St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-09-23
BENWELL'S SLAYER.
BirchaI1 Is Placed on Trial at
Woodstock,

Woodstock.
WOODSTOCK, Ont, Sept. 22.-PrisOner
Birchall was brought to the court room
a little after half past ten in a cab, ac-
companied by Deputy Sheriff Perry,
Guard Endwhistle and Chief Young, of
Niagara Falls. He was faultlessly
dressed in dark clothes, and carried in
his hand neat derby hat. His pointed
shoes were brilliantly polished, and he
had shaved evidently with the greatest
care. He showed no emotion, except of
a man who.felt himself to be in new
surroundings and under the scrutiny of
a crowd. His face was pale and the pu-
pills of his dark eyes dilated, but 9th
erwise there was no sign of a
tremor. The prisoner when arraigned
pleaded mot guilty. in firm voice.
and on being asked if he was. ready for
trial, Blacdstock, queens counsel, arose
and announced himself as the prison
ready to proceed. The first business
was choosing jury, which proceeded
more rapidly than had been expected,
and the challenges were not many on
either side, and most of those of the
defense were for "favor;" in other
words, because the juror had formed an
opinion against the prisoner. The re-
suit of the choice was that the last juror
was chosen at 11:50 a. M, after about
three-quarters of an hour of pro-
ceedings. The jury having been
sworn, Mr.. Osler, Q. c., counsel
for the crown, rose to make the opening
address presenting the case which the
crown witnesses would unfold. There
was nothing new III his statement of
facts, but the chain of evidence on his
very strong case. He dwelt upon the
prisoners career of deceit in Wood
stock in 1883, when he was known
as Lord Somerset. His statement
was only one side of the case, how
ever, and the defense will have an op-
portunity to challenge every fact. The
story of the crime as detailed by the
prosecution in the opening is as follows:
Birchall left Buffalo with Benwell Oh
the morning of Feb. II, and, after
an absence of ten hours, returned
to Niagara Falls alone. He was seen at
Eastwood on Feb. Is by several persons,
although he denies being there. He
told the officers that he had received a
letter from Benwell dated London, Feb.
19, inclosing receipt for his baggage
duu dShllS Hill W tdhc lt Out VI UOllu.
Benwell was murdered on Feb. II, be-
tween the hours of IL and o'clock, so
he could not have written such letter,
and Birchall has been unable to produce
it. He told the officers that Benwell
was dressed in suit of blue on Feb. II,
but Pelly swore that he wore the
clothes found on the body in the
swamp. The officers found in Birch
all's trunk a pair of nickel
scissors with nick in the edge, and the
marks in the dead mans clothing indi-
Gated that the names were cut out with
the same scissors. The keys of the mur-
dered man were found On Birchail, and
these keys were In Benwell's possession
when he left Buffalo on Feb. II. He
wrote letter to the dead mans father
on Feb. 20, in which he Said he spoke to
Benwell on that day; that the young
man was we'll pleased with the farm,
and that he had decided to enter into
the scheme; e. the same time asking the
fat...sGGr TO cable e500 at once. Yet in the
face of this Birchall told tbs officers
that he last saw Benwell on Feb. II.