.
The prompt verdict of the jury at Rich
mond against young Cluverius may have
been predetermined, yet it will puzzle the
sharpest Virginia lawyer to overthrow it.
The evidence was purely clrcumstantial,
and it was Cluverius's fate that each ma
terial feature OF the case developed by the
evidence excluded all theories of Lillian
Madison g murder that had been formed
In his behalf. The links in the chain of
demonstration were few and apparently
feeble. He had been the girls lover; he
had met her IN Richmond on the day be-
fore her death; his watch-key was found
on the fatal spot. That was the case
against Cluverius. Whatever the final
outcome, the trial has been most re-
markable event in American criminal ju-
prudence.-Philadelphta Record.
We congratulate the State of Virginia
on the verdict of the jury in the Cluverius
case. We have heard it said that of late
years Virginia had stopped hanging men,
no matter what the guilt of some of her
criminals might be, but such slurs can no
longer be uttered. The Old Dominion
has. IN this last great case, if not before,
vindicated the majesty of her law, and
announced in unmistakable terms that
capital crime shall be followed speedily by
its appropriate penaltY.-Roieqh IN. C.)
| Observer.
Taking all the circumstances of the case
as presented by the evidence, and the re-
lations OF the two unfortunate young peo-
pie, there are but few who doubt the
guilt OF the prisoner and that the verdict
was just one. That is the public senti-
ment in Richmond, at least, where the
case is best understood, and where there
are some facts in connection with it of
such character that they have not found
their way into the public records of the
trial. Charlotte IN. c. Observer.
In nearly all cases of circumstantial ev-
idence there is some room for doubt, but
here the demonstration that the victim
did not kill herself seems to have led al
most directly to the cumulative evidence
upon which Cluverius has been found
guilty of her murder, and in this convic.
t1on there IS good ground for believing
chat justice has been done.-N. Y. 1rl-
bune.
The verdict in the Cluverius trial was a
| most righteous one. A sly, hypocritical,
canting fellow-playing pious, and all the
time debauched and bloody-minded vii
lain. His conscience, if he has one; will
add to the terrors of his taking off" aud
will lash him with scorpion stings.- W.
naiaagton IN. O. Star.
The argument in the Cluverius case will
be finished to-day. The case is left IN as
much doubt and mystery as when it was
first published. 1t seems TO as that it
would be impossible for jury to convict
upon such evidence, but their verdict is
as uncertain as the wild wind.-Pe0ris.
burg Vargimian.
But whatever the popular belief may
have been, the evidence, as reported by
telegraph, did not connect the accused
with the deed with sufficient directness to
warrant a conviction of murder in the
first degree. Of course there were many
points which might have Influenced the
jury that did not appear in the record but
Judging the facts from this distance, the
verdict appears to have been rendered in
Difference to public feeling rather than
from careful and impartial weighing OF
the evidence Washington Star.
1t is highly probable that Cluverius
murdered Miss Madison; but, for all that
many who have read the testimony in the
case are by no means satisfied that the
evidence does not lack several links to
| udho tHo pT0Ol VI LIS gum SO thorough
and complete as to remove from it all
shadow of doubt, and to relieve the jury
of the terrible consequences Of having
convicted the wrong man alexandria
| Gazette.
The verdict of guilty rendered in the
Cluverius case is a surprise, and yet is
what should have been expected. That
justice should defeat the wiles of mere
criminal lawyers, whose only purpose is
to defeat the law. is gratifying, while the
verdict shows that the true men of Vir-
ginia cannot be easily swerved from the
path of duty.-Atlanta Constitution.
We have followed the testimony in the
celebrated Cluverius trial very closely
and we are of the deliberate opinion that
the verdict of the jury is righteous one.
1t is sad, Indeed. to know that there lives
a man who is guilty of such an atrocious
crime. How forceful is the truth of Holy
Writ brought to our minds by this sad
and horrible murder: 1.-The heart of man
is deceitful above all things and desper-
ately wicked. fredericksburg Star.