Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-11-14

ON THE DERBY-THE CIRCUMsTANTIAL Evr-
DEScE THAT WAS DEEMED CONCLUSIVE.
On Monday February IL of this year. John
Reginald BirchaI and Frederick C. Benwell
two young Englishmen, left together the Stat
ford House in Buffalo with the ostensible in
tention of visiting farm which the former
pretended belonged to him and lay near
Niagara Falls IL was about IL 80 when two
men alightcd at the small station of Eastwood
from the Grand Trunk train which had left
Hamilton at $50. AS they were the onlv
passengers for that isolated place, it was quite
natural that Conductor Poole should remark
their appearance. One was short and the
latter of the two (who wore an astrakhan cap
and shoes laced high up the ankle) was dark.
The two men set out at brisk pace toward
the Blenheim swamp, which lay about five
miles inland. The day was mild, the road
rather muddy.
There was an unusual number Of country
folk abroad, driving and afoot So many as
thIrty-ihree persons meeting our wayfarers
saluted them and remarked the cape worn by
the shorter and the cap worn by the taller of
the two. They remembered the day because
that night there was dance in the neigh6or-
hood
An hour and half later the taller man was
standing alone In Eastwood station. pretty
girl nodded to him from the platform.
.'Ah. Miss Alice Smith, believe" he said,
going up to her.
Yes she answered; ''and this ls-Somerset
or Dudley"
Don't yOu know me?" he laughed; "I am
Somerset. I've been in the northwest for
horses and am going up to Hamilton for
some luggage now. I'll see you when get
back"
The train for Niagara reached Eastwood at
$3.50 p N. and Somerset boarded il.
At9 O'Clock that evening Mr.. Birchall re-
turned TO his hotel in Buffalo alone he said
slVh nj h H., IL.
and that he had given him the address Of GER
tain farmers further on in the country. Then
he suggested that they go to Niagara Falls, and
tie following day, February Is, the three went
10 Clifton. Ont, across the river from Sus-
pension Bridge. They spent ten days there.
MURDER DISCOVERED.
Late in the month of February two brothers,
George and John Elveridge, went into the
lonely wood and dense tangle Of tamarack,
charred stumps and brushwood six miles from
Woodstock, Canada, known throughout the
nelShbOrhood as Blenheim swamp. 1t is DESC
hate and fOrblddlng and few persons ever 90
along the path that runs through the wood.
The errand of the two men was to chop and
gather wood. All that week snow and sleet
had fallen the forest The day was most
dismal the wood silent as a vast sepulcher
Overhead somewhere u raven croaked omi-
nously- Suddenly one of the men uttered q
cry of alarm.
Look he said. there's a man lying on
that pile Of sapling,'
The man was dea". and the brothers, sus-
peehng murder. fed to the road, and there,
by happy chance, they met with the constable
OF the nearby town OF Princeton, and. fortified
with this official representative of the law re-
turned to the spot where the body lay.
1t was the body Of young man, clearly
shaver and of dark complexion. The right
foot rested on a sapling. The left foot was
frozen into the ground and the ice had to be
cut to moyeft- The face was frozen, too. In
the back Of the head was q bullet wound and
near the temple another.
why, what il this?" cried the constable.
pointing in astonishment to the clothing.
'-SOmebody has been ct work with the scissors
Every mark on trousers, shirt and vest has been
cut away. And, hello. look herer' he added
picking up from under the dead mans head a
pair of eyeglasses and cigar holder. There
were no marks on either. The men abandoned
hopes Of identifying the body and Sc. about re-
moving 1t. They procured a sleigh in haste,
laid the corpse inside it and with their burden
drove to the undertakers at Princeton, where
two doctors held an autopsy upon it and or
dered its burial in the potter's field.
At dawn next day the brothers were in the
swamp again. Presently one OF them draw
ing his AK along the ground. found q cigar
case. On 1t was inscribed the name IF &.
Benwell"
ARREST OF BIRcHALL-
On the following morning there was pleas
ant little breakfast party in the boarding house
OF Mr.. Baldwin in the village of Clifton.
Birchall Mrs. Birchall, NJ. Douglas Policy, q
blonde young Englishman whom they had
brought from Liverpool. were discussing trivi-
aIities. while Mr.. Baldwin was reading the
morning paper.
We'll" said Mr.. Baldwin suddenly, s'the
body found in Blenheim swamp has been
identified"
Birchall, who was raising a tie ,spoon to his
mouth. let it drop with a clstter into his cup.
'Mhat-aw-was the poor DEVILS name?"
asked Mr.. Policy, languidly.
IF. G. Benwen," said Mr. Baldwin
Great Godr' cried Policy, rising hastily
That's TERRIBLE" said Birehall, never
budging.
Mrs. Girchali sat white as death.
Il will go on to Princeton" said Birchall,
getting up from the breakfast table, land see
the body" But when Policy. about an hour
later, volunte ':ed to accompany him Birchai
showed a telegram which. ne said. he had re-
ceIyed from the clerk of the Stafford House,
Buffalo, stating that Benwoll had gone to New
York and requesting that his luggage be sent
there to the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Policy i'm
nedIately started for New York and was told
at the Fifth Avenue Hotel that nobody named
Benwell had been there. He at once returned
TO Clifton and rs soon as he arrived there
found that Blrchall had identified Benwelrs
body and. with bis wife. had been arrested
Peiley was himself taken into custody but
Eftcrward released.
Doubtless the nero fact tina. BirchaIl and
Benwen were last seen together walking In the
direction OF the swamp, where the latter body
was found, would have been insufficient to
convict him Of murder. But the chain of cir
cumstantial evidence which the prosecution
forged out OF the prisoners antecedents was SO
strong that the judge and jury were both bound
by IL. The prosecution set out TO prove Biz
chalFs motive for the murder and made a
strong case. There was in it much that was
undeniable, associated with so much that was
probable. that it was difficult TO tell where one
ended and the other began.
BIRcHALLs WILD CAREER
John Reginald Birchall was the son Of Rev.
Joseph Birchall, vicar Of an English church in
Lancashire, England. He was o wild boy,
and his autobiography, which has been printed
recently in several newspapers, shows that he
had more love for drink than drudgery, his
fasOrites being low sporting characters and
vulgar variety actresses His chief delight at
Oxford was dining his theatrical acquaintance
and running the gauntlet Of the proctors. BY
has own admission his supper parties were
orgies; his feminine companions we're the riff
raj of Oxford; his male companions were the
lowest kind Of sports" In Just two months
the authorities had had enough of him He
was Unanimously expelled from the university.
HIS parents received this second blow with
grief unspeakable. His mother grew hollow
eyed and pale. His father. now very old, took
u his bed and soon after died.
Birchal!. after variety Of experie noes trav-
ehns with transformers" secured employ
meht with Mayall. the fashionable London