St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-24
The WRONG CRIME.
A Man GuiltleSS Of One Murder
Who Had Committed An
other.
Bones OF a Dead Man Whose
Name Could Never Be AS
certained.
How the Prisoner Received
His Sentence, and the
Fatal Day.
Circumstantial Evidence Al
ways Furnishes the Guilty
People.

w CJ = \ blILSllOO Vic NuA1tY
People.
am strong believer in circumStan-
tial evidence. Twenty years service
as detective has satisfied me that it
Furnishes a thousand guilty men where
it wrongs one. Now and then there is
newspaper talk about this or that per-
son having been sent to his death while
innocent of the crime, and young law
yers will shake their heads and declare
that clrcumstantial evidence is dan
gerous weapon. If the innocent suffer
now and then through this cause. they
also suffer through perjury of witnesses
and other ways. A man perfectly in
nocent of any wrong cannot possibly
be convicted in open court of crime.
The first, the last, and the only case 1
ever knew of personally occurred in
Virginia soon after the close of the war.
In some features it resembled the
Blrchall case. A Rhode Island soldier
had returned to Virginia after being
mustered out of the service, and had
invested some money in lands. He had
other money to invest, and made trips
to different parts of the state, having
his headquarters at StauntOn. Near
Charleston. w. Va, lived Young lady
with whom this Rhode islander. Stephen
Chase by name. fell in love. The girl
had two or three other admirers, and
there was more OF less hard feelings be-
tween the men. On one occasion, when
all met at the house, there were some hot
hOf Nhnc
named Talbot. There would have been
fight but for the girls interference.
Both men had something to say about
getting even with each other. and their
expressions had great weight few
weeks afterward when related by wit
neSSes in court. The unpleasantneSs
occurred of Sunday afternoon. On
the following Wednesday Chase started
out for Charleston on horseback to
again visit the girl. This was the last
ever seen of him alive. The horse came
back the next morning with blood on
the saddle, and the matter was reported
to the authorities and a Searcn insti-
tuted.
Chase Had Not Reached the Farm
that day. 1t was nearly week before
his body was found in q thicket ten
rods off the road. He had been shot
thronght the hart as he was riding
alsng, and his body bad been carried
into the woods and hidden.
came into the case the day the body
was found. | was the one who found
it. 1t had been robbed of all personal
property, and coat, vest and shoes
were missing. For two or three days |
believed the object of the murderer
was robbery. Then | learnt of
what had passed between Chase
and Talbot. and l had an
other clue to work on. Things came
about curionsly. l found two men who
had seen Talbot near the spot where the
murder was committed, and about the
hour. l found Others who had seen him
in possession of large roll of bills.
There were yet others who said
he had told contradictory stories.
The young lady was powerful witness
against Talbot. On the evening of the
murder he had come to the house in an
excited state of mind. He looked pale,
and there was fresh cut on his cheek,
which he said he had got by fall. He
was ill at ease, and when he rose to go
he said:
"People about here suppose me to be
poor, but l am not. L saved several
thousand dollars during the war, and l
can keep wife in luxury"
He Exhibited tie Roll of Bills
to her, and she laughingly admitted
that he was good catch. Inside of a
week had sufficient evidence to war
rant his arrest. He had gone to the
home of an uncle on Elk river, about
ten miles away, and it was there found
and arrested him. He was sitting on
the porch alone when l drove up, and
as soOu as | announced my errand he
grew very white and gasped out:
What am l charged with?'
Murder"
Good God! But who-who -
"The murder of Nathan Chase
But when-where?'
"On the afternoon of the 18th. You
know where the body was found.''
"And you say killed Chase?"
"rhat's the CHARGE
"Ihank heaven! Pl go with you
willingly. ] had no more to do with his
death than you"
He was lodged in jail. and everybody
believed him guilty. He had no par
ents, and was about twenty-five years
old. He was trying to establish real
estate and insurance business in
Charleston. assisted to some extent by
his uncle, but things were so disorgan-
lied that he made but poor headWay.
When arrested he had over $4,000 in
known to have had about this sum with
him. When questioned about this
money by his friends he could make no
satisfactory answer. He finally claimed
to have found it OH the highway. He
had to admit that he was seen near the
spot were Chase was killed, but strenu-
ously denied having seen the victim that
day.
When his case came to trial we had
nothing but circumstantial evidence,
but were we'll satisfied with that. What
could be stronger? Known to be jealous
of Chase and his enemy: seen near the
spot. suddenly possessed of eonsidera-
Die wealth; takes no part in the search:
steals away from Charleston 10
let the matter blow over; furnishes
every proof in his demeanor that he is
guilty; refuses to account for his time
on the day of the murder; gives no sat
isfactory account of the money in his
POSSESSION.
Further Than This
had discovered that he spent nearly
all that day in the woods. and that on
his return to town his clothing was torn
and muddy. There was just one point
in the case where we were lame.
Chase weighed $50 pounds, and Talbot
was dapper little fellow who didn't
quite balance 16S. He had no more
muscle than woman. and the question
was how he got the body from the road
Into the thicket. There had been
rain the dav before, and the ground
was soft. We found the prints of
feet, and they were too large for
Talbot. We could not find that the
body had been carried in there OH the
saddle, neither had it been dragged
over the earth. 1t was a question that
veXed me many days and nights, and
the only way could satisfy myself was
by figuring that Talbot had confeder-
ate. All things considered, this did
not seem likely. Aud again,
remembered his words and his conduct
when arrested. He was almost terrified
when charged with murder, but as soon
as | said that it was the murder Of Ma
than Chase he exhibited instant and
great relief. There was something
queer about that, and it bothered me.