Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-26

alton with wonderful fortitude and ap-
psrsntly with the utmost consciousness
of innocence.
CONDEMNED FOR THE CRIME.
Shortly afterwsrd she, entered semi
conventusI order connected with the
Church of England, remaining in seclus-
ion about five years, when she volunta-
rily came forward, confessed herself
guilty of her brothers. murder and Wss
committed to take her trial for the CT me.
When erraigued she pleaded guilty to the
Indictment, and on her plea alone, with
out any further inquiry and without even
the case being sent TO the jury, she Was
condemned.
From the report Of the trial make the
following extrsct:
At 8 O'CLOCK the learned Judge took his
seat on the bench snd the prisoner was
placed st the bar. she stood firmly but
meekly with her eyes cast down and her
hands clasped before her.
Silence having been proclaimed, the
deputy CLERK CT arrsigns said:
Constance Emile Kent, you are
charged with the wilful murder Of Francis
Laville Kent on the 2SEh OF June, 1860.
Are you guilty or not guilty?"
Pfisoner-(n low tone)-Guilty.
Judge-Are you aware that you are
charged with having Wilfully, intention
ally and with malice murdered your
brother?
The prisoner made some answer but
IN SO low tone that 1t could not be heard.
Judge-I must repeat the question.
You are charged with having wiliully, in
territorial and with malice killed and
murdered your brother. Are you guilty
or not guilty?
Prisoner Gin a low tone)-Guilty.
Juage-Tne plea mus DE recorded.
TIE INDEPENDENTLY kind and gener
GUS minded msn-Ihen assumed the
black cap and with great feeling, in which
the prisoner joined with hysterlcal sobs,
sentenced her as his duty and the lsW re-
quired. And thus, without any inquiry
into the character of the influence whoa
had been brought to bear upon her snd
the tendencies of her disposition
while in the religious institu-
ton, the sanity or insanity Ct
her mind, her antecedents, her
hereditary predisposition, or any other
point which might have served to throw
light upon the case to lessen her criml-
Dality, If really guilty, or to weaken the
force of her plea if innocent, Constance
Kent left the court convicted Of the high
est crime known to the laws Of man. II
innocent, her case is one more added TO
the long list of others, monomaniacs,
ecstatics, enthusiasts, hystericsl persons
and lisrs-Who have confessed to the
commission of offences which they did
not perpetrste. If guilty, she is, so far
as know, the solitary instance OF an
Individual coniessing to a crime
and being sentenced to death upon
no other evidence than that Of admission.
Men and women before this, in the face Of
overwhelming testimony against them, or
while in drunken debauch, or on their
deathbeds, or standing on the scsffold
with no hope Of escape, or unintention-
ally, like the robbers in the "Cranes OF
Ibycus," confessed their crimes; but If
any criminal of sane mind has ever get
voluntarily supplied all the evidence that
could consign him or her to an ignomini-
Gus grave, the case has escaped my obser
ystion. 1t can not be doubted that during
her sojourn in the semi house,
| in which she remained nearly five
years, Constance Kent was sub
! iected to the influences calculated to act
with morbid force upon mind already oi
abnormal character. She knew that her
father and others had been accused OF the
murder of her brother, and that even to
that day the suspicion WAS not altogether
removed. She had been taught that self
sacrifice was 8 glorious thing, and she
knew that she mad only to come forward
and accuse herself of the crime in order
to free her father and Et the same time
| implicate herself. That these were suffi
cient motives cannot be questioned, and
that they were potential with her is,
think, q reasonable supposition. At any
rate, 80 doubtful did the authorities fee
il regard to her guilt that her sentence
was committed to imprisonment for life
and three or four years ago she received
a full pardon.
suppose that In this country such q
case could not possibly occur without the
verdict of Jury in confirmation OF the
plea. But no instance could, Thick,
more effectually exhibit the wrong oil
acting solely upon confession than this
one of Constance Kent.
DREAMS AND LIES.
1t sometimes happens that persons, and
this is especially true Of young children
are unable to dissssociste their dreams
from realities. l have known children TO
be punished for telling lies when full
inquiry showed that they were relating
circumstances Of which they hst
dreamed.
A patients lady, informed me upon one
occss on that she had risen in the might
and gone to visit q gentleman Of her &C.
quaintance who lived in distant part Of
the city, and had stayed in his house IN
til morning. Thorough inquiry showed
beyond the possibility of doubt thai
there WAS not word Of truth in bel
story; that she had not left the house a.
all, and that the gentleman in question
was not at the time In the city.
A desire for notoriety will sometimes
be the predominant force in causing {
fslse confession. A few years ago wa:
requested by Col. Whiie'ey, the chief de
teciiVe officer Of the govern
ment, to visit in the Tombs prison
a man VINO had confessed himself to be {
member Of 9 gang OF counterfeiters. Thi:
individual had written letter to the Sec
Rotary OF the Treasury, in which he de.
tailed in the most consistent and minute
manner the organization OF the band snt
as members Of which he gave the names
of the most eminent and respectable citi
zens of the United States Of both politics
parties. His statements were believed