The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1890-07-05
DAMAGING EVIDENCE

UNRELlABlLITY OF ClRcuMsTANTAL
TESTIMONY At TIMES.
A Man Is Hanged Who Could Have Sent
His Hired Man to the Gallows Had He
Suspected the Latter Know His Secret.
He Had tho Confidence Of Many Friends.
A party of men who had been discussing
the abolition of the death penalty, and ono
of the number had just told of an e1scu-
ton by hanging of which he had been q
witness, when John r. McDonough re-
marked:
II nave seen just one hanging in my life,
and I issued the warrant for the arrest of
the man I saw hanged. It was rather q 10
naarkable case, and it taught me always to
look upon purely circumstantial evidence
as not very good"
"How is that' Let us hear the case."
said one Of the party.
"Well it was like this. It was in 1879; I
was quite young then, and had just been
elected police justice in Dunkirk. One
morning a German whom I knew came to
me, bringing with him q Polander, and
said:
"'This man tells a very strange story;
either he Is crazy or else q murder has been
committed in Jamestown
"Naturally I was interested at once, and
questioned the German. The Pole could
not speak English, but he spoke a dialect
Of German, Inc had made his story inteln-
gible to the German. The Poles story, a.
interpreted to me, was about like this:
HE had been working for a man named
NARROW, a well known brewer in James
town, who stood well in the community.
Some days previous an acquaintance of his
named Bachman had been stopping with
him at Marlow's house. NARROW and Bach
man had gone about town together consid-
erably and had become quite well acquaintr
ed, apparently, In so short a time. One
evening NARROW asked the Pole If Bach
man had any money about him. The Pole
replied that he thought he had. He
thought Marlow's question a queer n at
| the time, but soon forget about it until
subsequent events recalled 1t to his mind.
SUSPICIOUS ACTIONS.
1.-THE next day the Pole was working
about Marlow's place as usual when Mar
low and Bachman came up from the vii
lage together. Bachman carried q parcel.
! When they reached the house they went
4AUO IL CC1dtI VO8CCuOIp t1ANu ACA1oAAAOA
! there a long time. Then the Pole heard
! what sounded to him like a shot. Soon
| afterward NARROW came of the cellar
alone. About that time someo one drove up
with a wagon to get a barrel of, beer. In
| stead of sending the Pole. into the cellar
for it, rs he usually did, NARROW went him
self to fetch it. When he reappeared with
it the Pole noticed q spot of blood upon it
and another on Marlow's clothing. Then
he began to think that something awful
had been done. After the customer had
| driven away with his beer NARROW ordered
the Pole to hitch up q team and drive to
the woods after a Dad of wood. This order
added to the Poles suspicious, for there
was no particular need of going for wood
at that time. However, he vent.
"When he returned, one of the first
| things he noticed was that there had been
a fire in the furnace under the brewing
kettle. The embers were still smolder-
ing. There wa another strange circum-
stance. No brewing had been done. There
was a quantity of water in the kettle which
had become heated, but that was all. The
Pole, who, though he could not speak in
English, could think and reason quite flu
emily in Polish, began to put together all
that he had heard and seen that seemed to
him unaccountable.or strange, at least, and
drew from 1t a conclusion that was as yet
\ vague. but suggested something horrible.
TIE Tired MAN TELLS.
1.-THE next morning the Pole asked Mar
low to allow him to take q day off. He
said it was a holiday among his people and
he wanted to visit some of his acquaint-
ances. NARROW gave his consent, and the
Pole started off. Instead Of visiting his
friends he took thef1rst train for Dunkirk
and sought for some one to tell HISTORY to.
For a long tina he was unsuccessful, as no
one eoald understand him. Finally he
found the German, who brought him to
me.
"Wsll, you may. believe that the story
imposed me. Bwas told in q straight
forward mannsEvand there was nothing
about the man toindicate mental derange-
ment. Still I hesitated to issue a warrant,
for NARROW, as I said, was q citizen of good
standing, and it seemed impossible that he
could nave committed such a crime. /
went to an old Judge, to.whom I frequent
ly applied for advice, and laid the matter
before him. He listened.with great inter-
est. Issue the warrant, he said. I took
the necessary affidavits, filed out the war
rant and gave it to an officer, with instruc-
tions to go to jamestown with 1t. When
we reached the depot where the train was
ready and about % start we learned that
Marlow's brotherin-law, who lived in Dun
kirk, wa already aboard. Evidently he
had got wind of what was going on, and
was going to warn NARROW. We had him
taken from the train and detained while
| the officer went on. To make sure, we tel
| egraphed to the Jamestown authorities to
arrest NARROW for murder. In short time
we received an answer in the form Of q
question. DO you mean NARROW, the
brewer?' said the.dispatch Yes, NARROW,
the brewer we replied.
PERFECT FAITH IN THE MURDERER.
"When our officer reached jamestown
NARROW was under arrest nominally. The
whole affair was regarded as a joke, how
ever. Marlow's friends chafed him and
he laughed loudest at their raillery. Our
officer presented his papers. The deputy
who had arrested NARROW looked them
over. your papersare all right, but you're
| all wrong: Marow.Wouldn,t hurt q 6y.' he