Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1885-01-18
kSTAKEN IDENTITY.
J Who Have Their Doubles in
All Walks Of Life.
Mo Have Suffered for the Sins Of
y Others---A Few Remarkable
Instances.
Londoa Standard.

trea Individuals, not only ofthe same fam-
bat in no way related. Certain types Of
IRE indeed so eommOn that = very usual
v9,hod Of describing people is to compare
haHt with those known to the person to
Hba,h we are speaking. Many of US, more
yret have at times been conscious Of q sim
arlf 70. people unknown to Us when We
are been saluted, generally With obtruSye
Io~finlity, by entire strangers, who forthwith
setooize somewhat sheepishly and go of
n6itering something about q remarkable
1k4ness." 1t is not pleasant to feel that
sou have . double" going about in the
n0fid, especially, as for ought you know, he
nsy not be conducting himself with the
pfvpriety that marks your oHu actions, and
IS obvious that in cases Of crime 9 man
ia be in considerable danger owing to his
!Neness to 8 w~rong-doer. An instance Of
Is occurred only . feE days ago. An ex-
deer in the army was charged on q war
Shs with being drunk and disorderly,
thd failed to surrender. On the
Norning whsn he should have given
hinself ID, several police candidates at
isnaed Al the Court for the purpose Of in
sfroetion. and one Of them Vas Immediately
u;cked out BY a constable as the offender.
No les than three witnesses identified him,
np3 there is little doubt that had he not
befn able 10 prove an abb he would have
bsab fined instead Of the real offender, who
VA afterward captured. As q matter Of
ftck the number Of such cases which have
cetnrred is surprising, some ofthem frsught
VA the grayest consequences to the IN
kSppy victims, who have suffered imprison-
ntnt and even death because they hap
p.aed to resemble the real authors Of the
crimes with which they are accused. The
Me- we have Just quoted is . typical one
md asit has drawn attention to the subject,
s,nue notes on a few Of the most remarkable
stances Of mistaken identity may be OF
iAteCesL-
Substituted LlkenoSses.
Those who have not studied the matter
~ill, says an old author treating OF thus
adestion, be altogether unprepsred tor the
itass of tact which professional writers have
ilceumulated on the ikenesses subsishng
kotween different individuals. Such like
nesses were the subject Of comment in an
Sisnt DAYS. for one OF the chapters OF Phnys
NAtaral History" deals with Gases Of Re
senblance," and he gives a list Of persons
nAo could hardly be distinguished from
ZACH other, the impostOr Artemsn, for ex.
a.nDle, and AntiOehuS king Of Syria, and
fhe piebian Tibius and Pompey while the
ts,ter was said by Plutarch to be more ike
~Alexander the Great than his ststues-a sly
probably, ct the seulptors Of the period.
I h more modern days remarkable reseR-
E1nces become increasingly interesting, and
t~cOnseauenees Of them very serious. In
last century q well known man Of fash,
Mr.. Frank Douglass, was committed
robbery on the highway, on the positive
ah Of the man plundered, and would GER
k,hly have been hanged had not the notorl'
thief Page, been arrested aud brought
oEewgate, when the victim saw him, and
IL wonderful resemblance explained the
intake, which was very naturally the talk
fihe town. Other people, however, were
50 fortunate as Mr.. Douglas, and there
Re many instances Of persons being exc
N12ted for crimes they never committed, on
positive oaths Of the persons robbed OF
! murdered.
Punished for Others oHenses.
LIN iTf9a brewers clerk, named Coleman
as executed on Remington Common tol
fte murder Of Sarah Green, being sworn 70
bsfore her death as one of her ASSISTANTS
NO years afterwards ke%s5e-, .be rea.
kximinal were found, and two Of them sui
N.red death. Not long after that an limo
cent man was hanged at the Surrey AsSze:
{or a robbery, on the oath Of the individual
sttaeked and in 1871, two unfortunate per,
sous. Martin Chneh, q bookseller, and james
Maekhy, . printer, were executed TOR thu
murder ola Mr.. Fryer, being identified D!
Miss Ann Fryer, b edeceased gentleman
cousin. who was with him st the time wher
he wsS robbed and murdered Some year
u aherWard the real mAletsetorS both con
leased to the crime, and, it is satisfactory tC
he abe to add, were both hanged; but on
would think that Miss Fryer, IT she Wer'
alive must have felt some remosSe for he,
positive Identification Of two innocent mel
IS her cousins murderers. Another simila
miscarriage Of Justice occurred with regsrC
10 the two PerresuS who were executed to
yards the end Of the last century for . for
0sry upon a Mr.. Adair. But one OF tn
most curious and interesting cases OF tn
kind on record happened in France shortl
ahrwnd-that Is to say in 1876. Thi
pyas the famous case Of Lesurques, which
forms, as all ~playgoers know, the ground
york of the popular drama Of The Lyon
Aail. On the 9th of May in the yea
bbove named, the Lyons mail was stoppe
and robbed BY four h~ighESymsn, and tn
Dostilion and the courier murdered. re
his crime q young man Of good family an
Ntome wealth named Lesurques was arreste
md identified By the servants At the inn
nhich the highEAymen had refreshed then
n eelyes and By certain people in q cafe, q
tAe leader ofthe band, nine persons in q
nearing to him. He proved an sioL az
voman who was constantly REith DubosD
IL real criminal, sWore that he, and nc
surQues committed the crime, but sl va
vain, and the latter was condemned an
ecuted. protesting to the last his entI
~hocenee. Five years atterward Dubos
~1s arrested for another crime, and beIn
a confronted with the nine witnesses vi
sworn away the life Of LesnrqueS the
lsred that they had been deceived bytt
tttAt resemblance between the two me-
that they had no doubt that DuboS
the real criminal. What makes Il
ID stin more extraordinary, and rendel
easy to see that Lesurques, despite b
&bi. had little chance Of escaping, is th'
u be and Dubose had scars in simii
&.nitiOns on their forehsads and hands, al
3 being made the turning points Of Il
seemed conclusive evidence again
innocent man.
A EamOu Case.
al number Of other cases might
IN which The victims Of fatal reseE
though not suffering the last pc
he law, have been put 10 nut
and misery. and often imprisone
be fortunate accident revealed d
hinalA Thus for example, mut
hess wa caused TO . certain Mart
BE hero &C one Of the most famo'