Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-09-05
CLUvERIUS'S CASE.
OPINION or JUDGE LACY PILED AT
THE SUPREME COURT HERE.
Some o. the Views Presented BY Him
The Question Of the Girls
Betrayal, &C.,, 90.

Madison, Judges Lewis, Fauntleroy'
| Richardson, and Lacy agreed In Affirm
ing the judgment Of the lower court,
and Judge Hinton dissented. Judge
Faunileroy on this occasion read On
opinion, which was concurred in ss
whole only by Judge Lewis. judges
Lacy and Richardson, while agreeing
with them as to results, each said he
would write out his own views. Judge
Lacy has done so, and has filed his
opinion with the clerk Of the Supreme
Court here. 1t makes forty-six pages
of closely-written matter, aud is calm
and able survey Of the law points raised.
In considering the question whether the
Judge Of the Hastings Court Of Rich
mond erred in not setting aside the YER
dict, as moved by the prisoners coun-
sell. he gives in very terse and COM
prehensive form the chief points OF the
evidence. Nothing material is omitted,
and the whole is compacted into re-
mar kably small space, when the multi
tudinous details of the trial are consid-
cred.
THE BETRAYED GIRL.
On this branch Of the subject Judge
Lacy says:
The deceased was soon to be a mother;
was shortly to give birth to child Of
shame Was he the guilty partner in
the unfortunate situation? | am not
prepared to say that he was the only
person who could have been the cause
of this condition of the woman that be
was the only person who had the OPP
portunity to seduce bis cousin-for the
evidence shows that she had male ac-
auaintances, and she had wrenched
herself loose from parental control, and
had left the parental roof, and had in
yolyed her friends in difficulty by her
imprudence toward other men but he
seems to have been the only one of them
all who knew of and awaited her
coming, while she was belated by
delayed train. She was to have been
there on the 18th Of March; he was
there on the 18th Of March. She was
in Richmond on the 9th Of January pre-
ceding, and he was there on the pre-
ceding 9th Of January, and, fixing his
finger on the hotel register at her as
sumed name, asked to see her, and they
two left the hotel together under cir
cumstsnces suggestive OF undue inti-
macy. When she left the hotel toward
niehtfsll and remained out all night,
where were they then together! lilo
alone knows, for she is now
dead. They were cousins and
be had been accustomed to visit
her wherever she went, and the
evidence draws familiar picture
of them as young lovers walking
about together always and looking at
the flowers" His letter to her ad-
yises her to marry another, and that
other, however worthy a man, an illite-
rate person who could not write his
name perhaps, as he employed the
services Of another to write bis letters
to her. 1t cannot be denied that he
had the opportunity to seduce her, and
his constant communication with and
designations with her certainly point a
strong suspicion toward him. In this
state Of affairs the evidence shows him
to have been engaged to marry another.
The ring in his pOcket-book marked
st. TO N, Amo Te," does not bear the
impress of pledge of loTe between
him and his former love. Who, then,
had a motiye-such a strong motive to
desire her death? Who beside him
had any communication with her on
her last wretched day on earth? The
evidence shows him 10 her company
and IN charge Of her on that day. 10
whose care does he claim to have con-
signed her? Is there any hypothesis,
any reasonable hypothesis, consistent
with his innocence? No person saw
the fatal blow struck which rendered
her insensible and helpless. 1t is a
train Of circumstances only, but train
Of circumstances which seem to bind
him with fatal effect to the commission
of the crime-the guilty act.
THE VERDICT JUST.
Judge Lacy says: 1t cannot be said
that the verdict of the jury in this
case, although founded on circums,an-
tial evidence alone, was without evil
dence, nor plainly against heeyldence
The circumstances proved pointed with
fatal precision to the plaintiff 10 error,
and there is not a circumstance which
points to any other person or agent.
The theory of suicide finds no substan-
tial support from the proved facts. All
the surroundings of the deceased on
that dreary and dismal night, remote
from human habitation, in that gloomy
locality, lead away from suicide, with
out the proved facts indicating violence
to her person, which completely de-
sroys the idea of suicide.
The Jurors were the trieri Of the
fact; they have rendered their verdict
Of guilty, and the Court below did not
err in refusing to set it aside and grant
a new trial.
EVIDENCE TO BE CONSIDERED on
APPEAL,
A very large portion Of Judge Lacy's
opinion is devoted to discussion Of
what evidence should be considered on
appeal. Many authorities are quoted,
and the Judge argues to show that only
the evidence of the defence which is in
conflict with that of the Commonwealth
should be rejected the rest should be
considered. That is the theory upon
which he proceeds, and lawyers Of
ability say that his opinion is a very
able presentation of the law and the ad-
thorities on this particular point.
REHEARING.
As mentioned many times before,
counsel for prisoner have moved for a
rebearing, and their petition therefor
will be filed in print when the court
meets at Stanton September 10th.
Counsel have not made known the
special grounds upon which they rely
in asking that q rehearing be granted.
THE PRISONER.
CIuverius. who is confined in Rich