St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-15
HISTORY OF A CRIME.
A Record of Events Far More Re
markabIe Than Fiction.


markabIe Than Fiction.
One bright morning in London. about
eighteen months ago, a middle-aged,
espectable-looking gentleman called to
answer an advertisement issued from
house in Piccadilly by some one who
was willing to take to England's pet
province one or more young men OF
good parentage and some means, and
teach them the theory and practice of
farming as known and successfully
practiced i'll the colonies. The middle
aged man, who had called in behalf
of his son, was anxious to start the
young man out on the high road TO
fortune 10y the land-tilling route. and
servant uShered him into the presence
OF young man carefully dressed and
imbued with sense or self-importance
equal to positive assurance. The two
men. after an Introduction. shook hands.
and that hand-shake proved to be the
beginning of the END of a young mans
life, ended when promise first began,
and an end that is confidently believed
many before him have shared, but
whose long and continued absence has
been set down as is the wont to a mys-
teriOuS disappearance. The middle
aged man WAS the father of
Benwell, and the carefully dressed
man was j. Rex Blrchall.
Birchal had always beeu a wayward
young man, but MIR. Benwell pere did
not know it. He was one of those men
who live by theiI wits, and the wits
were more enduring than the wallet.
He started life as clerk in a position
secured him by his father. a respecta-
bic clergyman, but the inherent bad
ness in him came out, and he soon
drlftPd into various other occupations,
notable among which was the manag-
ing of a theatrical combination, and
had landed up in Canada, where he
formed the acquaintance of an agent of
a London firm which conducted, sub
rosa, the industry" of sending younger
sons of wealthy English parents to Can
ada and farming them out to learn the
science OF agriculture.
A DOuble Life.
Subsequent investigation shows that
up to this time he had been fairly sue
cessful in acting as an agent of this
firm, but with three exceptions no one
knows what ever became of the men he
took out. and that he had led a double
life, but that is another part OF the
story. The two men sat down in the
little room which was utilized as lodg-
ing and reception room. and was Uttered
up with traps of all sorts. haif-packed
and betOkening only transitory resi-
dence. The younger man leaned back
in his chair and painted a picture of
farm lite in Canada which would al
most be companion piece to the one
made by Claude Melnotte. He pictured
to his interested listener farm of vast
extent. well fenced, well stocked, well
kept. with outbuildlugs lighted by elec-
tricity, and country home which, if it
lacked the trailing ivy and morning
glory, yet had the air of prosperity
about it. He told how few years
hundred pounds and gone out to the
land of promise, and that all he now
possessed had come in return to his
venture. Being philanthropically in
cllned he wanted to take out some other
young EngliShman and do as much for
him. That settled it. The frugal En-
gllsh father saw a vision of aff1uence
for his son, and the result was that a
few weeks later Birchall stood on the
deck of the transatlantic steamer Brit
annie, going down the Mersey. bound
for New York. and beside him were two
English lads who had paid him some
money to learn farming, and one of
them was the man who was subsequently
murdered. F. e. Benwell, and the other
was RAYMOND Pelley, who. more by
good luck than precaution. escaped a
similar fate. Before leaving England
both had entered into contract, and
this is the one young Benwell signed:
The Contract.
Memorandum of agreement made on the
4th day of January 1891, between F. c.
Benwell, of Walden Place, Saffron. Walden,
on the one part and j. B. Birchall. of Mag
EOl1 tt1n tlnnr
said F. c. Benwell agrees to reside with said
J. r. Bilchall and assist him. to the best of
his ability. in the discharge of said j. R.
Birchall's business for the space of one