Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-07-18

How CircumstsntiaI Proof May Convict
the Innocent.
From The Neag York Tribune.

4 pert testimony" said Il well-known law
+ yer IN answer TO an inquiry made by
/ I3bHHe reporter the other day, "uuless il
! is supported by testimony OK another sort
almost strong enough TO convince with
out the aid of experts, and l only value
circumstanualev evidence as means of en-
closing the accused person in legal net
and forcing a confession or bringing tor
/ ward positive facts which otherwise might
have remained hidden. Thirty years of
/ practice IN the courts have given me such
strong convictions on this subject that
We're now I'd serve on a jury the testi-
/ inOny of experts would have no effect upon
my mind, aCd | do not think | would vote
! for conviction ON the strongest chain Of
/ merely circumstantial evidence; / GER
tainly would not if the Odense charged
! were a capital one. The list Of men who
/ have been put to death for crimes Of which
they were innocent is too large for me to
add another name to il.
Il suppose he continued, "that one
! never knows how much bis line Of thought
! through life is influenced by incidents oc-
curing in his youth. In both my study
and practice Of law | have seldom at
/ tempted TO weigh the value of testimony
/ that was not Of a positive nature without
thinking of an incident of my bOyhOod
days which produced strong effect upon
my mind. | WAS a student in n large
/ seminary in a small country village in
| New England. The government of the
! boys and girls there WAS Of the 'p0ternaP
1 cnaracter-in the strictest sense IN which
/ that word can be used. Every motion
was regulated by rule from rising TO re-
/ firing, and the discipline OF the school
WAS based upon the theory that no one
/ could by any reasonable possibility DO
1 right unless he were compelled 10 do
4 SO, and every chance Of doing wrong
were taken from him. DR.. Dorsay--he
/ didn't become doctor till aftcrWard, and
! he was known among ourselves as old
| D0rsay'-had risen to the presidency OF
! the seminary from no cause that one could
discover except his ability to govern. The
school was made up largely OF farmers
/ sons and daughters, who went there for
/ study and who didn't dream of doing any
wrong. In the two years | passed there
/ no pupil was ever guilty of any thing worse
/ than technical violation of some arbi-
/ trary rule-yisitlng Il neghboring stu
/ dent Mt wrong hours or taking a walk
/ hevond the prescribed limits in the coun-
! try. But Whatever was done, however,
1 quietly or at whatever hour Ola DOrsay'
i knew it, and would give full particulars
/ Of it to the offenders when they were in
/ yited to remain after prayers the follow
/ ing morning.
''There were four Of us, near OF an age,
who were intimately associated it our
/ studies and recreatiOus. We were dis.
/ GUESSING one evening the strange kpOwl-
/ edge which old DOrsay' had OF all our
movements, and We're specializing on his
4 apparent ability to be in several places at
/ the same time, when George exclaimed:
I ''ll tell YOU how ii is. Every fourth stu
/ dent is a spy This seemed reasonable
/ explanation, ard we Immediately began
] 4
/ designate each of them among ourselves
as "A fourth OTe.' Thinking the meaning
| of this term known only TO ourselves we
used il in public, and especially directed
! ii against one boy who we were very sure
! was the most active Of The infOrlners. In
| our private conferences George WAS very
bitter in speaking Of this particular tel
low. Strangely enough, we aid not think
OF the possibility that all our savings were
known to our President.
''One evening we were returning to our
rooms from q walk when Mr. DOrsay met
me at the door and invited me TO his room.
/ Charles he said. looking me steTnly in
| the face, j am sorry to see you in such
! low company y on are Mistaken | re-
| piled, my friends are gentlemen. There
| is nothing low about them Il refer to
/ George ne said. he is unit for you to
associate with, and will Toe expelled in a
4 few days. In the meantime ! forbid you
4 to Associate with him. Read this He
banded me a letter, addressed To the sus-
/ pected spy, accusing him Of being
one, and cOuched in the hlthiest
! language l ever read. But what
| STAGGERED me was the fact that
it certainly appeared to have been writ
ten by George, whose penmmship was
very peculiar. read it and studied each
turn of every letter, and handed il back.
/ You think that George wrote this ! said,
but he did not How dare you say s0Y
retOrted MI. DOrsay. j have heard you
/ talk about - and your threats. and mere
is a letter written by George without even
an attempt 10 disguise his hand. | think
| shall eXpel all four Of you. but George
will certainly 20. The evidence Ia con-
elusive. You will accompany him il you
speak 10 him again.
"'The letter was never written by
George | maintained stOutly. 4 have
been intimate with him a long time aud
never heard him use a vulgar word. Then
he would not have done such thing
without consulting me. II you have
! overheard our conversations, AS you say.
YOU must know that Well, George had
a sort OF star chamber trial. TIE writing
/ master compared the ObcOX iOus letter
with private letters, compositions and his
diary taken from his desk, and pro-
nounced bin guilty. Mr.. DorsaY had
{ HthiA FHvuE ~ VI lilH iliANNlt ubu5t VI
/ 10 understand bis feeling clearly enough,
aud so in a day or two il was publicly
announced from the chapel pulpit
that the offender had been expelled
ia disgrace, and the event was
made the occasion for very solemn
/ lay sermon to the pupils. The system
Of espionage still Went on, and this time
/ II resulted iu real good. The actual au-
/ thor Of the letter was discovered. and the
/ first draft Of 10 was found i'm his desk.
/ His expulsion was accompanied with
much less pomp and circumstance than
/ the former; be was quietly told 20 leave
/ town 10y the earliest traiH on the following
/ day. But few days later letter was
received from lawyer in a neighbOrng
/ city. afterwards "a United States Senator,
which caused Mr. Dorsay 10 proclaim the
/ innocence OF George rs publicly as no
/ had announced mis- guilt.
'fhis was my FIRST acquaintance" con-
/ tinued The Old lawyer, with expert testi-
mony and circumstautial evidence, and
! the lesson taught me was "a useful one. !
+ don't now see how "a jury, with the facts
/ before H., which Alr. DOrsaY had in bis
/ possession, could have failed 10 convict,
! but George was innocent just the same"
A Dog Faced wild Man Captured.
4 NORKlsrOwN, PA, July lt.-An exact
. ff IL.